Ian King @Sanson & Hughes
The weekend saw the closing round of the FIM Europe Drag Bike Championship at Santa Pod Raceway, England.
FIM Europe Top Fuel Bike attracted eleven entries, with multi-time series champion Ian King qualifying in the number one spot and the quickest run of the event with a 5.9000s/242.77 mph run, with the home rider then progressing to reset the terminal speed record at 236.21 mph (as a consequence of the latter being over the previous record but not being within one percent of the faster time). King progressed to the final where he would meet incoming points leader Rikard Gustafsson with the winner determining the outcome of the championship. Gustafsson left the line first onboard his Suzuki Funnybike, but within a couple of hundred feet the power of King’s nitromethane supercharged Gulf Oil/Grand Prix Originals Puma Yamaha drove him past to take the event trophy and his ninth European title with a 6.058s/231.57mph victory lap.
The FIM Europe Super Twin title was decided at the very start of the event when Martijn de Haas put in what would prove to be his only run of the meeting, with the Dutch team then being sidelined with driveline breakage. This would be something of a theme in the class for the rest of the event in the class with low qualifier Ronny Aasen (at a sub-Euro record 6.3740s/202.57mph from the Norwegian) having to withdraw after the throttle shaft broke in his semi-final victory. This cleared the stage for Czech Roman Sixta to take his first FIM-E event win on a solo pass.
Defending FIM Europe Pro Stock Bike champion Fredrik Fredlund managed to take the championship with his PAF Suzuki having qualified low with a 7.0136s/190.45mph (and resetting the FIM-E PSB speed record) and ending up as runner-up in the 14 bike eliminator. The event win went to Anders Larsson with a 7.1861s/181.40 mph handing victory to the Swede after Fredlund’s engine failed in the latter half of the track slowing the Åland racer to a 7.4600s/141.26 mph clocking.
The FIM Europe Super Street Bike Cup saw record-breaking and personal best performances throughout qualifying and the early rounds of eliminations, with Steve Venables being the first rider into the six second zone with a spectacular 6.9509s/212.84mph (the former would be backed up for the elapsed time record, whilst the speed record would also fall to Venables at 209.95mph). Venables would take the event win with a 7.0463s/205.99mph run defeating Garry Bowe’s 7.1301s/199.87mph in an all Suzuki Hayabusa final; Bowe’s run to the final gave him sufficient points to take the Cup series title.
