2010 AMERICAN OPA OFFSHORE CHAMPIONSHIP, round 6
Atlantic City, New Jersey – September 17/19
For immediate release
Sunday, September 19th, 2010
HURRICANCE IGOR FORCES CANCELLATION
OF OPA OFFSHORE RACES AT ATLANTIC CITY
· Sheikh Hassan plans to test spare Qatar Team boat in Florida
· Qatar Team focus switches to Solomons Island in Maryland
ATLANTIC CITY (USA): His Excellency Sheikh Hassan Bin Jabor Al-Thani and Qatar Team racing colleague Ali Al-Neama were unable to continue their challenge for honours in the 2010 American OPA Offshore Championship on Sunday, when the developing Hurricance Igor forced race organisers to cancel the sixth round of the series at Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The Qatar Team began the weekend in second and third positions in the Supercat category of the 2010 American OPA Offshore Championship and Sheikh Hassan and British throttleman Steve Curtis knew the importance of a good finish after missing the last round of the series.
The Spirit of Qatar 96 driver trailed the American Talkin’ Trash boat by 61 points at the start of the race weekend at Trump Marina, with Ali Al-Neama and Italian throttleman Matteo Nicolini a close third in the points’ standings in Spirit of Qatar 95.
But strong winds whipped up five to six metre waves on the racecourse and the racing programme was cancelled on safety grounds. Sheikh Hassan now intends to remain in the United States before the next round of the series at Solomons Island, Maryland in two weeks time and the President of the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) will test the spare Qatar Team boat in Florida in the coming days.
Hurricane Igor was downgraded to a category one hurricane on Saturday night, but was heading for the Atlantic island of Bermuda in the early hours of Sunday and the Eastern seaboard of the United States was already feeling its effect.
Ends
For further information:
Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: ndppublicity@googlemail.com and www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases).
www.oparacing.org
www.superboat.com
www.qmsf.org