Hegre, Christiansen, Morrison Jnr and Lymant take the Summit marbles
Despite a couple of showers to interpret the schedule, the full set of FIM-E eliminations was completed at the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena just north of Stockholm, Sweden. The knockout phase produced some surprises, some superb racing and some movement in the points as the European championship heads into its home stretch over the next month with two events remaining.
The headline FIM-E Top Fuel Bike ladder had a few twists along the way towards a conclusion. Championship leader and low qualifier Rikard Gustafsson looked to be a lock in for the event win, carding low ET of the quarters (5.962) and the semis (6.172) to defeat Thomas Pettersson and Rene van den Berg respectively. His final round opponent was Jan Sturla Hegre who ended Kari Rautanen’s day in the opening round before ticking off Peter Andersson with a 6.406. With a handy performance advantage all of the cards seemed to be stacked in the Swede’s favour, but the Norwegian cut a 0.0921s RT and added a 6.100 to keep ahead of Gustafsson’s quicker 6.053 to earn Hegre his first Top Fuel Bike event title.
FIM-E Super Twin had a major surprise in the opening round of eliminations as Erling Opheim smashed out a 6.189 to make a major move in the European class best (now fifth on the all-time list). The Norwegian then slowed a bit in the semi-finals after straying close to the wall handing a final round spot to Per Bengtsson in a 6.390 to a 6.431 decision. Bengtsson and the Beast had also carded a 6.330 in the opening round of eliminations (defeating Marko Lantto) suggesting the team were really on top of things with the blown parallel twin (they had also had their 6.337 reinstated on the qualifying ladder). On the top half of the ladder Marcus Christiansen managed to make his way to the final despite a number of problems, not least frying the clutch and the Dane looked really up against it in the final. However, the gremlins jumped across the track as a bent valve prevented Bengtsson from making the startline and Christiansen shut off on a solo, but extended his championship lead despite the troubles.
FIM-E Super Street Bike had quite a few twists and turns through the ladder, but ended up with the Number One and Two qualifiers in the final. Dániel Donát Lencsés carded class low ET in the semi-final with a 6.793/223 to defeat Ross Morrison’s 6.968 and get around the latter’s substantial holeshot. In the final, the Hungarian would face up with Ross’ brother Alan Jnr who had bested Lencsés’ team-mate Krisztián Jász in the final four, but a 7.0 suggested a bit of a performance advantage on the other side. Morrison Jnr jumped ahead at the start with a 0.0603s to a 0.1183s RT advantage and held on with a 7.048 to a quicker but losing 7.046 from Lencsés. The win puts the defending class champion in the points lead; this one is likely to go down to the wire.
Having qualified low, Joerg Lymant produced a pair of 7.2s to move into his third final of the season in FIM-E Pro Stock Bike, defeating Timo Savolainen in the semis. His opponent would be Bertrand Maurice who had had weekend of woes but was seeking a positive outcome. The trophy match up looked to be a close side-by-side affair with Lymant congratulating his opponent who made it to the finishline first (Maurice running a 7.267 to a quicker 7.265 from the German’s Buell). However, the cheers were swapped when Lymant was informed about Maurice’s red light (a 0.0072s too quick leave) and Joerg takes his second win of the year and the points lead heading into his home race at Hockenheim in two weeks time.
Words and photos Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes
