2013 H1 Unlimited World Championship, round 8
San Diego Bayfair – September 13-15, 2013
For immediate release
Monday, September 16th, 2013
95 SPIRIT OF QATAR’S KIP BROWN ENDS SUCCESSFUL
SEASON WITH 1070 POINTS AT SAN DIEGO’S BAYFAIR
· Jimmy Shane snatches thrilling Bayfair win to claim National High Points title
· Veteran Steve David retires from international hydroplane racing after 44 years
SAN DIEGO (USA): 95 Spirit of Qatar’s Kip Brown rounded off a successful season of H1 Unlimited racing by finishing fourth in the points at the San Diego Bayfair in California on Sunday, despite being disqualified from a thrilling final on a technical violation.
Running with the backing of the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) and His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani, Brown won heat 2B during the third day of racing but had to play second fiddle to the battle between Steve David and Jimmy Shane for the National High Points title.
David, who announced his retirement after 44 years of racing on the eve of the San Diego race weekend, headed to Mission Bay with a tiny 43-point lead in the series in 1 Oh Boy! Oberto and the outcome went right down to the final heat. Brown snatched the win in heat 2B to ensure that he reached the final, where David lined up with a 163-point lead over Shane.
David moved from lane two to lane one in front of Shane on the approach to the start of the final and Shane’s boat lifted through David’s rooster tail. David led for all five laps on the water from then on and appeared to have done enough to clinch the Bayfair win and the championship title, but the start was under review and a photo image proved that he had jumped the gun and crossed the line too soon. The one lap penalty demoted David to the back of the field before penalties during the technical inspection lifted him back to fourth. But it was enough for Shane to clinch the Bayfair win and the National High Points title by the narrowest of margins.
“This has just been an incredible experience driving for this team,” said Shane. “I always know I can drive the boat as hard as I need to because they are going to have everything working right.”
Shane and David were drawn in separate heats for the first runs on Saturday and both added to their tallies by earning 400 points for taking wins in heats 1A and 1B. Brown steered 95 Spirit of Qatar to second position in heat 1B and Mike Webster was third. David had earlier won the qualifying session from Shane and Brown and headed into Sunday’s showdown with a lead of just 63 points in the National High Points championships.
David began Sunday well and he pipped Shane to the chequered flag in heat 2A to extend his lead to 163 points. David won again in 3A and Shane reached the line first in 3B, meaning that the outgoing champion from Lighthouse Point in Florida needed to finish second or higher in the final heat to seal the championship again. Brown won heat 2B and finished second in heat 3B before the ill-fated final saw him disqualified on a technical violation and Shane claim the title after David was adjudged to have jumped the start.
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: steve@h1unlimited.com.
www.qmsf.org
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