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Heat 3 of the extreme sport of Offshore will today power off with the pole
position race as 11 of the world’s premiere Class 1 powerboats line-up
on the calm and cold waters off the Southern coast of
England
for the 2002 British Grand Prix.
Victory
Team’s Saeed H. Al-Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri, Victory 1, will be
looking to lift their first Class One Grand Prix win of the season (20th
and 21st of July) to confirm their status as the worlds best
powerboat partnership.
So
far, the defending World Champions have had to contend with a second and
third podium place behind team mates and current 2002 series leaders, Ali
Nasser and Ali Al Qama in Victory 7, but Al-Tayer and Al Marri aim to turn
up the revs and notch up the points this weekend in what promises to be a
hard and cruel fight to the top.
Runners
up in the 2001 World Offshore Championship, the two Ali’s in Victory 7
prove to be their team mate’s biggest challengers to the crown, and this
weekend may well witness a battle of titanic proportions when the two
boats go head on head in a desperate chase to the title.
Heat 2 in Travemunde witnessed Victory 1 running in second place behind
Spirit of Norway until an unfortunate spin out saw them miss a buoy and
relegated to a third place finish and third place in the overall points
standings. However, the
Dubai
duo have entered into Heat 3 with a
formidable determination to clinch not only the British Grand Prix trophy
but also to push aside contenders for the title. “We are certainly
aiming for a first this weekend. We did it last year and we certainly hope
to repeat that performance.” said Mohammed Al Marri, driver for Victory
1. “The race in Travemunde was disappointing but we hope to remedy that
and put our team mates and Spirit of Norway back in their place. Behind
our stern!” said a laughing Al Marri.
Although Sunday’s race is expected to be a three-boat battle between
Victory 1, Victory 7 and Spirit of Norway. One boat that may prove the
upset for the big guns of offshore is Damas. Until date the yellow boat
has not shown its true racing form due to early season bad luck. However
if pre race prep’s has the boat back in the running, then championship
leaders had better watch out. Throttleman for Damas, Kristian Tzanov, is
joined this year by Giovanni Carpitella for his Class One debut season and
the Italian aims to steer the yellow boat to a podium top spot in the
World Offshore Championship.
Held
in
Plymouth
for its second consecutive year,
Spirit of Norway’s British born throttleman Steve Curtis holds hopes of
a home win this year. 2001 witnessed
Dubai
’s Victory Team thwart his intentions
with a 1-2 sweep through the chequered flag, leaving the Brit with third
place on the podium.
Last year the city witnessed crowds numbering tens of thousands line up
for a ring side seat of the worlds top powerboats in action; and with a
one year wait to anticipate the return of the big boats to the area, the
crowds this year can be expected to be bigger.
Situated on the Plymouth Hoe overlooking
Plymouth
, spectators are fortunate that they
will be treated to panoramic views of the entire Pole position circuit and
racecourse.
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