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GRAND PRIX OF THE SEA

A NEW LEADER EMERGES WITH JUST ONE ROUND TO GO IN THE 2014 CHAMPIONSHIP

GD Environmental Services moved top in the P1 SuperStock USA champi-onship following a three point win over home team Space Coast at the Cocoa Beach Grand Prix of the Sea.

Controversy, collisions and courage summarised a thrilling weekend of rac-ing in Cocoa Beach this weekend.

With Team Pro Boat not racing, the championship was thrown wide open with just 6 points separating 2nd to 5th place. But it was the Welsh duo of James Norvill and Christian Parsons-Young who stamped their authority on the cham-pionship with a first, two seconds and a third place, which was enough to win them the weekend and also push them 3 points clear in the overall Championship.

“This is the first time we have been on top of the podium in the US series and it’s somewhere we expect to be at the end of the year. There is just one round to go and we will need to really be on our game to keep the lead. This championship, like the UK series is so

WELSH DUO SHOW 2014 TITLE POTENTIAL IN COCOA THRILLER

close, you have to be out there placing in every race to stand a chance”

Norvill and Parsons-Young race in the GD Environmental race team on both sides of the Atlantic and are currently equal second in the UK and on top in the US with just one round to go in each series. Only Andy Biddle and Tracey Blumenstein of Team Pro Boat have achieved the Trans-Atlantic double.

Norvill and Parsons-Young got the weekend off to the perfect start, quali-fying in pole position and in very clam conditions lead race 1 from start to finish with Lee Baker and Sandy Keningsman (Space Coast) in second and Walt Cox and Jason Morton (Southeastern Lighting Solutions) in third.

Father-and-son pair Bill and Eligah Kingery charged through the pack in race two finishing in third after a credible 4th in race 1 showing signs they had overcome their steering issues which had plagued them in Jacksonville and Tampa.

But the race was filled with contro-versy as Boatwrench broke down on lap 2 with engine problems in the middle of the home straight, right in front of the finish line. Bill and Justin Belz in Visit

Jacksonville were leading the race and with Boatwrench in their way, they came off-plane, but the officials had deemed that there was plenty of room to navigate around the stricken boat and were waving the yellow flag.

The chasing teams were stacking up behind the almost stopped Visit Jacksonville boat, unwilling to overtake on a yellow flag. But GD Environmental and Space Coast saw the opportunity to continue in a safe manner around Visit Jacksonville and Boatwrench and move from the back of the pack to the front and charge towards the first turn mark. It was deemed a fair and allowable move by experienced Chief Referee Mike Tom-linson and gave valuable ground to the two teams. CL-Alpha who was chasing down Visit Jacksonville was the biggest loser in the controversial race losing 3 places, ending the race in 5th.

The disappointment for Gene and Paula Weeks (CL-Alpha) didn’t stop there, however. At the first turn in the final race of the weekend, Florida National Guard came across the CL-Alpha boat and hit their engine, breaking it off the transom and setting it ablaze. The safety crew, who are all from the local fire depart-ment, dealt with the situation quickly leaving both teams unhurt but frustrated as their weekends had a premature end.

On the restart, the swell had increased and husband and wife team Cynthia and Craig Belfatto (Team Lyca-mobile) showed their skill in the rough water taking a significant lead until the third lap where their lack of straight line pace showed again, dropping them down the field and allowing Space Coast and GD Environmental to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Earlier on Sunday, Southeastern Lighting Solutions dominated race 3 with a start to finish race that proved that they have the pace and skill to challenge CL-Alpha, Space Coast and GD Environmental when the teams return to the water in the final round of the 2014 championship in St Cloud on September 20/21.

OVERALL STANDINGS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

GD ENVIRONMENTAL

SPACE COAST

S’EASTERN LIGHTING SOLUTIONS

CL-ALPHA.COM

VISIT JACKSONVILLE

FLORIDA NATIONAL GUARD

TEAM PROBOAT

LYCAMOBILE RACING TEAM

BOATWRENCH

202 PTS

199 PTS

178 PTS

173 PTS

152 PTS

147 PTS

143 PTS

136 PTS

103 PTS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Rob Greenwald

Kelly Belval

Jason Maxson

Scott Reeves

Justin Mack

231 PTS

194 PTS

172 PTS

150 PTS

90 PTS

200 CLASS - TOP 5

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Eric Lagopoulos

Ken Moore

Alex Holguin

Tim McKercher

Ron Levy

220 PTS

128 PTS

104 PTS

92 PTS

80 PTS

250 CLASS - TOP 5

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Stuart Rasmussen

Eric Francis

Anya Colley

Blaine Spooner

Scott Dawley

205 PTS

204 PTS

170 PTS

124 PTS

117 PTS

300 CLASS - TOP 5

Above: 250 class winner Eric Lagopoulos enjoyed a successful weekend in Cocoa Beach and has extended his commanding lead in the championship.

Above: The #09 Lycamobile Racing boat catches some serious air and keeps fans entertained on Cocoa Beach.

FRANCIS TURNS UP THE HEAT ON RASMUSSEN IN PENULTIMATE AQUAX ROUND AT COCOA BEACH

The championship battle between P1 AquaX world ranked number 1 racer Eric Francis and the 300 Championship leader, Stuart Rasmussen, reached an-other level this weekend as fifty Jet ski-ers headed out to Florida’s Space Coast for the penultimate round of the P1 USA AquaX race series.

Francis finally notched up his first overall win in the 300 class to close the gap to just one point behind Stuart Rasmussen going into the final round in St Cloud next month. Francis joined the tour at the end of 2013, and has since

EVENTRESULTS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

GD ENVIRONMENTAL

SPACE COAST

S’EASTERN LIGHTING SOLUTIONS

LYCAMOBILE RACING TEAM

VISIT JACKSONVILLE

CL-ALPHA.COM

FLORIDA NATIONAL GUARD

BOATWRENCH

69 PTS

66 PTS

51 PTS

49 PTS

47 PTS

41 PTS

39 PTS

10 PTS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Rob Greenwald

Kelly Belval

Jason Maxson

Scott Reeves

Mike Gast

60 PTS

47 PTS

45 PTS

43 PTS

40 PTS

200 CLASS - TOP 5

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Eric Lagopoulos

Michael Gonzalez

Ron Levy

Ken Moore

David Gorie

60 PTS

31 PTS

31 PTS

30 PTS

30 PTS

250 CLASS - TOP 5

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Eric Francis

Stuart Rasmussen

Scott Dawley

Anya Colley

Domenico Barilla

52 PTS

49 PTS

48 PTS

43 PTS

42 PTS

300 CLASS - TOP 5

won several races aboard his Kawasaki Ultra 310, but never an overall. Until now the accolades firmly belonged to Rasmussen. “Cocoa Beach was a great weekend both on and off the water and winning my first overall makes me feel great going into the finals next month in St. Cloud. I placed very well there last year and look forward to going back this year” commented Francis.

Francis and Rasmussen shared wins and the podium with last year’s Cocoa Beach Cup winner Scott Dawley.

Speaking after his race win Dawley told reporters: “It was a long wait to finally get a win this season. It was fulfill-ing to be able to begin the race in 5th and work my way to the front”.

Female racer Anya Colley (opposite right) suffered from an asthma attack in the final race in which she had pulled a half-lap lead in the toughest race of the weekend, but she still managed to finish second to give her a fourth overall on the day and protect her third place in the

Championship. “That was a really tough one, I had a big lead in that last race but I was struggling to breath and I had nothing left to give” explained Colley.

In the 250 division reigning champion Ron Levy made a surprise appearance having missed two rounds due to mechanical problems. But there was no catching Eric Lagopoulos, this year’s champion elect, whose perfor-mance aboard his Sea-Doo GTR 215 was once again dominant. Lagopoulos made it another hat trick of wins, but more impressively stayed on the pace of the far more powerful 300 skiers. “I am very excited to have won in Cocoa Beach and get back to winning ways after crashing at the Tampa round. I have a

solid points lead and look forward to winning the overall championship” commented Lagopoulos.

Miakel Gonzalos and Ron Levy came home in second and third respectively.

Rob Greenwald’s Yamaha VXR made easy work of the tough conditions against a growing class of 200 racers to take the win and extend his lead in the championship. Reigning champion and nearest rival Kelly Bevel didn’t fair so well, but capitalised on several rider disqualifications to be bumped up in to second place on the day. “Oh, it was tough out there today, but a lot of fun” enthused Belval. Jason Maxson put in a solid performance to finish third overall.

For the second time this season

the Aquax Ski class was included in the programme. Since its launch in Daytona Beach the entry has doubled in size and with the surf conditions of Cocoa Beach it proved to be a welcome addition to the entertainment. John Smith was first to stand out taking the win in race 1, but it was the youngster Brook Harris who excelled in the testing conditions to take the overall win. Smith finished second with round one winner Kirk Britto third.

The top rookie award went to 300 racer Jeff Thornton, who held off strong competition to take his first win in the P1 AquaX Championships.

The series now heads to St Cloud on 20th and 21st September where the 2014 AquaX champions will be crowned.

‘SIMPLY A GREAT PARTNERSHIP’Those are the words of P1 USA champion-ship director Azam Rangoonwala who is very much aware of the appeal of Florida’s Space Coast, a vibrant destination packed with thrilling adventures and world-fa-mous attractions, including beautiful Cocoa Beach. In addition to scheduling the race program over the two days of fast and furious action, Azam and his event team work to ensure that no harm comes to the local wildlife that includes sea turtles, manatees, dolphins and alligators.

“Race boats and wildlife simply don’t mix” he says. “Our marine watch pro-gramme is just as important as the racing itself and we have a team of observers, together with a helicopter, to identify any sightings of marine life in the vicinity of the race course and, if necessary, to temporar-ily stop the racing.”

“We were thrilled to have such a dynam-ic and exciting event as the P1 national championships calling Cocoa Beach home again” says Kalina Subido-Person, market-ing director with the Florida Space Coast Office of Tourism. “Events like this give our visitors and locals something unique to ex-perience, especially getting a close-up look at these powerful race boats and talented jet ski riders in action.”

All the P1 SuperStock racing is broad-cast in the USA in 24 half-hour weekly TV programmes through to October on MA-VTV and Fox Sports Florida, reaching over 40 million homes. “Media and broadcast relationships play a key role in building P1’s international presence and in delivering exposure for host venues such as Cocoa Beach as well as commercial partners” explains Azam.

The P1 fleet of eight P1 Panther pow-erboats and more than forty jet ski riders will now prepare for the season finale in St. Cloud on 20th and 21st September.

Our powerboat teams and jet ski riders were excited to race in Cocoa Beach again. It’s a special place and unique location, and the racers and fans all had a superb weekend. We have a wonderful partnership with the town and Space Coast.

“”

2014 P1 INTERNATIONAL RACE CALENDARDaytona, Florida – 26/27 AprilStuart, Florida – 17/18 MayBournemouth, Dorset – 31 May/1 JuneJacksonville, Florida – 7/8 June Hull, Yorkshire – 21/22 JuneTampa, Florida – 12/13 JulyCardiff, Wales – 26/27 JulyTorquay, Devon – 9/10 AugustCocoa Beach, Florida – 23/24 AugustGosport, Hampshire – 6/7 September St Cloud, Florida – 20/21 September

© 2014 Powerboat P1 USA2320 Clark Street, Suite A1-3 Apopka, FL 32703 USA

“Cocoa Beach is a perfect venue for P1 racing, with the beautiful stretch of coastline enabling thousands of people to get a great view of the jet skis and powerboats racing close to shore. The town has again been extremely welcoming and supportive, and I would like to thank the Space Coast Office of Tourism and the mammal protection and watch programme for making the event possible.”

James Durbin, P1 CEO

Find out more online at these websites: powerboatp1.com p1superstock.com p1aquax.com