2015 Qatar Cup
Doha Bay, Qatar – February 3-7, 2015
For immediate release
Wednesday, February 4th, 2015
VICTORY AND SPIRIT OF QATAR ON POLE POSITION
FOR THURSDAY’S OPENING UIM QATAR CUP RACES
· Al-Zafeen and Bin Hendi class of the Supercat Lite/Super Stock field
· Al-Neama and Moore top SuperCat field in Spirit of Qatar 20
· Steve Curtis teams up with Joe Sgro to head SuperVee rivals
DOHA (Qatar): Dubai’s Victory Team and Spirit of Qatar 20 claimed pole positions in the SuperCat Lite/Super Stock and SuperCat classes on the opening day of the inaugural UIM-sanctioned Qatar Cup in Doha Bay on Wednesday.
In near perfect race conditions, multiple UIM Class One World Powerboat Champions, Arif Saif Al-Zafeen and Nadir bin Hendi, overcame a yellow card in Victory S-3 to post the fastest lap in the opening pole position session to top the times with an impressive tour of 2min 56.5sec.
They were the class of the offshore SuperCat Lite field and that time was comfortably quicker than the 3min 23.1sec lap carded by runners-up, Robert Nunziato and Dan Lawrence, in The Hulk.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Faleh Al-Mansoori and Rashed Al-Tayer qualified in third of the eight SuperCat Lite boats. Mohammed and Nasser Al-Nasser were fifth in Spirit of Qatar 94 in the first event of its kind to be organised by the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), in collaboration with Offshore Powerboat Grand Prix (OPGP).
Ali Al-Neama and Billy Moore topped the timings in Spirit of Qatar 20 in the SuperCat class. The Doha driver carded a time of 3min 00.9sec to claim pole position from Jay Cooke and Randy Sweers in Racing for Cancer/Fast Boats 33.
Pole Positions for the C1, C2 and C225 categories were determined by a draw organised by race officials in the pit area.
Grant Bruggeman and Gary Ballough opted to raise their outboard engines after the morning’s test session on the demanding Gulf course and qualified fourth in a time of 3min 28.6sec in the SuperCat Lite category.
American racer Joe Sgro and QMSF president Sheikh Hassan bi Jabor Al-Thani’s esteemed British throttleman Steve Curtis celebrated their birthdays in Doha before the Qatar Cup and teamed up with the Outerlimits 43 boat in the SuperVee class. They ran hard together with Brett Furshman and Billy Glueck in Twisted Metal during the morning’s test session in their 43-foot boat, which is powered by twin 975hp engines, and went on to set the quickest SuperVee time in the pole qualifier.
Jay Price made a welcome return to Doha Bay to partner Paul Boudreaux in Thorndon/Ragin Cajun 57 in the SuperCat class. “We only had chance to carry out a small test in Louisiana with the boat before we shipped it to Doha, so today was the first real chance to give it a go,” said the New Orleans man, who won the 2008 UIM F1 H20 world title with the Qatar Team. He qualified in fifth.
Wednesday’s morning’s timetable was filled by boats carrying out initial testing on both the inshore and offshore courses, before the larger boats carried out their pole position qualifying on the 4.9Nm offshore course. This will feature a race start lap of 6.2Nm and a proposed penalty lap of 3.3Nm if required.
Tomorrow (Thursday), the competitive action gets underway with the first of the two sets of races. Inshore action takes centre stage from 09.00hrs on the shorter 2.2Nm course, with the C2 hulls preceding C1 and C225 boats on to the Doha Bay course.
Afternoon action will be dominated by the Offshore boats: SuperCat Lite race craft take to the water at 15.00hrs and are followed by the SuperVee and SuperCat entrants at 16.00hrs.
2015 Qatar Cup – Pole Position results (Wednesday):
SuperCat Lite/Super Stock
1. Nadir Bin Hendi (ARE)/Arif Saif Al-Zafeen (ARE) Victory S-3 2min 56.5sec
2. Robert Nunziato (USA)/Dan Lawrence (USA) The Hulk S-1 3min 23.1sec
3. Faleh Al-Mansoori (ARE)/Rashed Al-Tayer (ARE) Team Abu Dhabi 5 3min 28.6sec
4. Grant Bruggeman (USA)/Gary Ballough (USA) Smart Marine/Auto Mart S-110 3min 28.6sec
5. Mohammed Al-Nasser (QAT)/Nasser Al-Nasser (QAT) Spirit of Qatar 94 3min 30.0sec
6. Tanner Lewis (USA)/Ryan Beckley (USA) Peters & May Racing S-111 3min 34.8sec
7. Lynn Wagemann (USA)/Jay Muller (USA) Wicked Performance Marine S-33 3min 44.6sec
8. Allen Christy (USA)/Lee Austin (USA) LA Marine S-12 4min 00.8sec
SuperVee
1. Joe Sgro (USA)/Steve Curtis (GBR) Outerlimits 43 3min 05.5sec
2. Brett Furshman (USA)/Billy Glueck (USA) Twisted Metal 30 3min 08.2sec
SuperCat
1. Ali Al-Neama (QAT)/Billy Moore (USA) Spirit of Qatar 20 3min 00.9sec
2. Jay Cooke (USA)/Randy Sweers (USA) Racing for Cancer/Fast Boats 33 3min 02.5sec
3. George Stancombe (USA)/Michael Stancombe (USA) Peppers/Peters & May 2 3min 10.4sec
4. Wayne Valder (NZL)/Chris Hanley (NZL) Pro Floors Racing 51 3min 11.7sec
5. Paul Boudreaux (USA)/Jay Price (USA) Thorndon/Ragin Cajun 57 3min 26.3sec
6. Dan Lawrence (USA)/Ron Roman (USA) Motley Crew 00 DNS
2015 Qatar Cup – revised timetable of events
Thursday, February 5
09.00 – 09.45 Inshore race 1 (C2)
10.00 – 10.45 Inshore race 1 (C1)
12.00 – 13.00 Pole Position (Class 3-225)
15.00 – 15.45 Offshore race 1 (SuperCat Lite)
16.00 – 16.45 Offshore race 1 (SuperVee and SuperCat)
Ends
For further information:
Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Qatar Mobile: + 974 5529739, UK Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: ndppublicity@googlemail.com, www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases). Twitter: @LordPerkins
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