The third round of the 2023 European Drag Bike Championship, the “Scandinavian Internationals” (10-13 August) in Tierp, Sweden, was the last meeting of the European drag bike elite before the NitrOlympX. Here is a short summary of the events in the FIM classes and the situation before the race on the Rico Anthes Quartermile…
TOP FUEL
Reigning champion Rikard Gustafsson came to his home race leading the overall standings, and again took the lead in qualifying with a 5:903. In second place was Jan Sturla Hegre from Norway with 6:155, followed by Neil Midgley from Great Britain (6:161). Behind them Rajaniemi (FIN), Dahl (NOR) and Rautanen (FIN) also in the “sixes”. Pettersson (Sweden) and Rene van den Berg (NED) did not finish under seven seconds.
In the first co-round Mikko Rajaniemi went down already at the start line and Sverre Dahl won the heat with 6:091. In the second pairing Jan Sturla Hegre started with spinning tyres but quickly recovered and passed Thomas Pettersson just before the eighth mile. Kari Rautanen (Q6) had no problems during his run against Neil Midgley (Q4), because: no opponent…
Gustafsson again put a 5 time on the track and won against van den Berg, who now achieved a 6:395 after all.
In round two Sverre Dahl gave away his chances to win already at the traffic lights with a red light, still rode a 6:214, but had no chance against Gustafsson’s again 5:988.
In the other semi-final Kari Rautanen won with 7:862 against Jan Sturla Hegre (7:994) who was going crazy again.
So in the final, which unfortunately could not be played out, because due to the weather the eliminations could only start very late, Gustafsson and Rautanen would have been standing.
A look at the points shows the following picture before the NOX:
1st Rikard Gustafsson (210)
2nd Neil Midgley (179)
3rd Jan Sturla Hegre (95)
4th Sverre Dahl (90)
5th Rene van den Berg (77)
6th Kari Rautanen (67)
7th Thomas Pettersson (54)
8th Mikko Rajaniemi (52)
SUPER TWIN BIKE
V2 racing is a “big thing” in Scandinavia, which is why the STTF starting field was almost gigantic with eighteen(!!!) teams. Many of these riders only compete locally, and are virtually unknown in “continental Europe”. In our short report we will therefore restrict ourselves mainly to the “championship racers”.In qualifying, reigning champion Marcus Christiansen (DEN) took a commanding lead with a 6:299 at 356.67kmh. Second place went to Finland’s Vesa Lipponen with 6:555/307.52. And behind him: A “V2 veteran” – Per Bengtsson – long-time NOX visitors still remember the man and “The Beast” (his bright red self-built Paralelltwin) with which he caused a sensation on the slopes of Europe since 1999. In 2023, he showed he’s still got it with his 6:618….
Other placings: Samu Kemppainen (FIN) in fourth (6:706). On 5th place his compatriot Marko Lannto with 6:871 ahead of Martijn de Haas (7:328) from the Netherlands. Roman Sixta (CZE) was 10th with 7:400 and Belgian Chris van Nimmen 12th (7:597).
In the first round of eliminations, Christiansen edged eighth-placed Greger Johansson (6:475), who did not get any time as he left before the traffic lights were switched on. Lantto sent Kemppainen into the trailer: 6:739 against 6:808. And also Martijn de Haas could not keep his bike in the stage until green and lost without time against Bengtsson.
In round two, Christiansen eliminated Lantto and Bengtsson, with a 6:610 against John Rolfstad (8:641), not only secured a place in the final – which unfortunately was not played – but also an excellent position in the intermediate ranking.
1st Marcus Christiansen (201)
2nd Per Bengtsson (121)
3rd Vesa Lipponen (110)
4th Samu Kemppainen (80)
5th Martijn de Haas (75)
6th Marko Lantto (68)
7th Chris v. Nimmen (55)
10th Roman Sixta (37)
PRO STOCK BIKE
The two-wheel division of the Pro Stock brand was represented by seven teams. From a German point of view, the top qualifier was Jörg Lymant from Adendorf near Lüneburg (7:366). On his heels: Bertrand Maurice from France with 7:449 and the Norwegian Theodor Vik with 7:951. Fourth Tim Christensen (SWE), Aswin le Noble (NED) in fifth ahead of the Brit Martin Newbury, in seventh the Finn Savolainen with a time of 11.
After the first lap, Bertrand Maurice, who had a bye run, Newbury – who beat le Noble, and Savolainen and Vik were still left. Lymants bike unfortunately refused to obey.
In round two, Bertrand Maurice marched towards the final thanks to his better reaction time at the traffic lights (0:0630) despite a poor run (7:609) past Newbury (RT 0:387 / ET 7:441). In the second pairing Theodor Vik made everything clear with 7:736 / 257.27 against Timo Savolainen (8:221 / 219.24).
After that the table before the NitrOlympX looks like this:
1st Bertrand Maurice (189)
2nd Aswin Le Noble (99)
3rd Martin Newbury (75)
4th Jörg Lymant (74)
5th Theodor Vik (71)
6th Timo Savolainen (43)
7th Martin Bishop and Tim Christiansen (28 each)
SUPER STREET BIKE
In the SSBs 14 riders fought for the valuable European Championship points. In the qualifying, the reigning champion Dániel Donát Lencsés occupied the “place in the sun”. With a score of 6:766 and 362.17, the Hungarian relegated his rivals Mathias Bohlin from Sweden (6:966/339.20) and Alan Morrison Jnr from Great Britain (6:994/347.71) to second and third place. Mogens Lund from Denmark was fourth with 7:116 and Margot Schmidt from the Netherlands was sixth. The father-and-son team of Clemens “Wally” Walleit and Ricardo Grauer from Berlin finished 9th and 10th, Erich Gruber from Austria was 14th.
The first round saw the following duels
Dániel Donát Lencsés (6:963/351.33) defeated Erich Gruber (9:759/139.28)
Mogens Lund (8:797/192.58) against Wille Skinnars, (“Broke” before the startline / withdrawn)
Clemens Walleit (7:622/298.01) wins thanks to better reaction time at the traffic lights against Peter Östlund (7:567/297.68)
Mathias Bohlin (6:990/338.98) sends Peter Rundström (7:572/286.93) home
Ross Morrison (7:795/266.54) against Dag Wagenius, who could not start and had to be withdrawn
Alan Morrison Jnr (7:092/325.30) defeated Roberth Häggblom (8:122/292.68)
and Margot Schmidt (7:427/323.16) ended Ricardo Grauer’s weekend (7:809/303.71)
In round two, Lencsés had a bye run, and advanced to the semi-finals with a 7:080 without a problem. Mogens “Moose” Lund booked the starting spot next to Dániel Donát with his win over “Wally” Walleit (7:581 against 8:087). Mathias Bohlin checked in for the semi-finals after 7:0269 seconds when he kicked Ross Morrison (7:255). There he would have met Alan Morrison Jnr who won against 3/343,07 def Margot Schmidt (7,014 vs 9:231).
This gives the following ranking before the NOX:
1st Alan Morrison Jnr (264)
2nd Dániel Donát Lencsés (246)
3rd Mathias Bohlin (220)
4th Mogens Lund (169)
5th Ross Morrison (125)
6th Clemens Walleit (89)
7th Peter Östlund (81)
8th Margot Schmidt (80)
15th Ricardo Grauer (26)
19th Erich Gruber (21)
JUNIOR DRAG BIKE
As the JDB in Sweden is not an FIM class, we see the following standings before the NitrOlympX: Willcox 81 points, Lester 66 points. The reigning champion Hollie King is currently in third place with 45 points.
Well, the cards are shuffled and dealt for the NitrOlympX… Let the games begin!!!
