Santa Pod Raceway - Events

The European Drag Racing season got off to a flying start with four great days of professional and sportsman drag racing. Once again, records fell, and the cars and bikes just went quicker, and quicker! It was almost as if someone had waved a meteorological magic wand over Santa Pod as we defied the weather forecasts and had an uninterrupted four days of racing. No one could not have asked for a better start to Europe 's premier drag racing series, and everyone went home well tanned and well entertained with high-quality drag racing .

Off-track, there was loads to see and do, with kids entertainments, traders and helicopter and hovercraft rides running all four days. Nitro the dragon was seen braving the hot weather, and the kids loved shaking his hand and pulling his tail. Nitro FM also did an excellent job of interacting with the massive crowd and running competitions right through the day and night.

Here is a summary of the weekend's winners:

FIA Top Fuel Dragster final

Tommy Möller 5.500/185.26 def. Andy Carter 11.179/51.25 red light

Top fuel dragster was taken up a gear with Andy Carter setting a new official European record with an incredible 4.832 second pass at 306.36 mph that was successfully backed up according to official regulations. Unfortunately for Andy, his speed and consistency over the weekend went to waste when he red-lit in the Top Fuel final against the experienced Tommy Möller, who stormed across the finish line in just 5.5 seconds.

FIA Pro Stock final

Michael Malmgren 6.938/198.27 def. Jimmy Ålund 6.989/199.17

Michael Malmgren continued to take his AC Delco team to further success with a breath-takingly close final, that summed up a weekend of hard-fought and exciting Pro Stock racing. Both finalists set new European records over the weekend: Michael setting a new low-ET of 6.910 seconds, and Jimmy Ålund setting a new high-TS of 199.19 mph. Amazing stuff from Europe 's premier door-slammer class.

FIA Top Methanol Dragster final

Dave Wilson 5.477/247.45 def. Peter Schöfer 5.686/251.67

Dave Wilson has become the Michael Schumacher of Top Methanol dragsters, winning practically everything he enters! The final was no walk-over though, and it was only Dave's success in the fight against tyre-shake that saved the win for him against Peter Schöfer.

FIA Top Methanol Funny Car final

Urs Erbacher 6.377/235.43 def. Dan Larsen 6.874/219.34

Urs Erbacher took a well-earned win from Dan Larson in the Top Methanol Funny car class with an eventful final ride up the quarter mile. Both drivers struggled to keep their cars straight with a combination of wheel-spin and tyre-shake, but Urs battled through to take victory.

NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified

Peter Wacker 6.900/197.15 def. Patrick Wikström 7.561/128.61

The NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified final was won by a jubilant Peter Wacker, who benefited from a string of good luck and excellent performances in a huge Pro Mod field.

Fuel Funny Car final

John Spuffard 6.087/156.81 def. Leif Helander 14.196/43.78

Spuffard once again showed who the funnycar king is, but ultimately, his win in the final was down to Leif Helander's car breaking down in dramatic style at the critical moment.

FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike final

Roger Pettersson 7.372/167.30 def. Paul Watson 7.688/167.30

A very close final that saw Roger come past Paul from behind to take a well-earned victory.

FIM/UEM Supertwin final

Hans Olav Olstad 7.292/190.67 def. Ronny Aasen 14.545/63.29.

The Supertwins made thrilling viewing all weekend, with none of the bikes making the trip up the strip look easy. Hans did the best job of taming these outrageous beasts, and taking the win from Ronny Aasen, who appeared to have trouble getting the momentum going.

FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike final

Roel Koedam 7.929/112.71 def. Eric Teboul broke.

Roel Koedam battled his way through a field of 14 entered for Top Fuel bike, but was left to an easy victory after Eric Teboul's bike was taken ill on the startline in the finals .

Sportsman Results

Super Pro ET: Barry Giles (7.63) 7.632/169.84 def. Steve Johnson (7.55) 7.770/149.56 red light
Pro ET: Ian Brown (10.85) 10.873/119.73 def. Rick McCann (10.38) 10.374/125.74 breakout
Sportsman ET: Nick South (14.05) 14.130/96.56 def. Mark Anderson (12.64) 12.693/105.86
Super Comp: Paul Letchford 9.100/123.28 def. Colin Aldred 9.657/132.31
Super Gas: Frank Mason 9.866/127.73 def. Al O'Connor 9.860/131.18 lesser breakout
Super Street: Mike Bentley 10.945/130.18 def. John Grant 11.005/133.18
Junior Dragster: Robin Kadi (15.75) 15.859/38.65 def. Jay Hauser (10.28) 10.477/60.30
9.90 Bike: Fred Furlong 10.222/139.31 def. Richard Sawatzki 9.891/118.12 breakout
10.90 Bike: Phil Pratt 10.917/119.64 def. John Hackney 11.090/120.64

During the course of the day there were a couple of unavoidable interruptions from oil-downs that we would like to apologise for. We hope you understand that safety is of the utmost importance, and we always clean and dry the track as fast as is humanly possible.

Off-track, there was loads to see and do, with kids entertainments, traders and helicopter and hovercraft rides running all four days. Nitro the dragon was seen braving the hot weather, and the kids loved shaking is hand and pulling his tail. Nitro FM also did an excellent job of interacting with the massive crowd and running competitions right through the day and night.

We hope you enjoyed the weekend, and we look forward to seeing you back here in September for the European Finals! A big thanks to Eurodragster for the pictures on this page. Please click here for Eurodragster's excellent in-depth report. Also, a massive thanks goes out to our track and site staff, traders and caterers, and sponsors. We cannot do it with out you!

The Main Event Menu

The Main Event 2008 Preview
The Main Event 2008 Photo Entry List
The Main Event 2008 Running Order

The Main Event 2007 Report
The Main Event 2007 Photo Entry List
The Main Event 2007 Daily Report/Gallery
Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday

The Main Event 2006 Report
The Main Event 2006 Gallery
The Main Event 2005 Report
The Main Event 2005 Gallery
The Main Event 2004 Report