SPIRIT OF NORWAY WIN  POLE POSITION

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Spirit of Norway’s Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis yesterday clinched their third consecutive UIM Class One Offshore Powerboat Championship Pole Position win during the British Grand Prix (Saturday 20^th July), Heat 3. Delighted with this season’s hat trick of wins, the Anglo/Norwegian pairing look determined to hold onto their Pole Position Championship World title. With a clear lead of 21 points from nearest rivals, Victory Teams Saeed A Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri in Victory 1, they aim to leave as little room as possible for the opposition to close the gap.

Second fastest run during Saturdays British Grand Prix were Italy ’s Eduardo Polli and Alberto Brombin in their red hot boat Highlander. Obviously pleased with the result Polli commented. “We would have been happy with a third place on the podium, so second is an extra bonus.” said the smiling Italian. “We are really happy with the performance of the boat and we look forward to another good run out there tomorrow.

Third fastest time went to Victory 1 with Saeed H. Al-Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri. Happy with a third place on the podium for today’s event, the pairing however prove determined to pick up their first Grand Prix win this season during today’s race in their bid to retain the World Championship title. “We are pleased that Eduardo has taken second place today. He deserves it and his boat was running beautifully.” said three times World Champion Saeed H. Al-Tayer in Victory 1.

Despite a valiant attempt to catch Spirit of Norway and Highlanders fastest time, Victory 1 found that their fastest time of 1 minute and 44 seconds was all that the big blue boat could muster yesterday, despite a quick pit stop after their second run for a prop change and tactic talk.

Late starters at getting their fastest time were definitely at a disadvantage today as conditions picked up considerably within 10 minutes of the start of the pole position run. To make matters worse, a drifting buoy 25 minutes into the 60-minute time limit forced a further 35-minute delay.

Despite worsening sea conditions that had competitors clocking substantially slower times, it was testament to the skill of Victory Team’s Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama that they were able to record a faster speed with the worsening sea conditions and indeed, had conditions stayed the same, their position may have been a different one with their improved propeller choice for the later run. “We came in and changed to a different propeller set up before the time delay.” said Ali Nasser, driver for Victory 7. “ But to be honest, the going was pretty tough out there with the sea conditions picking up like it did. Going into the bottom turn the wind had a nasty tendency to push you out a little. At one point I thought that the boat was going to flip.” Their fastest time saw them come in with a 4^th place in yesterday’s pole position.

Yesterday’s 3 nautical mile course had the 11 boats thundering past an audience numbering tens of thousands; but although the numbers in the spectators area seemed to increase, the number of boats on the course witnessed a steady decline. First to limp back to the wet pit, suffering from a broken bracket on the steering rudder were the exceptionally ill fated boat Jotun with Andreas Ugland and stand in, Randy Scism. “Actually, for once we had a little bit of luck in that we were not going around a corner when the steering went.” said American Scism. “If that had happened then we would have flipped the boat for sure.”  Although they were unable to actually start a run, the pairing are optimistic for todays race. “The boat was running really well out there today (yesterday) until our little mishap.” For the team whose motto so far this year seems be “Any thing that can go wrong, will go wrong” they are solving this problem by getting rid of any number of the things that can go wrong. One area they have addressed this to is by fitting a simplified turbo system in place that they hope will keep the gremlins at bay.

Next to succumb to the call of the pits was the yellow boat Damas. Another boat that has proven out of favor with Lady Luck this season, the crew will have to put in extra long hours to change a broken rudder and have the boat in ship shape condition for today’s race.

Fifth place in yesterday’s pole was Riviera who managed to scoop up the 7 points to put them into 5^th place in the overall championship before engine problems saw them towed into the pit stop. “We are hoping to find the problem with the engine but if we cannot at this stage then we will be forced to change to a replacement engine.” said Bill Barry-Cotter, throttleman for Riviera . Either way, the task will require a long and arduous night shift for the dedicated Aussie crew members if they hope to have the boat back on the water and in tomorrows race to the championship.

Missing from the championship are 5^th place holders in the overall championship, KR Racing Team’s boat N° 6 - Reverie. Deciding to suspend participation in the championship, Kjell Rokke and throttleman Jim Dyke had run the brand new boat on only two occasions. A high speed crash during the opening heat of the season saw the American Skater boat flip and barrel roll coming into a buoy. Although the crews miraculously had the boat patched up and back in time for Heat two in Travemunde, the decision was made to pull the boat out of competition. Reasons stated were that they "feel the boat unsafe to operate in race conditions." Whether Reverie will forfeit their championship points and take up the running next year remains to be seen. With a boat already commissioned from the World Champions Victory Team, Rokke and Dyke will be expected to be back next year powering off in their new Victory built boat.

Yesterday’s pole position determines today’s race line up when the 11 boats are expected to do battle to a fast and furious finish past the chequered flag.

Today’s race course may well have the boats completing the 106 nautical mile course well within the appointed time limit of 60 minutes if predicted weather conditions of smooth seas hold out. Yesterday’s pole position run will be of special importance to today’s race due to the style of the course. Ali Al Qama, Victory 1, commenting on today’s race. “The start will be vital to who controls the race. We need to get out of the gates and ahead of the pack as quickly as possible.”

Today’s race can be viewed by satellite on: Dubai Sports Channel, Hotbird 2 down link, Frequency 11747 horizontal, SY.27500, F-C3/4

Fans of Offshore can contact the Dubai Sports Channel for further information on: +971 (4) 336 2999 or they may visit the web site on: dubaitv@gove.ae