Cappellini Crashes Out Early; Jones Give OMC First Lead!
RIGA, LATVIA (11th of June) — American Scott Gillman finally shook his bad luck and took advantage of others misforturnes cruising to his first win of 2000 and his 10th of his U.I.M. F1 World Championship for powerboating career while putting himself right back in the championship picture in front of 75,000 fans on the banks of the Daugava River in Riga, Latvia for the Grand Prix of Latvia.
Gillman, in the Abu Dhabi Tourism DAC 2.5 litre Mercury, built up a lead of over 10 seconds and eventually finishing 4.28 seconds ahead of Italian Fabio Comparato in the Laserline/Castrol DAC 2.5 litre Mercury to record his first victory since winning in Istanbul in August of 1999.
The day started quite differently however, as pole man and points leader Guido Cappellini of Como, Italy took the lead at the start only to get lost on the first lap, losing his way around the left-right-left complex of turns on the south end of the course and dropping to 5th on the opening lap. For the first time this season Cappellini would not lead a lap, as 4-time World Champion Jonathan Jones of Cardigan, Wales moved to the front in his Fuchs/Eurobet Burgess OMC 3.0 litre machine. Jones pulled away from Gillman at a quick rate building up the hopes of the OMC crowd and holding a healthy 10 second margin before dropping out on the 11th lap during the races only restart with gear case failure.
The reason for the restart was Cappellini in his Laserline/Castrol DAC 2.5 litre Mercury barrel rolling 2 times in his chase to get back into 3rd position past fellow Italian Francesco Cantando in the Singha Beer/Waircom DAC 2.5 litre Mercury. Cappellini’s accident was his first since Stresa, Italy in 1998 and opens up the door to the championship while ending his string of races finished without dropping out since Abu Dhabi in December of 1998.
All eyes were glued on visiting driver Victor Kunitch the native of Moscow, Russia driving this weekend for Latvia. The thousands of spectators around the 7-turn 2 kilometer course went wild with Kunitch closing and getting side by side with Comparato on the 41st lap of the 48 lap race. Comparato held his off for a 2nd place finish while Kunitch was later disqualified in scrutineering for having an illegal exhaust on his 2.5 litre Mercury powerplant.
This misforturne for the Russian pilot opened the door for young rookie pilot Awad Al Qubaisi of the Abu Dhabi Tourism DAC 2.5 litre Mercury to slide into 3rd overall, his best ever finish and pushing him to the top of the rookie-of-the-year candidates.
Italian veteran Massimo Roggiero in the Petrobras DAC 2.0 Mercury was satisfied with 4th even though he couldn’t get full use of his 2.5 litre engine he had brought with him for the weekend. Roggiero will have this ready in time for Chalon in France in 2 weeks and will be a real darkhorse for victory on this 2-pin circuit.
Former World Champion Fabrizio Bocca in the Rainbow Racing DAC 2.5 litre Mercury coming back from a testing accident finished 5th, while another rookie Portugal’s Duarte Benevente in the Singha Beer/Siemans/Halco Burgess was forced to run his 2 litre Mercury after having a problem with his 2.5 engine in the first timed session on Saturday.
France’s Philippe Dessertenne was able to be the first driver this season to finish the full distance in an OMC powerplant in his Fuchs/Eurobet DAC machine, taking his first championship points of the season finishing 7th.
Another rookie, Paul Gaiser of Brazil in his Petrobras DAC 2.0 litre Mercury learned about heavy wind and water conditions and came home in 8th place while again picking up more championship points.
Finnish pilot Sami Selio got in his first race laps of the season by running well, up to 6th before dropping out on the 15th tour. Cantando, who had run strong and had challenged Gillman for the lead in the middle laps of the event, finally fell behind Comparato and dropped out of the race with electrical problems on the 20 lap.
Cappellini continues to lead the World Championship table with 60 points, while his teammate Comparato is in 2nd with 46. American Scott Gillman now moves into 3rd with his win and 35 points while Massimo Roggiero is 4th with 31 and Gillman’s teammate Awad Al Qubaisi now 5th with 29 and leading all rookie drivers with points.
The series moves on to the French Grand Prix in Chalon in 2 weeks and the question remains; Can anyone continue to stop Cappellini and the Laserline team. Scott Gillman is hot and has won in Chalon before, but so has Cappellini and Jonathon Jones. Stay tuned, it’s only getting better as the summer gets hotter!
