Gustafsson, Christiansen, Morrison Jnr and Maurice take the Summit trophies at Tierp Arena
FIM-E European Drag Bike Championship – Round Two – Summit Equipment Internationals, Tierp Arena, Sweden 7th-10th August.
The Summit Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena north of Stockholm came to a dramatic (in some cases far too dramatic) conclusion on Sunday.
Rikard Gustafsson took the event win in FIM-E Top Fuel Bike, with a string of five eighties on each round of eliminations to demonstrate the Indian/RG Engineering team’s status as one of the (if not the) class act in inline-four fuel bikes. The final round against Sverre Dahl was a tight one as the Norwegian pulled a holeshot on Gustafsson and was maintaining a lead until the final half of the track on a 5.861 to a 6.049 decision. Unfortunately, Dahl parted company from his fuel bike in the shut-down area but remarkably both he and the bike are only battered and bruised after their ordeal.
Marcus Christiansen came out on top in FIM-E Super Twin in another titanic final round match-up with Per Bengtsson. The latter ran another PB with a 6.207/224 from the blown Beast parallel twin, but Christiansen got the jump off the line and out ran his opponent with a 6.177/222. The Danish team also picked up low ET honours with a first round 6.108 demonstrating they’d sorted out the clutch issues from qualifying. A “what if” came in the shape of Vesa Lipponen’s first round pass which looked mighty strong, the Finn left before the tree activated.
FIM-E Super Street Bike was a bit of a curate’s egg performance wise in eliminations. Although some solid numbers were produced there was an element of fortune (and some stout numbers) in the delivery of the one and two qualifiers into the trophy round. Luke Farrugia span badly off the line when it mattered, while Alan Morrison Jnr made it past the tree before he went up in smoke – a mid nine to a thirteen weren’t the numbers anticipated, but Morrison Jnr made a strong move in defending his series title by getting to the finishline first. He’d probably earnt the favours of Lady Luck after his holeshot win over Jake Mechaell in the semi-finals which was the race of the eliminator.
Bertrand Maurice continues to look strong in his attempt at regaining the FIM-E Pro Stock Bike championship. A low qualifying effort and the event win here in Sweden doing the Frenchman a world of good in the points chase, a 7.224 took the win over Alex Hope in the final. It would have been a lot closer at the stripe if the Fueled by Bro Joe hadn’t quit at halftrack after Hope cut a 0.01 RT.
Onwards to Hockenheim in Germany at the end of the month when racing resumes at the NitrOlympX.
Text and photos: Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes
