With Jim Walsh flying over for the weekend to make the tuning calls for Jari Halinen, the Sisu Polar RFM car was similarly flying with a new PB for the Finn 4.113/293.29 pushing into fourth spot on the ladder (despite the loss of a motor in qualifying) and then a 4.108 put him ahead of a shaking Anita Mäkelä in the first round of eliminations but against Neergaard in the final four.

After the departure of Risto Poutiainen from RFM during the Main Event, the championship winning ride was up for grabs and it came as a bit of surprise to find out just prior to the event that Micke Kågered was parking his Bacho Tools Express and occupying the hot seat with team principal Rune Fjeld calling the shots. Did it work? Well qualifying saw a lot of dropped cylinders, but a 4.153 losing effort to Nataas in the opening round marked Kågered’s best ET in the 1000 foot era (Antti Horto driving the third RFM car also picked up PB numbers with a 4.071 in qualifying). There will be another driver change in Finland (and this one will last until the end of the season), but we won’t pre-empt the official announcement by revealing all just now.

FIA Top Fuel Dragster
1. Stig Neergaard        (DK)                3.9812/304.47 mph     runner-up
2. Thomas Nataas      (Nor)                4.0366/293.91 mph     winner
3. Antti Horto               (Fin)                 4.0719/277.75 mph     semi-finalist
4. Jari Halinen             (Fin)                 4.1138/293.29 mph     semi-finalist
5. Anita Mäkelä           (Fin)                 4.2047/277.13 mph     first round
6. Patrik Pers              (Swe)              4.5012/201.32 mph     first round
7. Micke Kågered       (Swe)              5.7788/113.71 mph     first round
8. Timo Lehtimäki       (Fin)                 7.2340/81.40 mph       first round

Low ET            3.9812             Neergaard
Top speed       304.47 mph     Neergaard