EVENT: May Day Italian Racing Gathering, Skokloster, Sweden.
DATE: 01/05/02
A trip to Sweden to check out the scooter scene revealed that the Swedes are
just as scooter mad as us brits... The need for speed is just as prevalent
in Sweden with highly-tuned auto's being the order of the day.
The morning of May 1st saw an admirable gathering of scoots (predominantly Dragsters) and motorcycles outside the forecourt of
Hojladan (ex-importer of Italjet in Sweden). After some chatting and taking pictures we set off on a 55km ride to Skokloster
(and a chance for me to take in some Swedish countryside). On the way there I rode as pillion on Micke's (aka Dr. Scooter) Dragster (but had the chance to ride it on the journey back). Having never ridden
as pillion passenger before (on a Dragster) I can tell you it was a tad scary... Micke did ride considerately but the feeling of sliding off the back
of the bike at 80mph was a bit of a concern!
Pleased to arrive in one piece at Skokloster there was already an abundance of Italian cars and bikes at the venue and the Ducati club followed us in shortly after.
The scoots themselves were mostly all Malossi-kitted and sported modifications of various kinds. The most heavily-modded bike at the event had to be
Pelle Plast's 'Ducati-Dragster' which Pelle cunningly parked next to the other Ducati's at the event. Pelle's 'transformation' is essentially a 50cc Dragster but
with frame modifications of mammoth proportions and the name says it all. Check out the Gallery pics and you'll also notice a custom carbon dash fitted to one of the
Dragsters. Sporting a very smart GPS satellite navigation system this is the handy work of Mattias Fogelqvist who's bike I featured in Twist & Go (issue 10).
Mattias has gone for a new colour scheme too switching from silver to blue. The most-striking Gilera Runner at the event had to be PH's custom Runner which also deserves
a magazine feature, if I told you that the engine was modified by an aircraft engineer then you'd expect the bike to go fast, well, it does. PH's trick paint job
really makes the bike too. Probably one of the fastest Dragster's I would say was Peter T's, I can say the fastest since I had the chance to take it for a test ride. Built by an
experienced mechanic, dyno'd at 24hp and boasting a parts list that lasts a week, need I say more?
Shouts out go to Sören, Stefan, Peter T, Mattias, P-H, Zebbe, Thomas, Marvin, Frederick, Pelle and of
course Micke and Jonas who made the trip a memorable one (apologies to anyone I forgot to mention), hope to see you all again soon... Hojladan - respect!
... a few nights at Långholmen prison weren't that bad either.
Words: Paul Robinson.
There were a bunch of (almost 50) scoots joining up at the Hojladan forecourt and after some checking out and snapping pix we set off to
do the 55km ride to Skokloster. When we got there there were already a field full of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Fiat, Maserati and the Moto
Guzzi guys pulled up just in front (and behind some of us) and shortly the ching-ching-ching of Ducati dry clutches could be heard when
the Swedish Ducati Club arrived in full force but without any grappa...
We had some pasta, looked at cars and bikes and soaked up the sun... On the way home we soaked up the rain but we all had a blast...
There were some real nice Dragsters and almost all of them Malossi kitted... Peter T with his monster 20+ hp silver scoot,
Mattias with his new Subaru blue paint and GPS/carbon dash, Dr. Scooter with his silver, blue suede, digital Dragster and some other
real fine Dragsters... There was also an Aprilia Atlantic 500cc from Hojladan and some real fine 50cc Dragsters. Myself I rode (since
there were some troubles with my Formula) on a new de-restricted Aprilia DiTech and I'm still impressed with the speed and power of the
scoot, I did not once feel left behind....
Paul 'Mr.ItaljetDragster.com' Robinson rode pillion there and then Dr.Scooter's Dragster home, and he seemed to love it... I guess we'll
see more of him here in Sweden although he had to spend nights in prison...
Words: Jonas Erasmie (aka DP), Hojladan, Sweden.
