Monday May 21, 2018 at 3:51pm
The first round of the European FIM Championships for Top Fuel Bike, SuperTwins and Pro Stock Bike starts at Santa Pod Raceway over the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend of 25-28th May. Top Fuel Bike. Reigning Champion Rikard Gustafsson will start his defence of his title and will be hoping to run his first five-second pass in Europe after recording his first ever five-second pass in the USA last November. Last years runner up in the championship Stuart Crane has new bodywork following his top end fire at the European Finals and will be hoping to go into the 6.7sec zone. Filippos Papafilippou will be riding Ian King championship winning bike this season. Multi-time and Reigning ACU Top Fuel Bike Champion Steve Woollatt is another rider to watch out for. SuperTwins. Martijn De Haas will be going for his fourth title. Nine bikes have entered the event the biggest field for a few years. Neil Midgley ran 6.47 last year and there is still more to come from that bike. Hans Olav Olstad makes a welcome return to the FIM Championships the former Nordic champion has a best of 6.53-219mph. Two new bikes make their debut at the event. Christian Jager and Allan Davies on the first Puma V Twin powered motor. Pro Stock Bike. Multi-time champion Fredrik Fredlund has not entered the event, so who are the main riders to look out for. Kenneth Holmberg has run 7.112 but has had engine damaged on recent visits to Santa Pod. Alex Hope will be testing the ex Dave Beck bike which has been worked on and if there are problems he will use his own bike, which his father rode. Martin Bishop ran well towards the end of last season and could reach the final as could former finalist Martin Newbury. Super Street Bike. Round 2. Reigning Champion Richard Stubbins won the opening round in Hungary when he beat Rudi Zorzi. Last years runner up in the championships Mogens Lund lost in the semi-finals, as did Franklyn Borg. At this event, former champions Steve Venables, Graham Balchin and Garry Bowe will be trying to win the event. Other riders in with a chance are Pete Field, Daniel Lencses and Stephen Mead. Report by Steven Moxley.