ABU DHABI - Monday, 10th of July, 2012 - As the UIM F1 H2O World Championship for power boating heads to the edge of the Kiev Sea just outside one of Europe's largest cities in the capital city of the Ukraine for the second time in it's history, time is starting to run out on a few desperate drivers who know they must make it happen in a big way to stay in the run for this years World Championship on the 20th and 21st of July.
"We had a setback in Kazan, Russia two weeks ago," said Qatar Team's Shaun Torrente. "We had the pole, led the race, only to drop out in the first five minutes of the event in my Peters & May sponsored Qatar Team DAC boat. My teammate Alex Carella did a great job going on to get his second straight victory in Tatarstan but it's time for me to put the full weekend of success together and grab 20 points that we'll need for a true run at a championship this season."
Torrente qualified ninth in Kiev in 2011 but was one of the first boats out of the event being classified 17th failing to finish with his only mechanical failure of last season.
The talented American from Miami, Florida sits in fifth place with nine points, 26 behind drivers points leader Ahmed Al Hameli of Team Abu Dhabi who has an impressive win in Doha and a second place in Kazan and is the defending champion of the Grand Prix of Ukraine winning last year from pole position in his BABA boat.
While Ahmed sits atop the drivers table, his teammate and 12 year veteran Thani Al Qamzi continues to search to find his groove in 2012. He started by dropping out in second position at the first round of the championship in Doha, Qatar only to struggle to finish sixth in Kazan, lucky to complete the event after breaking his propeller during the race.
Thani finished seventh after qualifying sixth a year ago on the Kiev Sea.
The Abu Dhabi driver, is tied for eighth place with five points, along with veteran Italian Francesco Cantando of Milan, Italy, who after a great start in Kazan marching up into the top three failed to finish in his Singha Team BLAZE boat completing just five laps.
Francesco will be chasing his 13th career victory and his first win in his last 11 race starts.
Tied for sixth place with seven points in the championship is Swedish driver Jonas Andersson. The 38 year-old driver who finished fifth in Kazan two weeks ago, put himself in a hole early in the season by failing to finish the race in Doha with a mechanical issue.
The Team Sweden driver from Fruvi was sixth in Kiev last season but knows he'll need at least a podium finish to have a fair shot at his first title beginning in Kiev.
Russian driver Stanislav Kurtsenovskiy of the CTIC China Team is having a steady start to his first full time racing year since 2008. His eighth in Doha followed by a seventh in Kazan puts him level in points with Andersson after two races as he chases his first ever podium at this race in Kiev.
So, as all eyes will be on points leader Al Hameli, who is chasing his first title with an eight points cushion in the drivers standings.
Lurking closely in the shadows is defending World Champion and Kiev race winner Carella followed by French driver Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China Team both with 27 points.
Philippe, is having a great season, having scored second and third place finishes after the season's first two events in his French built MOORE boat.
Add to the mix two-time World Champion Sami Selio of the Mad Croc Team sitting at 21 points. His third and fourth place results have other drivers watching closely with Sami's history of having come back twice from behind in the points race to win titles in 2007 and again in 2010.
However, the mad scrum behind these drivers is going to be a desperate situation for the above drivers, who know its now or never if they want any realistic shot at a world title in 2012.
The run to the front of the pack of the drivers championship begins with Official Qualifying on Friday the 20th of July at 18:00 local, 15:00 GMT and 11:00 EDT on the East Coast of North America.
The Second Annual Grand Prix of Ukraine from Kiev Sea and the third Round of 2012 will take place on Saturday the 21st of July at 18:00 local, 15:00 GMT and 11:00 EDT on North America's East Coast.
Both Qualifying and the Grand Prix can be viewed "live" as part of the International Television world feed by going to the official website of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship at www.f1h2o.com.
Fun to watch... and fun to speculate...as this 2012 UIM F1 H2O Championship is shaping up to be another memory shattering special season who's campaign which runs into early December may well be added to an elite place in the annals of the history of this four decade sport.
With little over five months remaining we'll see how this plays out. There are still hundreds of laps to be raced in the chase for a title.
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