ABU DHABI - (30th of September, 2012) - Who says every vote doesn't count?
In the closest voting result in the history of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship Hall-Of-Fame Great Britain's David Parkinson aced out fellow Brit and boat designer David Burgess by a single vote earning him a place in the "Ring of Honor" along with the late Dutchman Cees Van der Velden.
The three month voting process was conducted by both representatives of the worldwide media along with visitors to the series official website www.f1h2o.com who were able to voice their opinions by selecting one of four candidates with the top two vote getters earning a place in the hall.
Right from the beginning of the voting process there was a strong leaning for the multi-time World Championship driver Van der Velden. The long time UIM F1 Race Commissioner, who made his mark as driver, builder and official finished, by taking a dominating 48% of the votes by the time the poles closed on the 29th of September.
"I guess it shows that even though Cees is no longer with us, people around the world remembered his tremendous contribution to the sport and how he continued to give back to the world of powerboat racing even after he had long retired as a driver," said Nicolo di San Germano President of H2O Racing.
Cees' election into the "Ring of Honor" looked like a sure thing right from the start as he lead easily early on, however British driver Bob Spalding was in a close vote in the first weeks with Parkinson and Burgess with three Brit's fighting for the final position only to have Spalding fade in the end.
The results came down to the final couple of days in almost a dead heat with Parkinson and Burgess fighting to earn an edge with Parkinson getting 23% and Burgess finishing with 22.9% in the final hours of voting.
"I can't believe it came down to one vote, but that's what happened," said Nicolo. "That's why its so important to vote because your feelings for one of these tremendous talents opens the door to dreams of the hall for the people who are lucky enough to be selected. David Parkinson deserves this honor as he lead the way on a lot of great ideas when he was promoting powerboat racing before me."
The official ceremonies for the Hall-Of-Fame will be part of the season ending "gala" at the last round of the championship held in Sharjah, UAE on the seventh of December.
The UIM F1 H2O World Championship for powerboating presents its fourth round of the season on the first and second of October with the running of the 18th Grand Prix of China in Liuzhou at 15:00 local (08:00 GMT) and 03:00 Central Daylight Time on the East Coast of North America.
Both the Grand Prix Qualifying on the first and the Grand Prix on the second can be followed live on the worldwide television broadcast by clicking on www.f1h2o.com the official website of the tour.
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