A shipment from Gary Burgin cleared customs just in time for Monica Oberg to tow down from northern Sweden for the event. Crewchief Dan Soderberg provides Monica with as much horsepower as most of the other competitors, and over two decades of experience in the sports premier category makes Oberg one of the best drivers on the European scene. Hopefully the veteran team will pick up that much needed sponsor soon enabling an upgraded clutch to be dropped between the frame rails.

Mantorp Park saw the return to FIA Top Fuel competition for Susanne Callin in one of Knut Soderquist’s rent-a-rides with backing from Joran Persaker’s Speedshop. Callin chalked up a new PB of 5.057 in qualifying, accompanied by a trip through the gravel trap and into the neighbouring fields on Mantorp’s notoriously short shutdown area, and, after a couple of bags of gravel were removed from the car, almost took out Thomas Nataas in the first round of eliminations.

UEM TOP FUEL BIKE

The Sunshine Express Yamaha of Sverre Dahl is arguably the most powerful fuel scooter in the world. Sverre repeatedly produces jaw dropping figures although the gobs of horsepower have a tendancy to trash gearboxes. At Mantorp, the Norwegian produced a 6.42 at 228 mph (would you fancy going 225 mph+ heading into a notoriously shutdown area with two blind crests before a sharp right hand turning? no? I thought not!) to pace the field, and, in Norway, added two to three hundred horsepower to the tuneup and cracked out a 6.25 at 237.9 mph to take the pole (only Larry McBride has faster clockings in Fuel Bike history). If the gearbox sprags stay in one piece Dahl will run in the fives.

Swede Peter Andersson Strom is another racer who currently restricts his racing to the Nordic rounds, but the home built billet wonder is another bike that demonstrates the strength in depth of European Fuel Bike racing. Once Stromma finds the right chassis and clutch setup, he'll return to the low six second bracket and will hopefully run the full UEM tour.