For immediate release Sunday, July 4th, 2010
QATAR’S SHEIKH HASSAN CONFIRMS VICTORY IN AOPC RACE AT TOWNSVILLE
- Sheikh Hassan and Steve Curtis confirm third race win Down Under
- Propeller shaft problems force Qatar Team out of race one at Townsville
TOWNSVILLE (AUSTRALIA): His Excellency Sheikh Hassan Bin Jabor Al-Thani and British throttleman Steve Curtis MBE maintained their run of stunning recent form with victory in the second of Sunday’s two Australian Offshore Powerboat Club (AOPC) Class 1 races at Townsville in Queensland.
The Qatar Team pair had already taken two sensational race victories at Mackay last weekend during a visit to Australia to discuss the future of Class 1 racing as guests of Team Maritimo Offshore. They headed into the Townsville race weekend with a 125-point lead in the AOPC series in “Qatar 96”.
“We were following close behind the Maritimo boat in race one and we felt a vibration on our boat,” admitted Sheikh Hassan. “We discovered that we had broken a propeller shaft and that forced us out of the first race.
“The conditions were slightly rougher than Mackay last weekend and we chose the wrong propeller for the second race. We pushed hard to keep on the heels of Maritimo and we managed to get through on the fourth lap and take the lead. We finished second in the average points for the weekend, but remain in a very strong position in the championship.”
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia and is situated adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef. It is the largest urban conurbation to the north of the Sunshine Coast.
The President of the Qatar Marine Sport Federation (QMSF) now heads back to Doha for 10 days before heading off to the United States again to continue his challenger for honours in the American OPA race series at Harrison Township in Michigan on July 16-18.
The next round of the Australian (AOPC) Class 1 Championship takes place at Redcliffe in Queensland on September 19. Sheikh Hassan would like to continue his challenge for honours in the race series Down Under, but realises that the race meeting’s close proximity to the American OPA round at Cambridge, Maryland, on September 24-25 could make it logistically difficult.
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