KYIV, Ukraine - Sunday, 28th of July, 2013 - Finland's Sami Selio may have missed making the podium in yesterday's Grand Prix of Ukraine but today he took out his frustrations on the remainder of the field capturing his first career Match Race on Sunday at the "President Cup" competition in front of thousands of fans on the Kyiv Sea.
The sun drenched crowd cheered wildly as Selio defeated in two straight races Team Abu Dhabi driver Thani Al Qamzi making the Mad Croc Team pilot the third different driver in the three years of this drag racing event to take the top step to glory.
"It was a fantastic show and we were well prepared to get the job done," said Selio. "I wanted to prove a point after finishing fourth yesterday in the Grand Prix and losing the number one position in the championship points table. Now we can go home with some added prize money as we prepare for Liuzhou, China which is always a big plus for the team which is fun."
Sami reached the finals by first defeating his young teammate Filip Roms in two heats before taking care of Youssef Al Rubayan of Kuwait after the Atlantic Team driver broke his engine. In the semi-final Selio beat eventual third place winner Jonas Andersson of Team Azerbaijan two straight before taking care of business against Al Qamzi.
Thani went undefeated in the first two rounds winning against rookie Bartek Marszalek of Poland and then Italian two-time defending World Champion Alex Carella. He then needed three runs to defeat Italian veteran Francesco Cantando of the Singha Team before meeting Selio in the final.
Other interesting match-ups saw the winners of the last two "President Cup" events, 2011 champ Ahmed Al Hameli of Team Abu Dhabi battle last years overall Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China organization with the 2011 winner moving on taking two straight races.
Norway's Marit Stromoy defeated the much heralded and current UIM F1 H2O World Championship points leader Shaun Torrente of the Qatar Team two races to one to eventually face old friend Jonas Andersson who would eliminate her in the Quarter-Finals two to one.
Fifteen different match-ups took place and now Selio joins the select group of Ahmed Al Hameli and Philippe Chiappe as winners of the "Presidents Cup" ending three days of the celebration at the center of speed here on the Kyiv Sea just north of the capital city of Kyiv.
The UIM F1 H2O World Championship now heads to Southern China and the city of Liuzhou on the weekend of the first and second of October and the 19th Grand Prix of China.
The event will be a special one honoring the 250th Grand Prix in the four decade history of the sport celebrating it's 30th year of racing in 2013.
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