| |
 |
 |
|
Crowd favourite Smax Smith returned over the pond after his winter
emigration to Canada to handle the driving chores on the debut
of the McDonald brothers ex Peter Lantz dragster. An immense
thrash to finish the car in time for the race had some reward
in getting into the field, but the inability to get the Big
Red Machine into forward gear resulted in a somewhat downbeat
first round exit for Sir Smax.
|
 It
was a weekend for the four-car CBD team of Knut Soderquist
to forget. In the second qualifying session, Soderquist lost
three motors in very quick succession, with Chris Andrews'
throttle stop breakage the most spectacular. Andrews just missed
out on making the eight-car field by .16 of a second to teammate
Micke Kagered (shown). Kagered's challenge for the championship
in 2005 started with a big stutter and he only made the field
thanks to a shaking, pedaling and half-track motor blowing
7.227 last ditch effort. Lady Luck gazed kindly on the Swede
in the first round of eliminations when Nataas lost his throttle
linkage, but a 5.8 best from Europe's fastest track suggest
that some major work lies ahead for the Bahco Tools team.
|
Joran Persaker was another CBD car struggling, breaking a fuel
hose on his first qualifying effort, followed by a smoke aborted
second effort, and then a starter motor failure before the last
qualifying session. Persaker benefitted from more woe in the CBD
camp to come in as alternate in place of his crew chief Gary Page,
but then dragged through stage in the first round of eliminations. |
 Gary Page was on double duty over the
weekend, overseeing Persaker's car whilst managing a single shot
qualifying session in the fourth CBD entry. A blown motor just
past half-track oiled the slicks and sent the rail skating towards
the finish line in 6th spot on the ladder. The lack of time to
turnaround with a split crew enabled Persaker to take his place
on raceday. |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
