AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND
Excitement is building among the competitors in Britains premier powerboat championship, P1 SuperStock UK, as the series prepares for its annual visit to the Isle of Wight for the most high-profile event of the season, the Cowes-Poole-Cowes endurance race on Sunday, 26 August.
With little more than a fortnight to go until the fourth event of the 2012 campaign, which will be part of the British Powerboat Festival, the big question on everyones lips is whether the Pickfords pairing of Dean Stoneman (Southampton) and Dean Paling (Southampton) can be beaten in the P1 250 Class.
So far this season, the duos maiden year in P1 SuperStock UK, they have been untouchable and remain undefeated after visits to Plymouth Sound, the River Humber in Hull and, most recently, the English Channel at Eastbourne just over three weeks ago.
Reigning P1 250 Champion John Wilson (Coleshill), partnered by Major Nigel Hindmarsh (London) in the Pertemps Panther 28SS, badly jarred his back in choppy waters during the opening race in Eastbourneflaring up an old injurybut he will be more determined than ever to achieve success in Cowes.
Wilsons last minute replacement for the second and third Eastbourne races, Robbie Mould, did a sterling job on his debut in the championship and claimed a podium in the final encounter. Even so, Pertemps hasnt had the smoothest of seasons up to now and is seventh in the standings, some 37 points off the lead.
Sitting in second place in the title race, and the crew emerging as potential challengers to the all-conquering Pickfords, are Andy Wilby (Fleet) and Myles Jennings (Exeter) in Typhoo. Eastbourne was a happy hunting ground for Typhoo with two podiums from three races, but the gap to the two Deans is a hefty 21 points.
Edox, piloted by Ian Brusby (Doncaster) and Will Nurse (Hayling Island), and IFX Racing, crewed by rookie competitors Nick Williams (Amersham) and Aaron Emmett (Amersham), are tied for third position in the championship, just eight points behind Typhoo.
Behind them, the points situation remains unbelievably tight with Oval Racings James Norvill (Newport) and Jon Collingbourne (Newport) and the Peters & May with Brookspeed Racing pairing of Mike Lovell (Southampton) and Luke Elkin (Southampton) equal fifth, a mere three points shy of the nip and tuck third place battle.
Seven points further back is Pertemps while the luckless PaLu crew of Simon Bayles (Battersea) and Philippa Baker (Kensington) props up the P1 250 table having suffered huge misfortune season-long. However, third place in Cowes last year confirms that the duo has what it takes to do well on their second visit to the Isle of Wight.
In the P1 150 Class the championship picture couldnt be more different, with only two points separating husband and wife pairings David and Kirsty Toozs-Hobson (Arundel), in Macdonald Mermaid, and 2011 champions Stuart and Sara Cureton (Lindford), Team Purple, at the top of the table.
While Team Purple led the championship all the way up to the previous event, a steering failure in the last of the Eastbourne races proved costly. This allowed Macdonald Mermaid to sneak into a slim points lead, and also profiting from Team Purples troubles was the Powertech Marine duo of Sam Whittle (Hampton Hill) and Andy Streeting (Camberley) who came through to secure their maiden class win.
Third in the P1 150 table is Black Magic, father and daughter pairing Vince and Jade Berridge (Hemel Hempstead), just four points ahead of Team 73 duo Rose Lores (Stubbington) and John Donnelly (Warsash, Hampshire).
Powertech Marine is next up, 20 points clear of the Pertemps-supported Mission Motorsport crewan outstanding charitable organisation providing rehabilitation opportunities for ex-service personnel who have been affected by their involvement in military operations.
Provisionally, the spectacular Cowes-Poole-Cowes endurance race held over one lap of a 34.2 nautical-mile course is scheduled to start at 10.30am on Sunday, 26 August.and you can keep updated with our progress via our official Twitter account @WilliamsF1Team, our official Facebook page facebook.com/WilliamsTeam and our Pinterest account http://pinterest.com/williamsf1.
