Santa Pod, Sept 09: Final round of the European Drag Racing Championships. Britain's Smax Smith became European Top Fuel drag racing champion at Santa Pod raceway on Sunday (September 7) after Sweden's Mikael Kagered's car burst into flames. Smax, who is in his rookie year of Top Fuel, reached a speed of 300 miles per hour to win the final round of the European championship series and the overall title in front of a crowd of 20,000. Kagered, who was unhurt by the fire, was the first to congratulate Smax on his victory. The cars run on a dangerous mix of nitromethane and a broken fuel line let 1 gallon a second out onto the hot exhaust manifold, igniting Kagered's car instantly.
Last year, Kagered survived a serious crash when his top fuel dragster was destroyed at the same meeting.
In the methanol dragster event, Briton Dave Wilson took European honours on Sunday when he beat off the challenge from Germany's Peter Schoefer. The two have been in a close battle for the lead all year, swapping wins and records but Wilson secured the win by a few hundredths of a second, reaching a speed of 260 miles per hour.


Sweden's Roger Johansson, after a year fighting off compatriot Hakan Nilsson, won the Bilsport Pro Modified series.


Roger, in his nitrous injected car, won by the narrowest of margins and pledged to return next year to defend his title.


Sweden's Per Bengston clinched victory in the Super Twin bike category. At 200 miles per hour, he took enough points during the semi-final stage of the competition to guarantee a win.


Bengston, who suffered leg damage in the previous round in Germany and who built the bike that he rides, was a popular winner as he has been at the top of the leaderboard all year.


Bureau Report