American Car - November 2015

ACM

race

report

58

Top: A second

straight NitrOlympX

victory for Micke

Kågered in the

Bahco Tools Fueller

was unfortunate

for final-round

opponent Urs

Erbacher, looking

for the win in front

of his ‘home’ crowd

Above: Jon Giles

took his young

daughters up on

stage to share the

spotlight when

collecting the Super

Gas winner’s trophy

of fans that had booked to attend

the Night Show. Although fanatical

supporters risked being roasted

during the day through occupying

said unshaded seats, it was a different

deal when the mercury dropped

by a welcome few degrees in time

for all ticket holders to take their

allotted perch to view the non-stop

entertainment that traditionally brings

the busiest day’s racing to a colourful

conclusion. An eclectic programme of

stunts, wacky showmanship, booming

music, light show and demo runs went

down well with the packed house, and

at the end there was still time for those

people not needing to rush home to

wander around the pits and check

out the trade stands, food stalls and

generally be amused by the after-

hours shenanigans.

Sunday’s final eliminations went

off well, all in all, and quite why large

numbers of spectators don’t come

back to watch the day-three action

remains an imponderable. Sabbath

attendees must have enjoyed the

frantic action that kicked off with

Super Pro ET and ended with an

exhibition jet Funny Car pairing of

the UK’s Martin Hill with FireForce

3 and Gerd Habermann’s Dragon

Hunter. T/F eliminations had a note

of drama in the opening stanza when

Finland’s Anita Mäkelä suffered a

broken rod in the Atomic Chicken

at the hit of the throttle, instigating

a conflagration and sending the

wounded dragster sliding in its own

oil. Swedish competitor Micke Kågered

worked his way to victory lane for a

second straight year, defeating Urs

Erbacher in the finale, 4.17/283 over his

opponent’s 4.50/194.

TMD competition was dominated

by German brothers Timo and Dennis

Habermann, the latter just nipping

his elder sibling, 5.43/262 over a close

5.44/261. Leif Andréasson annexed the

TMFC win and Pro Mod laurels went

to Speedgroup head honcho Micke

Gullqvist, whose Camaro outran fellow

countryman Mats Eriksson’s Crown

Victoria in the final round, 6.03/239

against Mat’s 6.13/231 chaser.

The limey Sportsman contestants

unfortunately didn’t fare too well

in eliminations; Super Gas entrant

Jon Giles being the sole driver to

leave with a winner’s trophy. Barry

Giles was a runner-up in the Giles &

Hartley Super Pro ET dragster and

both stalwarts received loud cheers

from supporters when collecting their

awards at the catered evening get-

together traditionally laid on by the

organisers as a token of appreciation

for racers’ support.

With Hockenheim being an

important stop on the European tour

(and my personal favourite), it would

be fair to say that the successful

triple-decade commemoration

has ensured the historic venue will

carry on hosting a round of the

Championship.... with, of course,

the Night Show continuing to be

the cynosure. ACM

hockenheim.indd 58 21/09/2015 11:40:30