By Sports Reporter
Doha: Florida-based Steve David moved closer to retaining his H1 Unlimited High Points Drivers’ Championship with a first and second place in his first two race heats at the Oryx Cup UIM World Championship, the final round of the H1 Unlimited Championship, in Doha Bay yesterday.
The defending champion and his U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto Miss Madison race boat now head into the final two heats and the Oryx Cup final today with an unofficial 431-point championship advantage over Jeff Bernard in U-5 Formulaboats.com.
“The championship has to be the priority, but it promises to be a very interesting day’s racing on Saturday,” said David.
Dave Villwock maintained his supreme pace over the course of the two heats on the 3.22 km circuit to take maximum points in heats 1B and 2B and claim an invaluable 800 points in his pursuit of second position in the championship. A large crowd gathered in perfect conditions on Doha Bay to witness the first H1 Unlimited race heats ever to be staged outside the Americas.
The event has been a joint project between H1 Unlimited officials in the USA and the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor al-Thani.
Mike Webster, Ken Muscatel, J. Michael Kelly, Jean Theoret and Nate Brown lined up in calm conditions for the first of the race heats – 1A. Brown stole an early lead, but was quickly passed by Kelly, who came under pressure from Theoret through the opening two laps.
Kelly managed to stay out in front to seal the heat win and 400 points, but Theoret was adjudged to have hit a buoy and had to run for a penalty lap. This handed second position to Brown, with Webster taking third, Theoret settling into fourth and Muscatel was deprived of fifth when he pulled up on his extra lap after hitting a buoy earlier in the race.
Fastest qualifier Dave Villwock headed Jeff Bernard, Brian Perkins, Greg Hopp and championship leader Steve David into heat 1B, with David extending his overall advantage in the Drivers’ Championship by 40 points to 256 after finishing second in qualifying on Thursday afternoon.
Villwock trailed David by 660 points heading into the day’s heats and did his confidence the world of good by setting the fastest lap in the morning’s practice session – a red hot tour of the 3.22 km course with an average speed of 239.609 km/h.
David stole the early advantage from Villwock from lane two on the opening stretch of heat 1B, but Villwock managing to regain the lead heading into the final left-turn of lap one and extended his lead from then on, as the defending champion eased his pace for second. |
