Italian Grand Prix
Trieste , Italy - 16 June Sunday 2002

Victory Team
News 2002

Podium shot


Reverie crash

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VICTORY TEAM OPENS SEASON WITH A FIRST & SECOND, REVERIE CRASH OUT

The big boys of offshore, Victory Team, confirmed their status as the worlds best offshore team by powering off the season in the same manner that they left off last year; fantastically fast and definitely unmatchable.

With a first and second on the podium, it was Victory Teams Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama who stormed through the entire field to clinch a brilliant and hard earned first place. High praise came from second place winner and team mate Saeed H. Al-Tayer. “Ali Nasser and Al Qama had a fantastic race out there today and I am overjoyed that they have had the first win of the season. They really deserved it after the last Class One race in Dubai when it was so close.”

H.H Sheik Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the U.A.E and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, congratulated the team and drivers on a successful opening race to the season.

The first race of the season proved full of high speed drama when the second crash of the weekend saw Norwegian Kjell Rokke and Jim Dyke flip their American Skater boat Reverie whilst vying for position just moments behind 3^rd place finishers, Spirit of Norway during the second to last lap of the 12 lap course.

Straight to the scene were the very commendable Italian rescue services who were able to administer medical attention to the pairing who were later taken to hospital suffering from minor injuries.

With weather conditions picking up in today’s race, the speed was phenomenal, especially for such a short race course and witnessed the Victory Team boats racing in excess of 147mph. For others, bad luck saw 3 of the 11 strong line up drop out of the race courtesy of technical difficulties.

The beginning of the race witnessed a three-boat battle between the two Victory boats and Spirit of Norway. First out and heading into the first turn was Victory 7 and running behind them Spirit of Norway a close second, next to Victory 1.

Into the first buoy it was Victory 1 that was edged out with Spirit of Norway in the middle giving Victory 7 the edge to push through. “It was a very difficult race out there today and to be honest not the sort that I enjoy very much.” said Ali Nasser, Victory 1. “First out is always a hard position to keep and having Bjorn and Steve right behind us applying the constant pressure means you have to run a lot of risks to both yourself and your boat to keep ahead.” adding “We had the perfect set of props out there today for the conditions and the team worked really hard. We are very pleased with the result.” said Ali Nasser.

With the next race set to take place in Germany in less then 22 days time, Highlander and Rivera will be hard pushed to have the boats repaired in time and at the race venue but aim to try.

Off the water and on the asphalt, a crash with a scooter pre-race day left throttleman, Jann Hillestead, with a broken wrist and a badly bruised face. Amazingly, the Norwegian refused to be denied a chance to take home the Italian Grand Prix trophy, and race day found him and partner Adreas Ugland in their boat Jotan, holding steady in 5^th place until luck and a blown turbo saw them retire early. However, Jann aims to be ready for the next race with the throttle adjusted to the middle of the cockpit so that he can reach it easier.