The Beast is back. Having scored a low qualifying effort at the Main Event, Per Bengtsson settled for second spot with an early shutoff 6.929/281 km/h pass from the fearsome parallel blown twin and then had a double Dutch feast in the first two rounds of eliminations, defeating alternate Martyn de Haas with a 7.067 and a cylinder dropping Job Heezen with a 7.168 in the semis. Current points leader Lorenz Stauble proved the opposition in the final round, but a 6.872/325.11 km/h put him ahead at the finishline by less than a bike length.

Second event in the 2009 championship, and the second final round appearance for Switzerland’s Lo Stauble onboard the Erbacher Racing nitro Harley. A low qualifying 6.898/323.95 km/h gave Stauble the low qualifier points, and, like all the top half of the ladder, he was able to progress to the final four after Svein Olaf Rolfstad’s blower bike went bang just off the startline. The semifinal in the top half of the ladder was also a Swiss v Norway affair, which Stauble also took after Olstad’s ride slowed dramatically just before half track, giving Lo a good start in the attempt to regain the title he held in 2007.

UEM Pro Stock Bike

Coming off the back of a far from satisfactory early finish at the opening round, Fredrik Fredlund was a lot happier with things after the Nitro Nationals, despite starting eliminations in third place. This meant a first round match-up against Martin Bishop, but a 7.439 did the job and led to a semifinal against Gabriella Nikolovska who had just taken her first win light in UEM competition. Nikolovska red lit her chances away giving Fredlund a spot in the final against low qualifier Ulf Ogge, a match up that was a repeat of last season’s Alastaro final. Last year Ogge dozed at the line, this year he pulled red and wasted a 7.354/294.39 from the Bikeline G2 Buell, whilst Fredlund produced his best pass of the meeting with a 7.425 to switch on the win light.

2006 UEM Pro Stock Bike champion Anders Abrahamsson was back in UEM competition after a year’s sabbatical, and it was good to see the Motospeed team back out with a new bike. A 7.348 put Abrahamsson just behind Ogge’s 7.287 as the best of the rest, but the bike lurched way offline in the first round of eliminations giving Nikolovska one of the major upset round wins of the meeting.