SPIRIT OF NORWAY POWERS TO VICTORY

Spirit of Norway, driven by Norwegian driver Bjorn Gjelsten and Briton Steve Curtis, won the opening round of this year’s Class 1 powerboat championship ahead of Victory 5 in second place and Victory 7 in third - both from the United Arab Emirates, in a nail-biting final lap.

Spirit of Norway, which led from the start with average speeds of 170.78 kph, briefly exchanged first place position with Italian entry Jolly Motor, 1997 world championship winning boat. The Italians eventually retired on lap 5 with fuel injection problems, leaving the path clear for the Norwegian entry.

"When Jolly Motor retired it focussed our minds," commented Bjorn Gjelsten. "It made us communicate with each other and listen to our boat. Our objective was to get the boat to the finish line without thrashing it."

Victory 5, driven by Saeed Al Tayer from Dubai and Felix Serralles from Puerto Rico, finished in second place closing the gap with victors Spirit of Norway from 60 to 29 seconds on the final, dramatic lap.

"We pushed really hard at the start," explained Serralles, "but Bjorn and Steve have a quicker and newer boat than us. They had a much better start and made a better propeller choice."

But the real battle was between Victory 4 and Victory 7 for third place, both from the Emirate stable. Swapping positions throughout most of the race, until Victory 7, driven by Ali Nasser from Dubai and Randy Scism from the USA eventually clinched the podium result.

"We battled with Spirit of Norway and Bilboa at the start," said throttleman Randy Scism. "But we were forced to stop with an ignition problem and dropped back. Once we got going again we had a good fight for third place with Victory 4 for a couple of laps, but we managed to get the inside line round the turn buoys and took the lead."