VICTORY TEAM IN FIRST AND SECOND ON THE PODIUM     

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April 18^th, 2002 , Abu Dhabi

Bow to stern high speed traffic dodging mayhem was the order of the day when the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club hosted heat 3 of the Class II and III 6 Liter Middle East Championship and witnessed Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama in their BMW powered Victory 1 boat take their first chequered flag of the season. Second home were team mates Saeed H. Al-Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri in Victory 7 with third place on the podium going to Ahmed Al Tayer and Khalifa Al Tayer.

Powering off to a great start, Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama in Victory 1, made their intentions clear from the very start that in this race they certainly meant business as the competitors fought a desperate battle to get ahead of the crowd of 21 Class II and III 6 ltr competing boats.

Away from their customary leading edge position, Saeed H. Al-Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri were left to dodge traffic and find a way through the crowd at the start line. “We had problems at the start of the race when we got blocked in by the class III boats.” said Mohammed Al Marri in Victory 7, “Passing was a little bit harder, as there was a lot of traffic at times, especially at the buoys.”

However, never one to be left behind, Victory 7 were fast to catch up and before the end of the first lap they soon saw them selves firmly locked into second place behind team mates Victory 1.

Contenders for the title Mateo Niccolini and Ahmad Al Suwaidi in Searacer 32, M9 saw their hopes of a podium finish dashed yesterday when engine problems half way through the race forced them to an early retirement. Bad luck also plagued the pairing of Kristian Tazanov and Luca Niccolini in Sea Racer 30, M9, when they too were forced to a standstill with engine problems.

Further into the race, runaway leaders began to meet with lapping traffic, and coming into buoy 6 saw Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama having to take the outside corner to avoid traffic, giving team mates Al-Tayer and Al Marri who were trailing by 11 seconds a chance to catch up and edge ever closer.

What ensued was a dog fight and by lap 7 the two Victory Team boats were engaged in a private two boat battle as the chasing pack were left in their distant foamy wake over 1 minute and 25 seconds behind.

In the end it was Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama that took the chequered flag; leaving Saeed H. Al-Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri in Victory 7 a second place, a place that leaves the question open as to who will clinch the title during next Fridays title deciding race in Dubai.

“It was a fantastic result today. We have gained the extra 400 points that we lost in Abu Dhabi in Heat one when we were forced to retire early.” said Ali Nasser in Victory 1, “We didn’t want to make any mistakes during the race and we played it safe around the bends especially.” adding “Ali Al Qama was great out there today. He dealt with the wake of the other boats superbly and we aim to have a repeat performance next week in Dubai ” .