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Heat
Two of the Class II, III 6 liter and ProVee UAE International
Championship, held at the Dubai International Marine Club, saw near
perfect Offshore racing conditions today, in spite of predictions to the
contrary. With the wave of the green start flag, the pace of the day
seemed to be 'catch me if you can,' as the 20 competing boats battled it
out for first place on the podium.
Class II defending Champions Saeed H. Al-Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri in
Victory 7, stormed in with a first place win, despite a broken side trim
tab, seven seconds ahead of team mates Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama in
Victory 1, leaving third place to Khalfan S. Al Muhairi and Matteo
Nicolini in SCM, M9.
In Class III 6 litre, it was Rashid Jaber Al Hamli and Ahmed Ali Jaber Al
Hamli in ADIMSC, S4, who laid claim to the chequered flag, seconds in
front of Christain Rivolta and Giovani Carpetella in G-One with third
place going to Mohammed Mubarak Al Qamzi and Majid Al Mansouri in
Abu
Dhabi Racing Team, S45.
Predictions of bad sea conditions forced organizers to revert to a storm
course, but as the sea state died down in the late afternoon, boats were
able to run at a faster pace then normal and witnessed top speeds reach in
excess of 139 kmph by both the Victory boats.
Although the course proved a treat for spectators, it was a case of
dodging traffic for some. "It was a really great race but maybe the
course could have been a little longer. We experienced problems because
there were so many boats on the circuit, especially as it came to the
turns." said Ali Nasser in Victory 1. "You really have to be
aware of what is going on to avoid accidents, especially if you have a lot
of younger pilots that may not have that much experience."
Victory Teams new sponsors, Seven Seas, Telecommunications solutions
provider for Victory Team, seemed to be the lucky catalyst in today's
race, but it was the good skill of the pilots, powered by their V8 BMW
engines that placed Victory 7 on the top spot. "We are pleased that
both boats came home with a 1-2 win. It was a great race today; you can
see that we have the reliability of the engines." said Robert Bailey-McEwan,
Managing Director, BMW Group Middle East. "Full credit to Victory
Team who managed to put Victory 1 together again so soon after the mishap
in Abu Dhabi last week."
A very pleased Mohammed Al Marri, Driver for Victory 7, put their win down
to one main factor. "We were fortunate that we made the correct
propeller choice for the sea conditions today, even though the sea died
down a lot more then we expected it to. We are extremely pleased as a
team with the result."
Today's race sees Victory 7 in first place in the overall Class II
Championship with 800 points, ahead of Victory 1 and Sea Racer in a tie
for second place with 469 points. Third place goes to SCM, M9.
Class III 6 litre overall Championship sets Sea Racer and SCM in another
first place tie with 35 points, ahead of Hot Staff with 12 points lying in
third.
Heat 3 and 4 is scheduled to take place in April 2002.
Click
here to read the pre-race release
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