When Litlington, UK rider Ian King clinched the opening rounds of Top Fuel Bike at both the British Championships at Easter and the European Championships in May many could have been forgiven for believing the early success was due to home advantage.However, the second round of the prestigious Drag racing championship held in Alastaro, Finland showed the team had the mettle to cope home or away, after taking the event title and building a commanding lead in their quest to repeat theEuropeanChampionship crown of four years ago.
Upon collecting the race transporter from Turku Harbour after it’s long four day journey from England the rain started and did not bode well for the weekend, but the outlook was good and the entry list for the class was very strong. Indeed, the weather turned and remained hot and sunny throughout the race, presenting additional problems for the track crew. Races in Finland are subject to unique environmental regulations that mean `traditional’ methods of track preparation using traction compound and solvents are not easily achieved, and careful methods of controlling chemical evaporating to the atmosphere must be maintained.
The result was an enormously tricky surface for clutch tuning. Indeed it was not until the final round of qualifying that the King Racing team managed to find a (soft enough) clutch setting to actually launch the 1000 horsepower machine without it stepping dangerously out of line at the start.
Tactical manoeuvres then came into force when King elected to shut the bike down early in order that he should meet the number one qualifier and reigning European Champion Roel Koedam of the Netherlands in the first round. Koedam was suffering engine problems and King realised that the Dutchman was unlikely to make the first round.
In the meantime, the tricky surface was causing problems for the other riders too, resulting in no little damage to Swedish rider Peter Stroem who broke a crankshaft in half when losing traction at mid track during qualifying.
Despite the fact that King did indeed benefit from an unopposed bye run in the first round he elected to run the round as fast as possible with the soft clutch, resulting in the quickest run of the class for the weekend.
King’s closest contender left in the field, Norway’s Sverre Dahl was caught out by the track in his semi-final, seeing local rider Olli Koskinen ride through his tyre smoke and on to meet King in the final an excellent result for the Finn in what was only his second ever drag race event.
However, by then the British team had the measure of the track and coupled with King’s impressive reaction time the final saw King speed away from Koskinen for the all important win.
King Racing’s next event is the Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park, Sweden on the 29th & 31st July 2005.
King Racing are proud to be supported in their 2005 campaign by:
Mickey Thompson Tires, Gates Power Transmissions, Performance Machine, Pinnacle Autoparts, Wackyshack Paintshop, Turboville.com, RSG Customize, House of Kolor UK, Murdoch Racing Enterprises, Goodridge UK, Vanson Leathers, White Line Cycles (Athens), Cometic Gaskets UK, Aerotek Fasteners, Straightline Racing, Pixeleye Design, Web Camshafts, Mark and Jackie Hawkins, Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes, Kath Taylor, Obsession Motorsports and Pro Alloy Motorsport.
Any companies or individuals who wish to be involved in the King Racing 2005 race effort can contact us at admin@kingracing.com, by telephone on +44 (0) 7785 341099 or by fax on +44 (0) 1763 852707. Visit King Racing at www.kingracing.com
Pro Alloy have Designed and manufactured an Aluminum Fuel tank for Ian king's bike.
Story By: king racing
