Team Kendall Racing Team Report, European Finals 2010
The first of us in the team arrived to Stansted International Airport just before lunch local time and got over to Hertz to pick up our rental car and went shopping food for the whole team before driving to the track. We arrived at around 4 pm and started to set up our camp in the pit. The remaining three guys arrived by car some hours later just to see that everything were ready for the race and we all had a nice barbecue before we went to bed early to be ready for Fridays two qualifying run.
We woke up early on Friday morning to be ready in time for the first qualifying session but the rain was already pouring down so we had to wait and see if the weather would allow us to make any runs at all that day. The weather cleared up around noon and the first qualifying round of the day for Top Fuel Bikes were coming up at around 4.30 pm.
Peter met Petri Paljakka in the first qualifying round and he had heavy tire shakes before the sixty foot marking and had to go on and of the throttle to get traction and also got of the throttle early at the end of the run, running a 6.36 sec at 199 mph and we were number 1 qualifier after the first round. There were no more runs on Friday due to the rain delay in the morning.
Saturday morning came and in order to be able to run a bit faster we decided to change the clutch set up a bit for our next qualifying round that was planned to be held around 1 pm.
Peter was facing Petril Paljakka once again but now in the right lane, which looked a lot better than yesterday, and we had big faith in running faster. Peter took off with a descent 60 foot time of 1.05 sec but went up in smoke just after this point and then he was on and of the throttle but nothing happened, since the wire to the handle had broken. We were number 2 qualifier after this session since Sverre Dahl passed us with a good 6.34 sec run.
After getting back to the pit we decided to soften our set up a bit since we were a bit confused on how to handle the traction of the track that was obviously very good, since Andy Carter in Top Fuel ran a great 4.61 sec run just after our run.
Qualifying round number three was getting closer and we were ready. Peter was facing Steve Wollat and both were making great burn outs as always. The green light was on and both guys stayed on the throttle just a bit longer than the 1000 feet mark due to the strong side wind and Peter ran a nice 6.20 sec. at 216 mph to take back the number 1 qualifying spot. This run also resulted in a ruined rear tire and we had to put on old spare tire.
On Sunday morning we had beautiful weather and since we already knew that we would have a buy run in the first elimination run due to that Steve Carey had problems with his engine after a broken transmission belt, we decided to step up the power on the bike a bit.
Peter made a nice long burn out to get some good temperature in the old tire and I had to run even further than I am used to but it is always great to put on a good show in front of the crowd at Santa Pod and it is worth the price. The green light was on an Peter had a great run resulting in a 6.06 sec at 221 mph with an early shut off, but the best of all was that he got a new personal speed record of 197.03 mph at the 1/8 mile which was real great.
After the first run of the day back in the pit we checked leak down on all cylinders and they all kept their pressure as they should and we already then knew that we should meet our good friend Steve Wollat in the semi finals, so we decided to keep the same the set up for the next run, even if the bike were spinning the tire a bit on the last run, since Steve is a tough guy to meet.
We were called to the lanes and waiting for the semi finals at about 2 pm and both Peter and Steve made great side by side burn outs. The green light was on and Peter had a slight advantage over Steve all the way down the quarter mile and when he crossed the beams the clock showed a decent 6.15 sec at 215 mph run over Steve’s 6.44 sec at 212 mph run. Petri Paljakka staged in the other semi final (his opponent Sverre Dahl had problem to fix his engine problems between the runs) to get his first ever European Champions title, which is real impressive since it is his first year in Top Fuel Bike, well done Petri!
Back in the pit after the run we had already understood that Petri had some problems with his bike and Peter went over to their team to ask if they wanted us to wait for them to fix their problem before we would run the finals and Petri came over to our team about half an hour later and confirmed that they would be able to fix their problems on scheduled time for the finals.
We were called to the lanes and waited for almost 40 minutes due to an oil-down in the left lane that we had chosen for the finals. In usually cases this would have made us change lane but at Santa Pod we all know that the track team does a tremendous work and most of the time the track is getting even better after an oil-down, so we stuck to the left lane. We waited for Petri but couldn’t see him so we asked the officials if they could check where he was, meanwhile Pro Stock bike and Super Twin run their finals. Then Petri’s team came running with their bike and the officials decide to run the final in Funny Bike first to let Petri calm down a bit before the final in Top Fuel Bike.
Peter and Petri made some nice side by side burn outs and they were pre staged waiting for the stage light, the green light came on for Peter but unfortunately Petri got a red light, Peter had no aims of taking an easy run so he nailed it and got a great time of 4.08 sec. at 231 mph with a poor 0.95 sec 60 foot time and he was in the winner circle.
Back in the pit the girls from Speedgroup came over to us for and interview and told us that we actually had got enough points to become number 3 in the European Championship which is really great since we were only participating in 3 out of 6 races this summer and still got the number 3 spot!!
A big THANK YOU to all that makes this possible:
- Kendall Motor Oil in Sweden, supplied by Sollebrunns Oljeservice www.sollebrunn.com/oljeservice/
- Samek Tool AB, who makes some of the best moulding tools in the automotive industry in Sweden www.samektool.se
- CemeCon A/S, one of the best coating companies in Europe when it comes to camshaft coating etc www.cemecon.se
- Real Form, product development within mechanical design www.realform.se
- Romnet, consultants within computer network favours etc www.romnet.se
- Team Kendall Pro Mod Team, Lindahl brothers
- All our families and friends
A special thanks to all our Swedish friends coming over to Santa Pod supporting us for this race and to all the rest of our fans that supported us at the race!
For more information about our previous achievements and updates during the off season please visit www.billetracing.se (in English).
Please find some photos by our good friend Patrik Jacobsson from www.racebilder.nu enclosed with this report.
Best Regards from Peter and Sören Svensson, Team Kendall Racing Top Fuel Bike
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