Jan Sturla Hegre: the 2017 EDRS Pro Nordic MC title was a real team win

Jan Sturla Hegre won the EDRS Pro Nordic MC Top Fuel Motorcycle Championship last season for the second time in three years. After a title in 2015, the still only 30-year-old Norwegian rider bounced back from a number three position in 2016, to win the 2017 title by beating 2016 champion Thomas Pettersson. “We won the title at the last race of the season, the Dico Internationals at Tierp Arena, and it was a real team effort,” said Hegre, still proud of what the team achieved that weekend in August.

After a quarter final exit at the Tierp Internationals, a win at Alastaro and a semi-final finish at his home track Gardermoen, the 2017 EDRS Pro Nordic MC Top Fuel Motorcycle Championship was decided in Jan Sturla Hegre’s favor at the last race of the season, the Dico Internationals at Tierp Arena. “That Tierp race was definitely out best race of the season,” said Jan Sturla Hegre, rider of the Uggerud Bros Top Fueler, looking back at last season. “This was both a bike win and a team win. After a radical change in the setup, we managed to get the engine to work past the 2-second limit we struggled with before. The engine produced 100% power in the first 1.5 seconds and only 10% at 5 seconds. It was a nice 6.1 seconds at 384 km/h out of the truck. Unforeseen problems came after us during the weekend and the fight to arrive to the final round start line was tough. And that was needed to beat Thomas Pettersson, who also had his problems, and thus win the title. Great thanks go out to both Thomas Pettersson, who waited, and also to the race director at Tierp Arena, who probably ‘stretched’ the time, allowing us to ride. We had to remove engine number one and exchange the crank from engine number two, a complete rebuild, between the semifinal and final. Eight crew members were throwing the tools around and screaming. Luckily our photographer has some hours with film of it. That team effort in August at Tierp is the thing I’m most proud of this, and I think even the last few season.”

With the new season on the horizon, the team are working hard to fix some problems and  be ready in time for the first race in June. “After Tierp II the bike didn’t want to work properly again. We are reconfiguring the heads and fuel system with the goal to improve stability. That’s also one of the main goals for this season. The Uggerud team will try to get the bike stable, then a 5-second run should be possible, and it would be fun to set some really high top speeds. My own main focus will be to give advice and support to my mom, driving my old Super Twin Motorcycle. It’s a fast, light and very drivable bike. Give her some runs and it will produce stable competitive runs.”

As expected, Hegre and the Uggerud Bros will try to win a second consecutive EDRS Pro Nordic MC Top Fuel Motorcycle Championship this season. But the Beconor AS and Elby supported team know they will meet some tough competition. “We will see if Thomas Pettersson brings forth his big engine and of course Sverre Dahl is fast and consistent. He will definitely be a challenge when he is racing the whole season,” said Hegre, who is already looking forward to the start of another racing summer.

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