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dmartiniup
09-13-2009, 06:12 PM
After considerable drama in the prior four Grand Prix races, with spin-outs, barrel rolls and rocky race courses, the final round of the 2009 Powerboat P1 (http://www.powerboatp1.com)World Championship was completed with safe and simple racing on the waters of Siracusa, Sicily.

Both Evolution and SuperSport Classes raced together on the 4.92 nautical mile course that incorporated 13 turn buoys and a leg extending into the Mediterranean and back into the harbor. Though storms threatened, the waters stayed calm and the boats navigated the course with ease, keeping speeds at just over 100 mph in Evolution class, as all teams were anxious to finish without incident and all SuperSport teams were cautious to avoid speeding penalties. For the top contenders, that goal was achieved, though #10 CIGARETTE SMASH POKER did not start due to engine issues and #77 LUCAS OIL pulled off the course in the 8th of 14 laps with a drive problem. The team had suffered less than optimal performance yesterday in the back-up Skater (http://www.skaterpowerboats.com), due to some set-up issues including the wrong gear ratio, as a result of the 11th hour change of boats for this race. “We tried to finish 70% of the laps to complete the race, but I couldn’t keep it on plane with one engine. We did everything we could to get here and compete—now we’ll look forward to a lot of good things for next year! This was a great race site!” said the ever-positive Nigel Hook who raced with Belgian Nico Huybens, owner of the 2007 Outerlimits (http://www.outerlimitspowerboats.com)race boat that they had planned to bring to Sicily but could not complete set-up in time for the race.

For the Mercury (http://www.mercuryracing.com)-powered #88 SNAV OSG Outerlimits, #33 FURNIBO Fountain (http://www.fountainpowerboats.com) and Ilmor (http://www.ilmor.com)-powered #66 CRANEFIELDS WINE SeaRex (http://www.searex.de), who kept in tight contention at the start, it was an exciting race that became more interesting as FURNIBO’s Belgian team of Pierre Colpin and Frank Hemelaer kept building their lead, while Giancarlo and Cangiano and Giovanni Carpitella (who took over throttles as Austrian Hannes Bohinc politely deferred for this race in Italian waters) raced conservatively, ensuring that they would earn second place points and the second half of the season reliability points for using the same engines.

Italians Marco Pennesi and Stefan Bonanno in the SeaTek diesel #53 METAMARINE PIGNOLO 53 kept it tight and took over 3rd place from CRANEFIELDS WINE and held the position throughout the race. CRANEFIELDS’ Siegfried Greve and Gino Passchier slowed in the 11th lap and eventually came off the course, giving a boost to Jan Falkowski and Drew Langdon in the #47 SILVERLINE Buzzi (http://www.fbdesign.it) boat, which with a recently replaced Sterling (http://sterlingperformance.org) engine that did not have the same power as the original engine, limped around the race course for 4th place while being lapped twice by the lead boats.

In SuperSport, the #26 SW1 CAPITAL Sterling-powered Donzi (http://www.donzimarine.com) remained on a roll and easily held first place from start to finish, ahead of second place Ilmor (http://www.ilmor.com)-powered # 43 SEAGULL CHAUDRON, SPIRIT OF THE UKRAINE and third place #38 Mercury-powered Donzi, BAIA ATTOLINI. The Chaudron (http://www.chaudronpowerboats.com) team of Angelo Tedeschi, Aaron Ciantar and Viktor Shechuk and Donzi team of Stefano Acanfora, Renato Guidei and Roy Capasso had been in fierce contention all season, so this race was crucial to the final points standing. #44 IKO CASA started in 3rd, but fell to 5th, as they had in Saturday’s Sprint race, with the Wild Card Donzi, #59 SAHO holding 4th. MAS FORCE, THE SPIRIT OF BELGIUM did not start and BLUE SHAFT pulled off the course, leaving the Italian BIG SERGIO to bring up the rear of the race.

The third place finishes in the World Championship show that “on any given day” anything can happen with race teams who seem disadvantaged. The Evolution Class FURNIBO missed the first race and suffered from engine issues, yet still showed their speed and racing abilities in the final races. Colpin, Hemelaer and Benjamin Van Riet emerged from a disastrous 2008 season to still take the podium made a jubilant effort by the Belgian team.

The same can be said for the SW1 Capital (http://www.sw1capital.com) team of Daniel Cramphorn and Kim Collins, the British boys who took P1 by storm as a Wild Card late in 2008, then worked hard as a team to field new boat, overcome equipment loss, failure and a fire to win back-to-back victories and take the podium in 3rd for the Championship. Having their sponsor in the boat for this race will hopefully enure that the team will be back, ready to roar in 2010.

And if there is an award for perseverance and positive attitude, it must be given to Nigel Hook and the whole US Lucas Oil (http://www.lucasoil.com) team who struggled against all odds to make or break it this season. Despite the bad breaks, the team did make the event and did all it could to compete at the Championship level. Per Hook’s last quip, “Now it’s on to Key West!” where he will compete in the American SBI/UIM Championship (http://www.superboat.com) races in Florida in November. Rumor has it that he may be joined by some other Powerboat P1 teams.

With true Italian showmanship and team camaraderie, Cangiano best summarized his joy at his second Powerboat P1 World Championship title, “We have worked hard all season to achieve this and I am proud of everyone who has helped to make this possible. We stand for show, sport and points and have once again achieved our goal in each of these. We are ready to share the OSG expertise to new teams entering the sport.” Angelo Tedeschi, winning a powerboat “hat-trick”--his third SuperSport World Championship added, “"Every year it gets better and better. The competition has been its hardest so in that respect, it is definitely the most satisfactory.”

The official order of the Sicilian Grand Prix and the Powerboat P1 World Championship follows. Stay tuned for updated news coverage at www.powerboatp1.com (http://www.powerboatp1.com) and listen to the race action in the archives of www.p1radio.com (http://www.p1radio.com).

The Powerboat P1 Sicilian Grand Prix Winners:

EVOLUTION CLASS
1. # 33 FURNIBO
2. #88 SNAV OSG
3. #53 METAMARINE PIGNOLO 53

SUPERSPORTS CLASS
1. #26 TEAM SW1 CAPITAL
2. #43 SEAGULL CHAUDRON – UKRAINIAN SPIRIT
3. #38 BAIA ATTOLINI

The 2009 Powerboat P1 World Championship

EVOLUTION CLASS
1. #88 SNAV OSG 811 Points
2. #47 SILVERLINE 785
3. #33 FURNIBO 560

SUPERSPORT CLASS
1. #43 SEAGULL CHAUDRON 977
2. #38 BAIA ATTOLINI 957
3. SW1 CAPITAL 733