2009 H1 Unlimited UIM World Championship
Oryx Cup – UIM World Championship, Qatar – November 19th-21st
For immediate release
Friday, November 20th, 2009
STEVE DAVID CLOSES IN ON H1 UNLIMITED TITLE
AS DAVE VILLWOCK SHINES IN QATAR’S ORYX CUP
· David Villwock takes perfect pair of heat wins
· Heat 2A and 2B triumphs for David and Villwock
· Kelly and Villwock take victories in heats 1A and 1B
DOHA (Qatar): Florida-based Steve David moved closer to retaining his H1 Unlimited High Points Drivers’ Championship with a first and second place in his first two race heats at the Oryx Cup UIM World Championship, the final round of the H1 Unlimited Championship, in Doha Bay on Friday.
The defending champion and his U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto Miss Madison race boat now head into the final two heats and the Oryx Cup final on Saturday with an unofficial 431-point championship advantage over Jeff Bernard in U-5 Formulaboats.com. “The championship has to be the priority, but it promises to be a very interesting day’s racing on Saturday,” said David.
Dave Villwock maintained his supreme pace over the course of the two heats on the 3.22 km circuit to take maximum points in heats 1B and 2B and claim an invaluable 800 points in his pursuit of second position in the championship.
A large crowd gathered in perfect conditions on Doha Bay to witness the first H1 Unlimited race heats ever to be staged outside the Americas. The event has been a joint project between H1 Unlimited officials in the USA and the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani.
Heats 1A and 1B
Mike Webster, Ken Muscatel, J. Michael Kelly, Jean Theoret and Nate Brown lined up in calm conditions for the first of the race heats – 1A. Brown stole an early lead, but was quickly passed by Kelly, who came under pressure from Theoret through the opening two laps.
Kelly managed to stay out in front to seal the heat win and 400 points, but Theoret was adjudged to have hit a buoy and had to run for a penalty lap. This handed second position to Brown, with Webster taking third, Theoret settling into fourth and Muscatel was deprived of fifth when he pulled up on his extra lap after hitting a buoy earlier in the race.
Fastest qualifier Dave Villwock headed Jeff Bernard, Brian Perkins, Greg Hopp and championship leader Steve David into heat 1B, with David extending his overall advantage in the Drivers’ Championship by 40 points to 256 after finishing second in qualifying on Thursday afternoon.
Villwock trailed David by 660 points heading into the day’s heats and did his confidence the world of good by setting the fastest lap in the morning’s practice session – a red hot tour of the 3.22 km course with an average speed of 239.609 km/h.
David stole the early advantage from Villwock from lane two on the opening stretch of heat 1B, but Villwock managing to regain the lead heading into the final left-turn of lap one and extended his lead from then on, as the defending champion eased his pace to conserve second position and 300 valuable championship points. Bernard finished third, Hopp was fourth and Perkins finished a distant fifth after running an extra lap for jumping the start. David duly extended his overall championship lead over Bernard to 331 points.
Heats 2A and 2B
A new draw pitched David, Bernard, Kelly, Perkins and Webster together for heat 2A and Bernard held a tight line down the inside into the first turn, only for David to streak into the lead through turn one. From that moment, the U-1 driver extended his lead to clinch the heat and take a 431-point advantage into Saturday’s finale.
Bernard maintained second position, Kelly was third, but Perkins began to pressurise Webster for fourth position and moved up the order when Webster’s U-22 race boat pulled up on the penultimate lap.
Villwock, Theoret, Brown and Hopp lined up at the start of heat 2B, but boat damage sustained in the first heat forced Muscatel to miss the second run. Brown joined the other three boats late after trouble starting his turbine engine, but all four race hulls made the perfect start and Villwock snatched the early lead from Theoret, only to run wide and bounce on the final turn of lap one and hand a brief advantage to his French-Canadian rival.
He quickly regained the advantage and coasted into the distance to claim a second maximum points’ haul of the weekend, with Theoret taking second place and Hopp snatching third from Brown after taking the inside line into the final turn on lap four.
Tomorrow (Saturday) teams will be permitted to carry out a further one hour of testing from 9am, before the third pair of heats start at noon and are followed by a podium for the heat winners and the fourth pair of heats from 1.45pm.
All attention will then focus on the Oryx Cup UIM World Championship climax to the 2009 H1 Unlimited season from 4pm and the presentation of the prestigious new Oryx Trophy by His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani to the first winner of an H1 Unlimited race outside the Americas.
Oryx Cup – UIM World Championship – H1 Unlimited Heats (Friday – unofficial)
1A
|
1. |
U-7 |
J Michael Kelly |
Graham Trucking |
400 points |
|
2. |
U-17 |
Nate Brown |
Our Gang Racing |
300 points |
|
3. |
U-22 |
Mike Webster |
Matrix System Automotive Finishes |
225 points |
|
4. |
U-37 |
Jean Theoret |
Schumacher/Miss Peters & May |
169 points |
|
5. |
U-25 |
Ken Muscatel |
Superior Racing |
DNF |
1B
|
1. |
U-16 |
Dave Villwock |
Ellstrom Elam Plus |
400 points |
|
2. |
U-1 |
Steve David |
Oh Boy!Oberto/Miss Madison |
300 points |
|
3 |
U-5 |
Jeff Bernard |
Formulaboats.com |
225 points |
|
4 |
U-100 |
Greg Hopp |
Leland Racing |
169 points |
|
5 |
U-48 |
Brian Perkins |
Go Fast Turn Left Racing |
127 points |
2A
|
1 |
U-1 |
Steve David |
Oh Boy!Oberto/Miss Madison |
400 points |
|
2 |
U-5 |
Jeff Bernard |
Formulaboats.com |
300 points |
|
3 |
U-7 |
J Michael Kelly |
Graham Trucking |
225 points |
|
4 |
U-48 |
Brian Perkins |
Go Fast Turn Left Racing |
169 points |
|
5 |
U-22 |
Mike Webster |
Matrix System Automotive Finishes |
DNF |
2B
|
1. |
U-16 |
Dave Villwock |
Ellstrom Elam Plus |
400 points |
|
|
2. |
U-37 |
Jean Theoret |
Schumacher/Miss Peters & May |
300 points |
|
|
3. |
U-100 |
Greg Hopp |
Leland Racing |
225 points |
|
|
4. |
U-17 |
Nate Brown |
Our Gang Racing |
169 points |
|
|
5. |
U-25 |
Ken Muscatel |
Superior Racing |
DNS |
|
Timetable of events – Saturday, November 21st
09.00hrs – 10.00hrs Unlimited testing
12.00hrs Unlimited Heat 3A
12.20hrs Unlimited Heat 3B
12.35hrs Podium for heat winners 3A and 3B
13.45hrs Unlimited Heat 4A
14.05hrs Unlimited Heat 4B
16.00hrs Oryx Cup UIM World Championship
16.30hrs Podium awards presentation
Ends
For further media information about the QMSF:
Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: ndppublicity@googlemail.com. www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases).
For further information about ABRA:
Owen Blauman, Oryx Cup UIM World Championship Media Relations, owenb@m5seattle.com
www.qmsf.org