Three seasoned Maltese racers – Duncan Micallef, Glenn Borg and Shawn Buttigieg – will be heading to the Santa Pod Raceway this weekend for the FIA/FIM European Finals.
The Raceway in England, known as the home of adrenaline-fuelled European drag racing, will be seeing 300 teams taking part in no fewer than 16 race classes over three days of competition.
Micallef will be racing in the Top Fuel, a category that has nine competitors in all – three from Sweden, two from Finland and one each from Malta, Switzerland, Denmark and the UK.
Shawn ButtigiegTop Fuel dragsters are considered among the fastest in the circuit with pilots reaching speeds of over 300 miles per hour and some finishing the 1,000 foot (305-metre) run in 3.7 seconds.
At present, Micallef is holding the fifth place in the European Championship standings.
He will be racing in an RF Motorsport Dragster which is actually based at Santa Pod, hence his team are well-accustomed to the race environs.
This weekend, Borg will be racing his Top Fuel Suzuki Funny Bike 1327cc – General Lee.
He will be vying for the major honours along with nine other riders – five from the UK, one from Sweden, one from Czech Republic, one from Greece and the other from the Netherlands.
Motorcycles in this category are fuelled by nitro methane and can make up to 1,500 horsepower.
From a standing start these machines can cover the first 60 feet in less than a second and can reach 200mph inside half the quarter-mile distance.
The Super Street Bikes championship has an increased entry of 21 racers, including Buttigieg and his Suzuki Hyabusa 1300cc.
The Super Street are stretched out bikes with no wheelie bars and treaded tyres. Some are even street legal. These bikes sport big turbo or nitrous conversions, and take real skill to assemble and ride.