2010 AMERICAN OPA OFFSHORE CHAMPIONSHIP
THUNDER ON THE GULF, Orange Beach, Alabama – October 15-17
For immediate release
Monday, October 18th, 2010
SHEIKH HASSAN WINS ‘THUNDER ON
THE GULF’ AND CLAIMS WORLD TITLE
· Ali Al-Neama finishes second overall in Spirit of Qatar 95
ORANGE BEACH (USA): His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani and Steve Curtis capped the most successful weekend in the Qatar Marine Sports Federation’s (QMSF) history by claiming back-to-back wins in the Thunder on the Gulf races at Orange Beach in Alabama, USA, on Sunday.
The two victories were sufficient for the Spirit of Qatar 96 crew to claim outright victory in the ‘Thunder on the Gulf’ race meeting, the final event in the 2010 OPA American Offshore calendar. This success came on the same day as the Qatar Team’s Jay Price led from start-to-finish to win the Grand Prix of China in Liuzhou and move into a nine-point lead in the UIM F1 World Championship.
“Obviously the whole team is delighted to finish the season over here with a pair of victories and take victory in ‘Thunder on the Gulf’,” said Sheikh Hassan. “It has been a very enjoyable programme of events this year and we have achieved our goals. The boats will stay over here, while we carry out some maintenance on them over the coming days, and then we will look at the calendar for next season to see whether we keep them in the USA over the close season.
“The wins capped an excellent weekend for the Qatar Team. Jay (Price) did a good job in China and we followed that up with the success in America.”
Qatar’s Ali Al-Neama and Matteo Nicolini finished second overall in both the Orange Beach races to claim the runner-up spot in the OPA World Supercat Championship and second position in the ‘Thunder on the Gulf’. Arch American rivals Talkin Trash finished third in race one, but broke down on the fifth lap of the second race, while in hot pursuit of the triumphant Spirit of Qatar race duo.
In the absence of WHM and JD Byrider, Lightning Jacks and Amsoil also raced in the same heat as the Supercat runners and Lightning Jacks was classified third in race two ahead of Amsoil and Infinity.
Ends
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