2013 H1 Unlimited World Championship, round two
Big Wake Weekend, Folsom Lake, California – May 31/June-2, 2013
For immediate release
Monday, June 3rd, 2013
95 SPIRIT OF QATAR’S BROWN FINISHES FOURTH
IN FOLSOM LAKE’S BIG WAKE WEEKEND FINALE
· David seals Big Wake Weekend final victory; Shane tops High Points
· Oh Boy! Oberto’s Steve David wins qualifying, Heats 1B and 3B
· Shane wins Heats 1A, 2B and 3A; Heat 2A win for Zimmerman
SACRAMENTO (USA): Kip Brown was forced to battle hard for his success at the Big Wake Weekend, the second round of the 2013 H1 Unlimited Championship, on Folsom Lake, Granite Bay, California on Sunday.
The 95 Spirit of Qatar driver qualified in fifth position and finished his three race heats in third, fourth and second places. The points he amassed were just sufficient to see the Qatar-backed Ellstrom Racing driver qualify for the six-boat final in sixth position and he managed to finish the five-lap race in fourth overall behind Steve David, National High Points leader Jimmy Shane and J. Michael Kelly.
“It was a tough weekend of racing in very high temperatures,” said Brown, who drives the Ellstrom boat that is backed by the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani. “The objective was to score well in the heats and reach the final and we achieved that goal. Now we can look ahead to the next race with a view to improving still further.”
Shane (5 Graham Trucking), David (1 Oh Boy! Oberto), Kelly (37 Performance Chevrolet) and Jon Zimmerman (9 Team Red Dot) were the form men over the Californian race weekend and they were joined by 11 Peters & May’s Tom Thompson and Brown in the final five, with Mark Evans (57 Formulaboats.com) running as the trailer boat behind the leaders.
David made an excellent start from lane four and timed his run to perfection to lead by the time the racers reached the first turn and the Lighthouse Point driver maintained his initiative from then on. Shane had reached the final with victories in all three of his heats but he was unable to match the experienced David and finished second, with J. Michael Kelly reaching the chequered flag in third and Kip Brown crossing the line in a spirited fourth. Zimmermann had looked as though he would take third, but a penalty dropped him back to seventh behind Mark Evans and Tommy Thompson. Shane’s team now leads the National High Points standings by just 23 points from David’s Oh Boy! Oberto outfit.
Steve David snatched the maximum 100 points for winning the qualifying session on Friday with an average speed of 150.441mph. Shane was second and Brown collected 50 points for fifth place.
Shane and David shared the spoils in the first of the heats on Saturday afternoon, with Brown finishing third in Heat 1A behind Oryx Cup winner Shane and J. Michael Kelly in 37 Performance Chevrolet.
Zimmerman was the class act in Heat 2A on Sunday afternoon, the 9 Team Red Dot driver beating J. Michael Kelly, Tommy Thompson, Brown and Mike Webster, while Shane got the better of Mark Evans, Ryan Mallow, Greg Hopp and David to win Heat 2B after David has been penalised for reaching the start line too early.
Brown was pitched against Zimmerman, Kelly, Hopp and Shane in Heat 3A and needed a top finish to give himself a chance of reaching the Big Wake Weekend final because he was down in seventh position. Shane confirmed his third successive heat win but Brown was delighted to snatch second position and claim 300 vital points, with Kelly, Hopp and Zimmerman in third, fourth and fifth.
David made no mistake in claiming the 400 points for winning Heat 3B to book his place in the final. Tommy Thompson finished second in 11 Peters & May to sneak in as well and Mark Evans was third, but Shane became the new leader of the National High Point standings heading into the all-important final.
The next round of H1 Unlimited will be the renowned Madison Regatta at Madison, Indiana on July 5-7.
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).
Or
Steve Montgomery, Tel: + 1 206 618 8382, E-mail: scm@montgomerymarketing.com.
www.qmsf.org
www.h1unlimited.com