Round 4: Santa Pod Raceway, 10-13 September 2009

FIA European Finals

An all-Swedish finale capped an astounding race at Santa Pod Raceway's FIA European Finals. The MSA British Drag Racing Championship's penultimate Round 4 was combined with the concluding FIA European Pro Modified Championship round to bring the Continent's best Pro Mod racers to the Bedfordshire track.

Sweden's Mats Eriksson unleashed an onslaught unmatched in Europe's Pro Mod history. Friday's opening qualifying session ended with Eriksson unloading the quickest (5.988sec) and fastest (241.59mph) pass ever seen in Europe and the first 5-second elapsed time achieved on this side of the Atlantic. Alongside him in the other lane, Britain's Andy Robinson was running the second-quickest pass ever, at 6.073sec, an elapsed time which had fallen to seventh on the all-time list by the time Eriksson completed his rout on Sunday afternoon. Of Eriksson's four opponents in eliminations, three clocked career-best times in vain pursuit of the rampaging Swede. Fellow countryman Michael Gullquist was the beaten finalist and, in all, ten entrants achieved personal-best times and/or speeds.

Andy Robinson succumbed to a freakish mechanical problem in the first round of eliminations, thereby surrendering his season-long FIA points lead to Eriksson. However, Robinson retains a reduced but still healthy lead in the MSA Championship ahead of the decider two weeks hence.

Top 5 qualifiers:

1. Mats Eriksson (Sweden):  5.988sec. / 241.59mph

2. Andy Robinson (GB):   6.073 / 231.38

3. Bruno Bader (Switzerland):  6.137 / 227.92

4. Roger Johansson (Sweden):  6.155 / 228.15

5. Patrik Wikström (Sweden):  6.161 / 231.38

Eliminations:

Round 2:

Mats Eriksson (S) 6.044sec. / 238.89mph  def.  Graham Ellis (GB) 6.238pb / 229.07

Roger Johansson (S) 6.897 / 164.25  def.  Kevin Slyfield (GB) 7.251 / 171.07

Michael Gullquist (S) 6.202 / 223.41  def.  Roger Moore (GB) 19.979 / 38.53

Bruno Bader (CH) 6.118 / 228.94  def.  Urban Johansson (S) 8.683 / 105.79

Semi-final:

Mats Eriksson 6.016 / 239.03  def.  Roger Johansson 6.144pb / 227.81

Michael Gullquist 6.191 / 229.33  def.  Bruno Bader 8.435 / 106.93

Final:

Mats Eriksson 6.028 / 238.91  def.  Michael Gullquist 6.141pb / 231.42pb

Low Elapsed Time of the Event:  5.988sec. (European record) - Mats Eriksson

Top Speed of the Event:  241.59mph (European record) - Mats Eriksson

Points standings after MSA Championship Round 4:

1. Andy Robinson   320

2. Graham Ellis        214

3. Mats Eriksson (S) 190

4. Philip Englefield    154

5. Bruno Bader CH) 152

6. Michael Gullquist (S)   148

7. Urban Johansson (S)  144

8. Henri Joosten (NL)      135

9. Kevin Slyfield      129

10. Roger Johansson (S)  128

Sweden's Mats Eriksson delivered a race-winning, record-breaking performance to seize the FIA European Pro Modified crown while soaring to third place in the MSA British Drag Racing Championship. Class: Pro Modified.  Vehicle body: 1956 Ford Crown Victoria.  Engine: 521 cubic-inch/8.5 litre V8, supercharged, methanol.  Best performance: 5.988 seconds, 241.59mph (European records). Photo by Dave DJ Jones.