Saturday morning sixteen Maxers took the ferry to Åland, an island in the Baltic sea. The journey is about 2 hours so we had time for lunch and to relax on deck this warm and beautiful day.
Shortly upon arrival we were joined by Niclas from the Finnish club. After checking in we all went for a group ride. The roads on Åland are well kept, winding and very nice for inspired riding. You just have to be on the lookout for speed traps, speeding is severely fined. We stopped for coffee, continued to Mariehamn - the only town on Åland - and then it was time to have our bikes inspected for the race.

Grisslehamn	Aboard the ferry	Coffee break...	...or a nap

The inspection almost turned into a nightmare. We had been promised a brief and summary control but the inspector wouldn't hear of it. Among other things we needed silicone on the oil drain plugs and he wanted to lock up the bikes over night, even though we had 30 km to our camping and were only going to race each other anyway. It was getting late, we were hungry and started contemplating giving up the whole idea. Eventually we were allowed to leave after promising we would take care of the "shortcomings" before the race.
All restaurants by the camping had now either closed or were fully booked so we ended up with takeaway burgers from a local fast food stand. Luckily the burgers were not bad and after a couple of beers the good mood returned. Silicone was applied and starting numbers taped. The evening passed in good fun as usual.

In Mariehamn	The inspection	Poor Bjorn misunderstood where to apply the silicone	Saturday night

After breakfast we headed to Mariehamn airport for briefing. Some final adjustments and preparations. Discussions around techniques and tactics, then just waiting...

Sunday morning in the pit	Bjorn correcting his mistake	The riders briefing	Ready to rumble

Several classes raced, both cars and bikes, I think it was slightly over 80 vehicles. Eleven Maxes participated in our ladder, the rest of the group joined as "mechanics". Soon the first qualification runs started, time to turn theory into practice. Adrenaline levels rose as we were approaching the staging area.

The functionary signals - I'm up. I enter the bleach box to warm up the tyre, carefully roll up to the photo cells, the bike on my right side gets ready too, revving the engine, feathering the clutch, the tree starts ticking down - away we go. Full throttle, tuck in, check the rpm and shift at the right time. My Max roars freely through the gears and everything's much easier and less dramatic than I'd thought, the 1/4 mile passes quickly. It's probably more the competition and the presence of audience and seasoned veterans that's causing the rush.

When everyone's back and helmets are removed you see big smiles everywhere. "This is a blast!". After each run we got our time slips and shared experiences. "The right lane is slippery, my rear tyre keeps spinning all the time", "Check the right rubber track, worked for me". Most of us were rookies and some raced for the very first time. The launches were the trickiest - there were tyre spins and wheelies but everyone had a great time.

Stefan's nitrous Max	Niclas and his girlfriend	Line-up for the first qualification run	Bjorn v/s Joachim
Kim v/s Anders	Erik v/s Per	Stefan in bleach box	Peter v/s Stefan

Everybody made three qualification runs and then the competition started.
We had decided to run the Vmax class as Bracket Racing - judging by the qualification times each rider decides his own dial-in time which he's not allowed to fall below. If you run faster you "Breakout" and loose the run. You race two at a time, the rider with the highest dial-in gets a head start calculated by the difference, and first across the finishing line wins.
The ET's were around 12 seconds and speeds around 180 kph for most riders. One of the Maxers noted the days fastest reaction time - 4 thousands. May of course have been some luck involved ;-)

Times and launch techniques were hot topics between each run	Waiting in the sun	Bjorn, Jens and Lasu ready for another run

Finally only two Maxers remained. Jens Gran in the left lane, dial-in 11.00. Anders Wallén in the right lane, dial-in 11.55. Anders gets a decent but far from perfect launch, half a second later Jens is on his way. When they are closing on the finishing line Jens passes and is ahead. It looks like a clear win but when they return to the pit Jens gets a surprise - the race had went faster than he thought, his time is today's best - 10.822 - and means Breakout, i.e. forfeit. The end result is 1:st - Anders Wallén, 2:nd - Jens, 3:rd Stefan and 4:th Anders Lasu. The prize ceremony was outside the airfield and all four got cups

After a full day on the track without any food the situation was critical so we head for a pizza house, and later to the ferry. There we met the inspector again on his Africa Twin. Discussions ensued but we didn't reach any consensus this time either.

It was a tired but happy gang sitting in the ferry cafeteria. When we arrived at the Swedish port it was pitch dark. We rode back together and parted along the way.

The prize ceremony	Happy prize winners	Waiting for the ferry. The inspector's Africa Twin

The weekend was a blast. Åland is worth a visit for the riding and atmosphere alone, and drag racing is fun wherever. This was not the last time!

Results and times will probably be posted here eventually

Thanks to:
Jens Gran who organized the weekend
Patrik for guiding the group ride and general help