Way up in the north of Norway lies one of the most remote and exotic race tracks
on Earth. The city is called Mo (Pronounced "moo") and just
outside of Mo is the Arctic Circle Raceway, which is about 20 km south of
the actual arctic circle !!
Surprisingly, the weather here is much warmer than it would be at this latitude
in Canada or Alaska, because of the warm westerly flow of the gulf stream
coming in from the North Sea.
Norway is very rugged and mountainous, and the nature is
absolutely breathtaking. The Norwegian people are very friendly, and they
definitely know how to have fun !!
A huge thanks to http://www.brewery.nothe Norwegian Budweiser importers
for helping me to bring this race coverage to you ! When you drink a Budweiser
in Norway, you must first say: "SKÅL" (pronounced "skoal"
in English ... & it means "cheers" )
So, wherever you live, go get yourself an Ice ColdBudweiser,
say "SKÅL" as you enjoy my tribute to the racers in the
land of the midnight sun !!!
~ Pat McGivern
" MotoMan "
Ice Cold
Budweiser !!
"
SKÅL "
" Velkommen til Norge !! "
(Welcome to Norway !!)
Tom Aarskaug
Even Flaat
Dag-Steinar Sundby
Jan-Tore Skoglund
Even Flaat
Vegar Hjellødegård
Chris Calvert
Norvald Haaland
Thorleif Netland
Tage Solberg
Erlend Rolstad
Arnt Sølvsberg
Morgan Ølnes
Nina Hagen
John Inge Asperheim
Bjørn Bye
Magnus Eker Christoffersen
Robert Petterson
Espen Sandbakken
Thorvald's Comeback !!!
Thorvald Sæby
is one of roadracing's "winningest" riders. He's not only well known
in Norway, but America too ! Anyone who has been to Daytona Bike Week will remember hearing
the name "Thorvald Sæby"
over the loudspeaker many times over the years. I first met Thorvald at
Daytona in 1993, and I've had the opportunity to build some of his race engines
for his Daytona adventures. Throughout the mostly "ups" and occasional
"downs" of roadracing, we've been great friends on and off the track ever since.
Then, the tough times struck in 2000. While racing for another Norwegian
Championship, Thorvald had a nasty crash... in the fall he dislocated and
partially "re-located" both shoulders as he tumbled. As if that wasn't
bad enough, a few months later he was in a serious car accident that resulted in
severely broken ribs ... and nearly ended his life !
After 2 years of recovery, which included a bout with what he describes as a
"Mental Flu", or depression from all of the time spent in the hospital
and severe pain from the injuries... Thorvald made his surprising return to
roadracing !! He was invited to ride the Budweiser Yamaha R6's after André
Løwen's
retirement from racing. To the astonishment of all, Thorvald finished an
impressive 3rd place in his first race back !! He continued with a consistent string of top
3 finishes, pushing past the pain and lack of movement in both
shoulders. At the end of the 2002 season, Thorvald Sæby
has proven to everyone that he's the Real Deal .... as he took 2nd place
in the 600 Production Championship !!!
Thorvald Sæby...
The Real Deal !!
" This Bud's For You, Thorvald !!! "
Jens Helge Jacobsen
Jens Helge Jacobsen
John Grøsland
John Grøsland
Hårek Flathaug
John Rasmussen
Trond Lervik
Kai Christoffersen
Kim Marius Olsen
Knut Bråstad
Lars Vadseth
Roger Vatshaug
Frode Haug
Bjørn Erik Engebakken
Superbike Start
Marius Malmo
Jon Fredheim Photography I'm honored that Norway's top photographer and moto-journalist
has offered to provide Mototune USA with these super action photos. It's
great to have Jon and M/C Avisa helping us
to further promote the sport of roadracing !! These pictures add some great
action and a second "viewpoint" of the race weekend.
The 600 Battle !!
Jan-Tore Skoglund is about to win the SS600 race ahead
of Dag-Steinar Sundby &
Tage Solberg
600 Production Start Norvald Haaland on pole position.
Oddgeir Havnen leading on lap one ahead of Thorleif Netland and Rolf Kåre Valderhaug.
Liss Anne Lie (14) and Ingvild Bolme (11) battle for
3rd place in the ladies' race.
Liss Anne won the duel.
Sweden's Stefan Olgarsson won the 250 Production class by riding like
a "devil" !
Norvald's Crash !!
Jon Fredheim caught this wild sequence of photos as Norvald
Haaland goes past the limit in Friday's practice ! It's
never easy to re - focus
after a crash like this and get back to winning form, but that's exactly what
Norvald did. He went on to win both races on Saturday and Sunday, taking his first Norwegian
National Championship ! (600 Production)
Congratulations from all of us at Mototune USA !!!
Norvald Haaland
"Exploring The Limits"
" Catching Some Air "
" #@&^%*# "
Mette Kjaer Sørensen
Jan-Tore Skoglund
Nina Askeland
Thorleif Netland(34)
Frode Haug (8)
Norvald Haaland
Norvald Haaland
Oddgeir Havnen
Stefan Åeng
Rune Pedersen
Per Kristian Mausethagen
Per Utterstrøm
Petter Solli
Roger Ruud
Rolf Kåre Valderhaug
Ronny Sørli
Stellan Hedlund
Komatsu Sundby Racing Dag-Steinar Sundby is super fast on the
track, and his wild hanging off style makes him a real crowd pleaser !! The
effort doesn't stop there though...
The Komatsu Team
has set up a truly interactive display of their products. The construction
equipment is available for a "test drive" right at the track ... and I
just had to try it out ! Arne Sandum, the sales manager for Komatsu in Norway,
gave me a quick lesson and soon I had the big machine digging huge rocks like an
expert. This has to be the best promotion for a roadrace sponsor I've ever seen
!!
Dag-Steinar and his team really have to be commended on their creative
promotion, and also on winning the 600 Supersport National Championship at the final race at Våler.
Tanja Stauning is Energized With ...
... Battery
Energy Drink !!
Another big story of the weekend was
the huge surge forward by Tanja Stauning. The
Battery Energy Drink Team had been working
hard all season to get up to the level set by superfast Nina Hagen. Tanja
started out the weekend with some very fast laps in practice, and by the time
the final qualifying session was over, she had taken the pole position for the
race !!
Both Saturday's and Sunday's Ladies' races saw some of the most exciting action
of the season, as Tanja was suddenly competitive with Nina !! The two traded the
lead for lap after lap, and in the end Nina won both with Tanja right on her
back wheel at the finish line !!
"I'm so close to Nina's speed now, it's just the best feeling" said an
Tanja after the races. Battery
is the top selling energy drink in Norway, and it's a great match for this
Energetic up and coming roadracing star !!!
Tanja and her tuner Lars discuss some last minute bike set-up
" Go Tanja Go "
The Arctic Sun Shines On Tanja Stauning !!
" It Keeps You Going !!
"
Øystein Borch's 2 Stroke Tuning Trick
I first met Øysteinat Daytona in 1995, where he impressed many of the
Americans with his speed at the high horsepower track. How does he manage to
keep his GP bike running so fast ?? With a detonation sensor !! 2 stroke tuning
is a fine balance between the best fuel and air mixture for power. If the engine
is a little too lean, it will be very fast, but it will also detonate (explode)
the fuel-air mixture instead of smoothly burning it. Excess detonation will
quickly result in seized pistons ... not good !!
Many tuners stay on the safe side by running the jetting a
little too "rich", but the engine loses power and throttle response
from the excess fuel. By measuring the number of detonation "shock waves" in the
cylinder, the detonation sensor allows Øystein to run the engine lean enough for best possible power,
while keeping the detonation just below the limit of piston failure.
Øystein Borch
The detonation sensor records the average number of
detonation "shocks" for every 1,000 revs.
If there are too many "shocks" ... then the motor
"pops" !!
Øystein Borch !!
Polished combustion chamber ... you can use it for a mirror !!!
This photo shows just how lean the engine is... There's no carbon
build-up, except for where the incoming fuel sweeps across the piston !!!
The green arrows point to where the head gasket was trying to leak. At the
race in Karlskoga, Sweden the week before, Øystein had to use epoxy to mend a
broken o-ring ...
incredible, but it worked !!
Speed Up Your Bike !!
Thorvald Saeby, Dag-Steinar Sundby, Oddgeir Havnen, Tanja
Stauning, Tom Aarskaug, Even Flaat, Jan-Tore Skoglund and many more fast racers
from Norway have signed
up for my free horsepower tuning newsletter:
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Please tell your friends about this page !!
They'll like it too !!
" Velkommen til Norge !! "
