News 2007
Pictures Veidec Festival are now online. Click here
Lex Joon wins FIA Veidec Festival!
Lex Joon drove his MPM Top Fuel Dragster around Thomas Nataas in an all important final round Sunday to win the 34th annual Veidec Festival at Mantorp Park, Sweden and moved one step closer to the FIA Top Fuel Championship. Lex Joon claimed the 4th FIA victory of his career.
After struggling in qualifying Lex Joon managed to get in the show at the last qualifying session. With all the rain over the weekend the track crew did an great job preparing the track safe and fast. An 4.81 second made Lex no 3 in qualifying. “ I could feel the pressure knowing after Q2 that I wasn’t in the show. And with all the rain over the weekend we knew we had only one shot left. So everything had to be perfect” said Lex. The MPM car was already in the pairing lanes when it started raining. But the rain went away and the track crew got the track dry. A couple of Pro Stock cars were in front of us and they had to finish their session first. Unfortunately one of the Pro Stock drivers got in trouble and crashed the car. During all this waiting the weather conditions went up and down and it was hard to know the set up we put in the car would hold. But we had to qualify so we left everything the way it was. The car left the line hard and got into tire shake. “ I really thought that was it. But I knew I had to try it again and slammed the peddle one more time. Luckily it hooked and the car left in a way I have never felt before. At the 1000 ft mark I lost my belt and the burst panels came out. I thought we didn’t make it. Than I heard we ran a 4.81 seconds and I knew I was in the show and racing on Sunday” said a relieved Lex Joon
In the first round on Sunday Lex was up against World Champion ski jumper Janne Ahonen from Finland. Janne Ahonen his crew struggled to get the car fired up and after they did the start official told Janne to make a short burn out because Lex was already back at the starting line. But Janne made his burnout almost until the 1/8 mile mark and when he got back at the start line the start official told him to shut the car down. So Lex had a bye run.
In the semi finals Tommi Haapanen was in the other lane. We knew Tommi was having a great weekend with running personal bests so we had to step it up. And what a race it was. 4.89 by Tommi against 4.79 of Lex. This was enough to put us in the final against Thomas Nataas.
After both cars left the line Thomas his car went up in smoke at the 60ft mark and the MPM crew knew the victory was there. Lex run a 4.95 sec and took the win. “ There are no easy wins in Top Fuel so every victory is great. But winning in Sweden was something I have been waiting for a long time and I am really happy that I could finally do it. This was a very important race for the Championship”.
The next race Lex Joon Racing will attend will be the Nitrolympics at Hockenheim. 17- 19 august 2007.
Main Event previeuw The Main Event will host the first FIA race of the 2007 Championship season and will start at Santa Pod Raceway May 26 – 28. A new season full with new opportunities. After Lex Joon won the first race of the season at Santa Pod in April during the Easter Thunderball the MPM driver can be seen as one of the favorites. Not only will Lex try to get the FIA title back to the Netherlands he is also eager to set some records on his name as well . Never before so many drivers would have a good chance to win the title. All the European race teams have stepped up during the winter and they are ready to fight for the title. During the Main Event 10 teams will contest for a 8 car field so being qualified is not guaranteed. With Norway being canceled from the calendar for this year the 2007 FIA season will only counts 4 races or in other terms 12 race rounds. Even though the Gardermoen racetrack is always in a excellent condition and the facility that brought Lex his first FIA win of the 2006 season they had to withdraw due to a sponsor stepping out and the Norwegian promoter could not find a replacement in time. All the racing action can be followed through Eurodragster @ http://www.eurodragster.com/santapod/live/2007fiamainevent/default.htm Calendar FIA European Championship 2007 25-28 May, Main Event, Santa Pod, England 05-08 July, NitroNationals, Alastaro, Finland 26-29 July, Veidec Festival, Mantorp Park, Sweden 06-09 September, European Finals, Santa Pod, England
Eric Medlen 1973-2007 He was the sport's top Funny Car rookie in 2004. He won three races in 2005 and two in 2006 Eric we will never forget you, rest in peace. Our sincere condolences to the Medlen family, his friends and John Force Racing. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you.
Eric Medlen, 33, who had emerged as one of the most popular young drivers in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, succumbed Friday afternoon to injuries suffered when his race car crashed into a guardwall during a Monday test session at Gainesville Raceway.
National Sponsoring Event 2007
Lex Joon Racing is very proud to be invited for the National Sponsoring Event 2007. This congress will take place October 9th at the congress and events complex Ahoy in Rotterdam. Mr. van der Pluijm, CEO of Van der Pluijm Sponsoring and promoter of this congress made it is possible for Lex Joon racing to show cooperative Dutch company’s our Top Fuel Team and give them a glance of the dragracing sport itself.
During the 2006 season Lex Joon Racing and Van der Pluijm sponsoring started a program to give this extreme form of auto sport more recognition in the Netherlands. ”For me the challenge in this business is to find the companies who are looking for something new and catching, Lex Joon Racing fits perfectly in this picture especially because they are the only team in the Netherlands and proofed to be one of the best in Europe competing at the highest level in this sport. Together with there partner MPM International Oil Company they won the 2005 FIA European Championship. To have the 2007 racecar “live” at this congress , after the they have just finished the European Championship season, is very unique.”
The management and decision makers from distinguished companies will attend this congress. That is why Lex Joon himself and a selection of his crew members will be on hand to answer all the question that need to be answered. “Since a couple of years we promote the sport here in the Netherlands but missing a permanent racetrack is often the reason to approach international companies. A company with an establishment in the USA for example, were the dragrace sport is born, doesn’t need an explanation regarding the impact of this sport compared with a company who is not familiar with all the extremes we deal with. But I am convinced that this congress will make a big chance in that.” according Lex Joon.
More information about the National Sponsoring Event 2007 can be found on http://www.sponsoringevent.nl ( Dutch only)
Happy New Year from Lex Joon Racing to our fans, friends and partners all over the world, its you who make it possible for us to go down the Quarter mile track quicker and faster then ever before with a program that can win the FIA Championship again in 2007.
2007 is a fact, the countdown to the first race of the season has started, for us the Easter Thunderball will be the first meeting and we are looking forward to it.
With a lot of new parts ordered nothing can hold us back to set new personal records and probably new European records as well. With the backing of MPM International Oil Company as our main sponsor we have the fundament to take the 2007 season as serious as never before. In 2006 we have seen the most exciting Championship so far, we from Lex Joon Racing have all the intention to make it a better one this year.
The benefit we have over last season is our preparation. This year we have the opportunity to go over our equipment with the eyes of a tuner something that will help our program without any doubt. Right now we have excess to the latest information gathered by our sources in the USA. With the lack of test opportunities here in Europe something that is really valuable, this will help us quick through the chances we make at the start of this season.
The race calendar for the 2007 is now online!