Duncan Micallef (Rose Hughes photo)

Anita Makela (Ivan Sansom photo)

Eliminations had a shock with Jones departing at the quarter final stage losing out to RFM team-mate Duncan Micallef who produced the quickest run of the year and a new Santa Pod track record with a 3.8960/311.99mph to put the Maltese driver in the semi-finals. The first round also saw the championship contenders, Denmark’s Stig Neergaard (with a 4.050/292.01mph defeating Swiss star Urs Erbacher’s 4.444/247.93mph) and Finnish favourite Anita Mäkelä (a 4.035/290.30mph that threw some con-rods out of the engine at the finishline whilst opponent Steve Ashdown ran into problems before reaching the startline) progress with the final four being completed by outgoing champ Sweden’s Micke Kågered (4.361/264.69mph and shedding body panels on the way - the repairs for the rest of the event coming from ‘John Bodie Smith’s Body Shop’ which seems to major in copious amounts of racers’ tape, Smith being but one of a myriad of Stateside crew chiefs on hand over the weekend) who defeated the final UK entry of Tethys (4.359/208.00mph) in Erbacher’s second team car with a quicker reaction time.

Micke Kagered (Rose Hughes photo)

The semi-final stage would see the championship decided, but not without drama as Mäkelä lost out to another consistent (but fiery) 3.8961/312.18mph from Micallef leaving her as an anxious spectator for the next pairing. A huge sigh of relief emerged from the Finn when she was able to retain her slender points lead when Neergaard lost out to Kågered’s 4.059/278.51mph. Unfortunately, an oil leak that couldn’t be fixed in the pits following an engine change prevented a repeat from Micallef leaving Kågered to solo to the event win.