| In his second season on the Suzuki fuel bike his brother and crew-chief Antonio built and rode, Luigi Ferretti scored a hugely popular first UEM win in Norway, proving that consistent high sixes are still enough to do the job when the faster front runners have an off day or overpower the track like Peter Svensson did in the final round match-up, Ferretti taking the win light with a 6.818. And, in a weather-abbreviated season such as this one, the Italian rider now takes a very slender points lead to the final meeting at Santa Pod next month. |
Running Hot and Cold in Norway
he final leg of the Scandinavian Swing of the European Drag Racing championships was held at Gardermoen, just outside the perimeter road of the new international airport serving Oslo. The racing surface is considered to be one of the best in Europe, a super smooth stretch of asphalt stretching into the Norwegian woods, and, for the 2007 presentation of the NDRG Drag Challenge, the main players in the UEM Dragbike championship rolled up through the gates, supported by a full round of the Toyo Tires Scandinavian Dragracing Series, together with some four wheeled nitro action from the local Top Fuel competitors Siw Nystad and Thomas Nataas and a few squirts from the growing fleet of Scandinavian Nitro Funny Cars. The weather, dare we mention it, was a mixed bag, blazingly hot when the sun shone, freezing cold when the clouds rolled in (as they did for much of the weekend, but with only the occasional sprinkle of drizzle), but the biggest hold-up came when veteran Lene Jensen crashed heavily in her Pro Street ‘Mom’s Toy” Nova. The barriers took a lot of time to repair, with the track cooling dramatically before the finals. We understand former US tourist Jensen is okay, but the Nova is a bit the worse for wear.
After a racing winning return to the track after a near decade long sabbatical the previous weekend, Peter Svensson nearly doubled up in Norway, qualifying number one with an early shut-off 6.354. A cold track for the first round slowed Svensson to a 6.587 in his first round defeat of Shaun Branch, and the Billet bike then accounted for Ian King in the semis on a nice 6.306/210 mph to King’s quicker leaving 6.442/205. The long deal before the finals were completed dropped the track temperature again and Svensson had a bit too much in the bike for the conditions breaking traction on a couple of occasions, handing the win to Ferretti.
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Denmark’s Finn Asserbo has forsaken his previous ride, a unique Honda CBX based six cylinder blown fuel bike, for one of the most notable fuel bikes in European drag racing history, the former Shark Magic Puma Yamaha of Stefan Reisten that held the outright Top Fuel Bike ET record back in the 1980’s. Asserbo qualified in midfield and lost out in a first round match up with Ian King, but will be looking to get somewhere close to the mid six second pace that this bike is capable of.