Unlimited Hydro Pics from Qatar Races

[jetcruzr]

Attached is a link to H1 Photographer Chris Denslow's site.

2012 Oryx Cup - Day 1 - Christopher Denslow (cdenslow)'s Photos | SmugMug (http://cdenslow.smugmug.com/Unlimited-Hydroplanes/2012-Season/2012-Oryx-Cup-Day-1/27426775_vfj6ZQ#!i=2313993183&k=m9qMpr6)

[Hellbent]

Now we're talking!

[Hellbent]

What the heck is he doing? lol

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[Hellbent]

Great shot of Qatar taking out the marker.....


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[Hellbent]

That can't be good......

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[Hellbent]

Chris took a TON of pics! There's day 2 and 3 albums as well: Christopher Denslow (cdenslow)'s Photos : Unlimited Hydroplanes : 2012 Season | SmugMug (http://cdenslow.smugmug.com/Unlimited-Hydroplanes/2012-Season)

[Hellbent]

Pics of the fire in the day 2 album....

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[Hellbent]

The buildings there are sick.....


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[jetcruzr]

Spirit of Qatar on Fire



http://vimeo.com/57252410

[Hellbent]

So....it got beaten apart? Seems like it took forever for that thing to wind down. Don't they have a fire system?

[jetcruzr]

So....it got beaten apart? Seems like it took forever for that thing to wind down. Don't they have a fire system?

Jason, I was thinking the same thing. After consideration, I think the flame pattern was passing thru the power turbine wheels is a circular pattern, making the illusion that the motor was still running. Yes the boats do have on-board Halon systems. The system is activated by pulling a T-handle on the side of the cockpit externally. If you notice, as soon as Dave exits the cockpit, he reaches down and pulls the handle. I did not notice much happening after he pulled the handle. Typically there would be a very noticeable amount of Halon everywhere!

[Hellbent]

I wondered if that's what he was doing...but expected to see a bunch of halon. It's unusual for some wave impacts to take out a turbine...isn't it? Because it definitely appears to come apart after smacking a couple waves. I'm not sure why I'm so surprised by that....just figured they'd be a lot more durable. There are a lot of pieces spinning around in there though...I guess anything can fail.

[Hellbent]

After watching it again, it looks like the wave impacts took out the engine mounts.

[Ratickle]

From the Oberto home city newspaper

Bad turns to worse for Villwock, Qatar boat


Steve David and Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison win Heat 4A to keep perfect weekend going heading into Oryx Cup finals.
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Courier Sports Staff


DOHA, Qatar - After finishing with two disqualifications and one failure to start on Thursday, defending series champion Dave Villwock saw his race weekend go from bad to worse on Friday at the Oryx Cup UIM World Championship in Doha, Qatar.

Racing in front of a "hometown" crowd in the U-1 Spirit of Qatar 96, Villwock saw potential victory give way to even more disappointment in Friday's Heat 4B when his boat hit a roller and went airborne entering the second turn of the first lap and then caught fire.

The boat landed hard on its bottom on the surface of Doha Bay, breaking the motor mounts and causing the turbine engine to shut down and the boat to coast to a stop. Then things got even worse when fire broke out in the engine compartment doing considerable damage before the flames were extinguished by safety and rescue crews.

Villwock was not injured in the incident but the boat was damaged beyond use this weekend. Either way the Spirit of Qatar would have missed today's winner take-all final heat because the team scored exactly zero points in four rounds of heat racing and emerged from the season finale with only 100 points credit for being the top qualifier on Thursday.

Boat owner Erick Ellstrom said the team will attempt to make repairs in time for H1 Unlimited's return to Doha Bay on Feb. 8-12 for the 2013 season opener but added that they have not been able to make a complete assessment of the damage at this time so the team does not know what effort that will require.

After the heat was restarted, Jon Zimmerman drove the U-9 Jones Racing to an easy victory over Jimmy Shane in the U-5 Graham Trucking - Zimmerman's second heat win of the weekend - as Shane was forced to run an extra lap due to an encroachment penalty incurred in the original running of Heat 4B. Tom Thompson finished second in the U-11 Peters & May.

Earlier on Friday, Steve David and the U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison continued his quest for a perfect weekend by adding a runaway win in Heat 4A to the three wins David posted on Thursday. David, the second-fastest qualifier, locked up the 2012 H1 Unlimited Series team and driver championships on Thursday and will be the favorite today to add an Oryx Cup UIM World Championship to his earlier 2012 wins at Seattle and San Diego.

Denied:1up! Software () (http://madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=18&SubSectionID=289&ArticleID=74379)

Second place in Heat 4A went to Kip Brown in the U-17 Miss Red Dot while Brian Perkins finished third in the 88 Snoqualmie Casino.

After racing a busy schedule under gusty conditions on Thursday to try to get as much of the event in before even higher winds were forecast for Doha on Friday and today, the series was able to compete in a window of much calmer water conditions on Friday. The local weather forecast had called for winds in excess of 40 mph on Friday and Saturday, but weather through Friday had been better than predicted.

Racing was scheduled to conclude at 7 a.m. today - after The Madison Courier's Saturday edition presstime but before some home delivery subscribers will receive their paper - weather permitting.

Based on the points totals through Friday, the expected six-boat field for the final will include David (1,680 points), Zimmerman (1,310), Shane (1,220), Thompson (1,059), Perkins (1,052) and J. Michael Kelly (851).

For updates on today's action, visit our website at Denied:1up! Software () (http://www.madisoncourier.com) and follow us on Twitter @MadisonCourier.

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H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Series

2012 ORYX CUP UIM

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

at Doha Bay, Doha, Qatar

Length: 2 miles

Results

Friday, Jan. 11

HEAT 4A

1. Steve David, U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison, 127.362 mph; 2. Kip Brown, U-17 Miss Red Dot, 122.738; 3. Brian Perkins, 88 Snoqualmie Casino, 116.737; 4. N. Mark Evans, U-57 Formulaboats.com, 110.142; 5. J. Michael Kelly, U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing, No speed*.

Fastest Lap: David, No. 1 133.256.

*-penalized one lap for jumping start

HEAT 4B

1. Jon Zimmerman, U-9 Jones Racing, 117.611 mph; 2. Tom Thompson, U-11 Peters & May, 104.798; 3. Jimmy Shane, U-5 Graham Trucking, 126.541*; Dave Villwock, U-1 Spirit of Qatar 96, DNS**; Ryan Mallow, U-100 Fox Plumbing, DNS***.

Fast Lap: Shane, No. 1, 130.538.

*-penalized one lap for encroachment

**-disqualfied for causing race stoppage on first running of heat

***-Was unable to start second running of heat.

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Weekend Points Totals

Driver Qual. Heats Total

1. Steve David 80 1600 1680

2. Jon Zimmerman 60 1250 1310

3. Jimmy Shane 70 1150 1220

4. Tom Thompson 40 1019 1059

5. Brian Perkins 0 1052 1052

6. J. Michael Kelly 30 821 851

7. Kip Brown 0 600 600

8. Ryan Mallow 50 352 402

9. N. Mark Evans 0 338 338

10. Dave Villwock 100 0 100