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UEM Top Fuel Bike

An eagerly anticipated debut event for the new Puma Engineering Top Fuel ride for Ian King, and, after chasing down a couple of drips and leaks in the pits, the Gulf Oil/Grand Prix Originals backed team were more than delighted with the outcome. A low qualifying effort, the event win and a very promising 6.573/220.10mph that secured event low ET and TS honours on only the third pass down the quarter mile promise great things for the rest of the season, especially given the understandably tentative settings in the bike at the time.

Unfortunately the Top Fuel Bike field was limited to two, a combination of lack of funds and new bikes in the build stage preventing a number of stalwarts of the tour attending. King’s opposition was thus restricted to visiting Canadian Nate Gagnon, who was riding Samu Kemppanen’s V-Twin whilst Gagnon and nitro Harley standout Ron Houniet assisted the Finn in setting up a new V60 Super Twin he had imported over the winter. Although Gagnon struggled to put in a serious pass over the course of the weekend he will be back later in the season to contest the rounds in Norway and Germany.

UEM Super Twin Bike

Jan Sturla Hegre made his debut last season on the blown Fast Cat that team mate Svein Olav Rolfstad had ridden to championship honours in 2008, and the opening event of his sophomore season saw a breakthrough event win over fellow Norwegian Hans Olav Olstad. Qualifying in second spot behind Olstad, Hegre booked his final round spot with a 6.935/197 victory over Petri Mattson and defeated Roel Koedam with an on and off the throttle 7.067. In the final, Hegre left on Olstad (who had picked up the only six second ticket of qualifying with a 6.968 – an illustration of the tricky nature of the track) and outpaced his countryman all the way to the finish line with a new class track ET record of a 6.821/195.

Whilst a number of Super Twin veterans were struggling over the weekend, not least 2009 champion Per Bengtsson who was a surprise non-qualifier, Christian Jager was having a great second event onboard the ex-Gunther Sohn bike that the German Black Seven team had picked up late last year. After impressing at a UK domestic event the weekend before, Jager qualified in 4th spot with a 7.170 and then took his first elimination round win at UEM level over reigning champion Lorenz Stäuble with a PB 7.026/203. Although a 7.194 wasn’t enough to hold off Olstad’s 7 flat in the semi-final, the accompanying 208mph stood for the best TS in the class over the weekend.

UEM Pro Stock Bike

Whilst the track wasn’t quite there for the nitro burners, despite the best efforts of King, Hegre et al., the cool conditions on raceday provided a bit of a mineshaft of PBs in Pro Stock Bike. On top of the heap after qualifying was Jesper Thiel with a 7.174, and, unlike last year where low qualifying efforts weren’t converted into event wins, the Danish rider simply blew the rest of the field away with a Euro record threatening 7.087/186 first round bye laying down a stunning marker. Victories over Karl-Heinz Welkum, Fredrik Fredlund and Karl Lyrén, the latter with a neat 7.097 over the Swede’s redlighting effort, put Thiel into the UEM winner’s circle for the first time and represented a very early return on investment for the Sovereign team who had flown over G2/Star Racing’s George Bryce for a test session the weekend prior to the event. The race to the first Euro PSB 6 second ticket is definitely on!

In his last event onboard the TL-1000 that Karl Lyrén impressed on during his rookie season, the Veidec rider in his sophomore season ended up second to Thiel in qualifying with a 7.230. Lyrén took out Hungarian Andrea Matuzik (debuting in UEM competition at her home track) and Brit Martin Bishop along the way to his final round meeting with Thiel, and chalked up a new PB with a 7.213 in a quarter final bye. Although the red light in the final wasn’t quite what he would have wanted, it was a fitting way to relinquish the seat of the TL as an all new Hayabusa bodied ride will be available for the rest of the season.

Another lowering PB numbers over the course of the weekend was British class veteran Martin Bishop. Although his run in eliminations ended on a bit of a down note when the bike failed to fire against Lyrén at the semi-final stage, a third spot in qualifying at 7.377 was followed by a 7.361 run in the quarters (ironically also on a bye run after Thiel’s Sovereign G2 Buell team mate Rasmus Olesen failed to start) represented new PBs after a couple of season’s worth of frustration.

UEM Funny Bike Cup

We are still scratching our heads trying to work out how Rikard Gustafsson didn’t win the inaugural UEM Funny Bike Cup last year. Now that nemesis Christian Jäger has moved to UEM Super Twin competition, Gustafsson surely must take the Cup this year if he decides to run this season’s abbreviated schedule. Turning up in Hungary with a win at Kunmadaras on the ‘to do list’, Gustafsson carded a low qualifying 6.916 and took the event trophy after a no-show from Finland’s Markku Poikajärvi. A move to Top Fuel Bike beckons for the Swede, the timing of this move has yet to be determined but it won’t be that far off.

Euro Super Street Bike eliminator

New for 2011 is the Euro Super Street Bike eliminator that will run at the two Santa Pod rounds later in the year after kicking off the mini-tour at Kunmadaras. With a significant amount of cash on the line, Dave ‘the Bounty Hunter’ Smith drove the not inconsiderable distance to Hungary, clicked off a 7.545/195 off the trailer to qualify on top of the heap, knocked off Tamás Gál, Sotiris Tsakiris and Nichlas Sverin in eliminations before riding around fellow Brit Graham Dance’s holeshot in the final with a 7.797 and taking the loot back to the UK.

Remaining UEM Drag Bike Championship rounds
May 27th – 30th FIA Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway, England
June 9th -12th Swedish Internationals, Tierp Arena, Sweden
June 30th – July 3rd FHRA Nitro Nationals, Alastaro, Finland
August 5th – 7th Sunoco Drag Challenge, Gardermoen Raceway, Norway
August 12th – 14th NitrolympX, Hockenheim, Germany
September 8th – 11th FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, England