Dubai News
Dubai , United Arab Emirates - 18th October 2002

Victory Team
News 2002

TO THE VICTOR'S GO THE FINAL GAINS IN TODAY'S POWERBOAT GRAND PRIX?

Yesterdays UIM Class One Pole Position held all the ingredients to an exhilarating day in terms of sporting action. High speed rivalry and just the right amount of nail biting danger. However, fans off offshore won’t be wrong in thinking that the weekends excitement is only just about to get underway as the final fight of the season powers off today with the Emirates Airlines and Dubai Duty Free Grand Prix signaling the end to a season that has been full of big slashes and hard crashes.

Indications of the battle that is set to take place on the Arabian seas in front of the Dubai International Marine Club at 3:30 pm show that home favorites, Victory Team, have no intention of relinquishing their title with out a fight, and the gauntlet is expected to be thrown down as the boys in blue get ready for what may be their hardest race to date this year.

Yesterday’s pole position result may have seen the Norwegian boat -Spirit of Norway-take the penultimate glory gains of the weekend; but in the Victory Team camp, fans can expect that what the Spirit started, Victory aim to finish. “We are going to be pushing to the very limits out there tomorrow.”

For both the blue boats, the pressure will be on to stay at the front of the pack in their last determined chase to the title. With current World Champions Saeed H. Al-Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri in Victory 1 out of the running for the 2002 crown, team mates Ali Al Qama and Ali Nasser in Victory 7 will be carrying the hopes of the local home crowd in today’s line up for the championship. “Tomorrow’s race will be a tough one. There is a great deal of pressure in that we have to come in first under any circumstances. It’s going to be a fight and we have to be leading the race and staying at the front.” said Ali Nasser, throttleman for Victory 7 and already two times World Champion.

Commenting on yesterdays 2^nd place Pole Position result, Al Qama said. “We have to be pleased with the result because that is the reality of racing. The sea was perfect for the pole position- the wind, the waves and the speed that we saw. Unfortunately, we were not quite able to match the pace that was set by Spirit of Norway- today at least.” said a laughing Al Qama, adding. “They had the first round!”

The slight change in sea conditions from their morning testing saw the big blue boat -Victory 1- returning to the pits and her waiting crew for a quick propeller down size after a first run during the 60 minute pole position. Despite an impressive second outing that saw them flat out on the straights and clocking a phenomenal speed, the pairing of Al-Tayer and Al Marri were forced to their first place off the Pole Position podium this season in fourth, but aim to be at the front in tomorrow’s race.

What ever the result may be, from the Victory Team camp, they aim to finish the season with a home crowd blue podium sweep and then it’s up to the rest of the pack and more importantly, lady luck to decide if they make it to their 7^th World Championship title.