2012 Air National Guard H1 Unlimited Series
Albert Lee Cup, Seattle Seafair, round 4 – August 4-5
For immediate release
Monday, August 6th, 2012
U-1 SPIRIT OF QATAR’S VILLWOCK FINISHES
THIRD IN SEATTLE SEAFAIR’S ALBERT LEE CUP
· Villwock slips to second place in National High Points
· U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto’s Steve David wins Albert Lee Cup
· Villwock sets fastest time in qualifying and Heat 1B
SEATTLE (USA): U-1 Spirit of Qatar’s Dave Villwock suffered mixed fortunes in the Albert Lee Cup at the Seattle Seafair on Lake Washington, round four of the 2012 Air National Guard H1 Hydroplane Series, on Sunday.
After winning the qualifying session and his first heat. Villwock finished behind Jimmy Shane in his second heat and was penalised in his third. He then finished third overall in the final behind Steve David – who won his third successive Seattle race – and Jimmy Shane and now heads to San Diego next month trailing arch-rival David by 193 points in the National High Points title race.
The Washington State team driver began the weekend with a 190-point lead in the National High Points championship in his Ellstrom Racing-built hydroplane, which has the backing of the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), under the presidency of Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani.
Villwock kick-started his race weekend in Seattle in perfect fashion by snatching the maximum 100 points for winning the qualifying session on Friday afternoon with an average speed of 151mph. That was nearly two miles per hour quicker than Steve David in U-6 and even faster than third-placed Jimmy Shane. The points extended the Qatar-backed driver’s advantage in the National High Points series to 210.
David clinched victory in the first of the weekend’s heats, 1A, by beating Jon Zimmerman and J. Michael Kelly, but Villwock did what he had to do to stay out in front by claiming victory in Heat 1B from Shane and Scott Liddycoat.
The series-leading duo avoided each other in the draw for the second heats, with Villwock lining up alongside Shane, Brian Perkins, Kelly, Liddycoat and Ryan Mallow for the first of the heats on Sunday. David was the first to the line in Heat 2A, but Villwock was pipped to maximum points in 2B by Shane and saw his lead in the National High Points series reduced to just 110.
A dramatic Heat 3A win fell to Shane in the U-5 Graham Trucking boat, David finished fifth and collected 127 points but Villwock was penalised by 100 points for a lane encroachment and slipped behind David in the interim National High Points standings. Kelly won Heat 3B from Perkins and Mark Evans.
Villwock, Shane, David, Zimmerman, Perkins and Kelly were drawn together for the final of the Albert Lee Cup in calm, sunny conditions on Lake Washington. David timed his warm-up lap run to perfection and hit the start well, with Shane settling into second and Villwock slipping to fourth behind Kelly before the latter was penalised and dropped to sixth. Brian Perkins finished in fourth place.
The series now heads to San Diego on September 14-16 and then on to Doha for the Oryx Cup World Championship finale on January 10-12, 2013.
Ends
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