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Swedish Speedway motorcycle star Linus Sundstrom is continuing to turn heads amongst the sports' biggest names in Europe this year. Sundstrom was recently named a first track reserve at the International Motorcycle Federation (FIM) meet at the Scandinavian GP on August 14th.
It's been a long year for Sundstrom, but good results continue to pour in.
In being named a reserve, Sundstrom has taken one more step towards his ultimate goal of riding in the world's top speedway series. "That will be a great experience for me and the team to get to watch the top teams in the sport up close," said the 2008 Swedish Rider of the Year.
Sundstrom got some more good news recently. His team has qualified for the Swedish U21 Finals, to be held at his home track of Rye House. Sundstrom also competes for the Rye House team. This season, the young rider has taken on multiple roles, racing in Sweden, Poland and England. It's been a long year, but good results continue to pour in.
This season, Linus Sundstrom has taken on multiple roles, racing in Sweden, Poland and England.
"I'm very happy with the way I have been riding. The UK has especially been very good in both the Premier and Elite leagues. The Swedish and Polish leagues are still very hard, but we are still scoring some good points and still making good progress with regards to my career development."
Sundstrom's newest team, Start Gniezno in Poland, also recently qualified for the playoffs with the help of their new rider. The team finished fourth in the regular season standings, and Sundstrom is looking forward to the experience he will gain in the playoffs.
The K&N sponsored rider still has several appearances left on the season, and by years end, will have ridden in more than 100 events. "With so much traveling and then the riding its so important to have a good team around you. They really help take some of the pressure off."
Sundstrom says his K&N Filters are holding up wonderfully during the grueling races. Speedway bikes can accelerate to 60mph quicker than a Formula 1 car, so keeping everything clean is important. "My engine tuners are always happy when they see the work K&N Filters does for our motors. Keeping dirt out of the engine keeps everything running clean and smooth, and that eliminates the need to constantly spend money on rebuilds and service."
Peter Alexander and driver Darren Burke secured the 2010 Historic Formula Ford Championship with three races yet to go.
Peter Alexander and his K&N Filters Macon MR8, driven by Darren Burke, have won the 2010 Historic Formula Ford Championship with three rounds remaining. The PA Motorsports' team has won all 11 races so far this season.
At Castle Combe, even the return of former Champion Nelson Rowe couldn't stop the dominant run by Burke and the K&N Filters Macon MR8.
The teams' near supernatural track supremacy has been bewildering their competition all year, igniting petty suspicious and rumors spanning from the ridiculous to the absurd. Alexander has been nothing but forthright throughout. When officials, reacting to the peaking hysteria, asked to seal the Macon's' differential after the win at Snetterton, Alexander obliged, adding "Well, while you're sealing the diff can you seal the engine too?" Becoming perhaps the first team owner to ask for his own engine to be sealed.
The simple truth is that PA Motorsports' success comes about through a fundamental combination of talent and car preparation, plus shared communication and mutual respect between owner and driver.
"We trust each other totally, he lets me put the set-up on the car I think is right, and I let him get on and drive it," remarks Alexander.
"Without wanting to sound big headed, we were pretty confident of doing well. At the start we did in fact joke about trying to win all the races, as we knew we had a good package, but to actually do it is something else."
At the Castle Combe race in Wiltshire, England where they clinched the title, former Champion Nelson Rowe returned to try and stop the dominant run by Burke and his Macon. Rowe used his local circuit knowledge to good effect, securing the pole position, whilst Burke was trying to quickly get familiar with a circuit he hadn't raced on before.
Burke still qualified second, just one-tenth of a second shy of the pole, so when it came time to race, the real battle ensued. The lead changed ten times in seven laps, with both cars glued together and running at lap record pace, all the while pulling away from the rest of the pack by two seconds a lap.
"The Castle Combe race was a good test for us, as a former Champion came back to try and beat us at his home circuit, so it was nice to win that one," commented Alexander.
Regardless of what was thrown at Burke or the PA Motorsports team, they couldn't be stopped. Given the earlier scrutinizing the team endured, how did their competitors deal with the championship sweep to this point?
"Some of the paddock gossip stopped after we had the engine and gearbox stripped," said Alexander.
"We went straight to Mallory Park after rebuilding the engine and won both races, even with Darren having never raced there before. We also set a new lap record. That night by 8 p.m. there were rumors on the internet that we were using tire softener. However, since then the only sound has been head scratching."
With three races to go is the team still looking for a perfect season?
"Yes, that would be the ultimate. We are entered for the next round at Oulton Park. After that we are struggling for budget, but somehow we need to go for the clean sweep don't we?"
"People would always remember the season that one driver won every race, and as we've got this far, it would be a shame to stop now – we already have the Championship. We need to try to win the lot. Besides, there are still a couple of lap records to be had."
"To be honest, we are still very much focused on this season. The more races we win the more pressure there seems to be. It's probably self induced pressure, but I'm spending more and more time on the car to make sure something silly doesn't let us down. I would be mortified if we lost a race because something broke!"
"As for what's ahead, we need to figure out what happens in 2011. We don't have any firm plans yet, it really depends on what sort of budget we can raise as to what we do."
Although the track at Petaluma was unusually rough and tacky, Forsberg was able to find his groove up high early in the race.
Andy Forsberg and Brian Cannon Motorsports', Autism Awareness, Coors Light, number 47car headed to Petaluma Speedway in Northern California for a 360 Civil War Race.
Forsberg felt the heat from Becker mid-way through the race, but he managed to break free and cruised comfortably to victory after two late-race caution flags.
The Civil War series consists of Northern California tracks that run 360 Sprint cars once or twice a month. On that particular race night the other tracks must go dark, so all the 360s from the various other tracks are not racing against each other on the same night. That way you insure that the best drivers from all the different venues are present. The Civil War races are contested at Chico, Placerville, Petaluma, Calistoga, Quincy, and Watsonville, California.
Forsberg finished second in his heat at Petaluma, giving him a starting position along the outside front row for the A-Main event. Forsberg wasted no time taking the lead on the rough and tacky Petaluma track. Mid race, in heavy lapped traffic, Sean Becker began applying some serious pressure on Forsberg. However, after a couple of late-race cautions broke up the race momentum, Forsberg once again found smooth sailing the rest of the way to the finish.
With this his second Civil War win of the year, Forsberg holds onto the points lead and becomes only the first two-time winner in the series.
This was Forsberg second Civil War victory of the year, making him the first, and only two-time winner in the series at this point. He holds onto the point lead by twelve.
"Hopefully we can be the first three-time winner as well, we keep trying to finish up front with Civil War races, but when we have had a chance to win before, we just have seemed to run into some bad luck, and we really need to be taking advantage of those nights," confesses Forsberg.
"Winning the Civil War Championship is very important to us, Sean Becker has won it two years in a row now, and we really don't want him to get a third. Being consistent is what we need, along with a little luck, and a few more wins would really help."
The evening before Petaluma, Forsberg and the team raced in Chico, California in a 410 points race. Things started off well enough, with him earning a fourth in the heat. But the track caught everyone by surprise, as the normally hooked up surface was slicking off at a rapid pace. Forsberg spun a couple of times in the main and wasn't the least bit pleased with his sixth place finish. Looking on the positive though, it was the first time he had even finished a race in Chico since back in May.
"We have kind of struggled in Chico since 2007, that's when they took the dish shape out of the turns," said Forsberg.
"I used to really excel at running the top groove, but when they flattened out the turns, in my opinion, it made the track more one groove and harder to pass. We did win another Championship there in 2008, but were definitely not the force we might have been in the early 2000's."
Forsberg has been with K&N since 2003, during that period he has won 46 races, two California 360 Civil War Championships and two Silver Dollar Speedway 410 Championships.
Winning on Sunday Biondo stated that his K&N Filters backed dragster was within thousandths of a second all day long.
In racing, as in all sports, careers are measured by championships, the number of majors claimed, the big races won. To reach the pinnacle, talent alone is never enough. At the top tier of professional drag racing for example everyone is skilled. What separates the good racer, from the great, is varying degrees of perception and acceptance of the moment. The pressure that some feel as dehibilating, a handful are capable of using as smelling salts to arouse their consciousness - to hyper-focus their chi as it were.
Biondo left Atco Raceway with two trips to the finals, one win, and $37,000 more in his pocket.
K&N driver Peter Biondo is the latter kind of racer, with 36 total NHRA National event wins in the categories of Super Comp, Stock and Super Stock, he's clearly established that. It's precisely that ability to hyper-focus on the big stages that had Biondo putting on a dominating performance at arguably one of the biggest and most competitive bracket races of the year. Over 200 of the most talented drivers in the country showed up at Atco Raceway in New Jersey for three big days of racing, with $25,000 up for grabs on each day. As day one, Friday, came to an end, K&N driver Biondo came up only one round short of winning it all.
"It was bittersweet - I was happy to make it to the final round with such a talented field of racers, but in the final, when the win light comes on in the other lane, that tends to sting a bit," remarked Biondo.
Despite losing the final, Biondo still ended up with $12,000 for his efforts, and he was still looking at two more days of racing. Another innate facility that elite champions share is their ability to shake off heartbreak, stay in the moment, and move on.
After falling in the early rounds on Saturday of the event, Biondo ‘one upped' his Friday performance, taking home the big $25,000 check on Sunday.
"Without a doubt, the biggest win of the year for me," said Biondo. "My K&N Filters backed dragster was within thousandths of a second all day long. No doubt this played a big role in the win."
It was yet another weekend for the record books for the versatile driver most fittingly refer to as "The Terminator". With this performance Biondo continues his sizzling summer hot streak and we wondered why he thought that was?
"It's something that can't really be described in words, but the more intense the pressure, the easier I find it is to focus. I guess subconsciously I realize there is more at stake, and it forces me focus more. I guess in off the track terms the best way I could describe it is, it's like a person who can lift up a car because of adrenaline when they are trapped under it."
"A key to being competitive at any level in sports is never to get too high or too low. Sure I was upset for the moment when I lost the first final. But I try to get back to ‘my zone' after each round, or each race, regardless of the previous outcome. Getting too high will cause you to get too comfortable and complacent, where as getting too low sometimes forces you to try too hard. Neither is a good place to be."
Next up for Biondo are a couple of more big-time races - the US National, followed by the Million Dollar Race - Both being contested in Indianapolis.
With Swanson's win at ORP, Wilke-PAK Motorsports becomes the winningest team in USAC history.
"Becoming the USAC's winningest team in history is such a great honor for the Wilke family. What makes it very important for me personally, and my family as well, is the fact that this record spans four generations of Wilke racers dating back to my great grandfather Bob Wilke, to his son Ralph Wilke, then to his sons Greg and Mark, and then to me Greg's son," remarked team owner Chris Wilke.
Jerry Coons Jr., driving the second Wilke Spike/Toyota, qualified second fastest and finished in seventh place at ORP.
"We all know this record is a huge milestone in the history of our family, but records continue to be broken all the time, so we are not prepared to call it quits just yet!"
Kody Swanson once again turned in a dominating performance, this time driving the Wilke-PAK number 11car, and winning the 30-lap USAC National Midget Series feature at O 'Reilly Raceway Park (ORP). Swanson led the entire race and finished over three seconds ahead of second place. Jerry Coons Jr., driving the second Wilke Spike/Toyota, finished in seventh place, after qualifying second fastest.
Swanson, who finished third at ORP for the team back in May, became the 30th different driver to win a USAC National event for the Wilke team. The record 134 victories in USAC include wins in Indy Car, Silver Crown, National Sprint Car, and the National Midget Series. Incredibly, the team has scored USAC victories at 61 different tracks, in sixteen states.
"My great grandfather Bob Wilke started the family racing back in the 30's, he was a great business person, and quickly figured out that the key to success in racing, just like in other businesses, is having the right people and making sure the job is done correctly every time it's attempted. Our ability to win so many USAC races directly stems from our early history of being successful, mainly due to the great foundation built by Bob Wilke" explains Chris.
"We have been working with K&N for over a decade, and its companies like K&N that continually strive to be the best, and to produce the best products they can, that give us that competitive advantage. K&N not only produces quality products, but they ask how they can make it even better, and it's that quality that makes the difference between a win and second place."
"We would like to personally thank K&N for their support, without you we wouldn't have the success that we enjoy now."
