King Racing take Triple Crown
16th September 2007 – London, England

In what transpired to be the closest and most exciting finale to the European Top Fuel Bike Championship that had ever been seen, the TVR Power Top Fuel Bike of King Racing took both the event title and the overall Championship Crown in the very last run of the season.

Going into the finals at Santa Pod, England, the team found themselves in second place by 2 points behind the Italian Ferretti Racing team, piloted by Luigi Ferretti. In third place, again by only two points was the current Champion Rikard Gustafsson of Sweden.

The Anglo Dutch King Racing team found themselves in a familiar position during qualifying, mechanical gremlins conspiring to continue the tale of woe of the season, with exhaust valves bending almost every pass due to excessive combustion heat necessitating the between round removal of the cylinder head. The very fact that the team actually made it to the event was a feat in itself, with a damaged crankshaft suffered at the previous event at Hockenheim in Germany amazingly repaired and returned to the team with the great help of Zodiac Racing’s Ton Pels.


The team managed a modest fourth spot going into eliminations with a 6.51 @ 203.85 mph, however with Gustafsson and Ferretti behind King in qualifying the extra points gained put the British rider on equal points with the Italian. A bumper field of 19 bikes vying for an eight bike final ladder also meant it was not as bad as could have been taking into account the problems experienced.

With the first and third position riders in the championship facing each other in the first round of eliminations it meant at least one of the championship contenders would not progress any further that the first round. Ferretti overcame Gustafsson meaning a tricky semi final for the Italian against the resurgent French number one qualifier of Eric Teboul (who posted a PB of 6.20 during qualifying).

King met fellow UK TFB rider Steve Carey in the first round, and a holeshot by King was an important factor when his machine hit problems at mid track and just rolled across the line 1.66 seconds in front of Carey to just scrape the win.

Ferretti’s fortunes improved when what should have been a tricky semi final for him against the number one qualifier Teboul dissolved as the French rider destroyed his engine in his first round match up and meant he failed to make the start. Ferretti took an easy solo into the final.

King had no such easy semi final as he faced up against the rapid Suzuki of Neil Midgley. Despite the lighter bike leaving first and carding his best time of the event at 6.81 King rode away from the UK rider and crossed the line 0.1642 second ahead and into the final.

So, the final saw King and Ferretti on equal points and vying for the event win that would also have given them the overall championship honours. But things did not look good for the team. Bent exhaust valves during their semi final resulted in 100% leak on two of the four cylinders, and no time to make repair for the final. The team decided to go for broke and run in the final, with little hope of making it to the end. The packed grandstands had no idea of the problems the team were suffering and waited on tenterhooks as the two Nitro machines staged for the defining race of a long season.

The lights dropped on the tree and the two riders were away, but King once again used his superior reaction to steal a jump on the game Italian rider with a 0.1431 reaction over the slower 0.3048 of Ferretti. The home fans were on their feet as King flashed across the line 0.3319 seconds ahead with a 6.44 @ 191.46 against Ferretti’s 6.6151 @ 198.39.

The team had won their third European Championship title against all odds.

This third championship and two new European records set in Sweden were just rewards for the superlative efforts in as extremely arduous season for the team of Michael Beaumont, Martin Bookman, Chris Powell, Marius van der Zijden, Gerard Willemse, Nick Pepper and Debbie King along with the unbelievable support of their partners of TVR Power, Jack Sheer, Josh White, Mickey Thompson Tires, Gates Power Transmissions, Performance Machine, Wacky shack Paint shop, Torco Oils / Nimbus Motorsports, Turboville.com, RSG Customize, House of Kolor UK, Murdoch Racing Enterprises, Goodridge UK, Vanson Leathers, Kershaw and Co, Goedhals, Aerotek Fasteners, Pixeleye Design, Kent Cams, Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes, Kath Taylor, Pro Alloy Motorsports and PsycleWorkz.
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