ROUND 2 – ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA, 5 JULY 1998
RUSSIAN ROULET PAYS OFF FOR SPIRIT OF NORWAY
Norway’s Bjorn Gjelsten and Britain’s Steve Curtis pulled out one of the most sensational performances to claim victory in the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, Russia, – round 2 of the Class 1 World Powerboat Championship. The Anglo-Norwegian pairing steered their Lamborghini-powered Catamaran, Spirit of Norway, to first place after a titanic nail-biting battle to the finish with Italian boat Jolly Motor, giving the duo their second win of the season and lead of the championship.
The drama that unfolded over the last five laps of the 121-mile race proved to be one of offshore’s most exciting races of all time. The two almost identical five-ton machines swapped the lead, but it was eventually Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis who clinched the title on the approach to the final lap.
"The sea was really rough," explained Norway’s Bjorn Gjelsten, "and one of the choppiest races I’ve ever been in. I think our luck over Jolly was that we had a slightly larger propeller, which gave us an advantage going into the wind. But we knew it would be a long race and we just wanted to pace ourselves."
"This was one of the best races ever! It was such good fun. Sure it was a bit lumpy and we were jumping around a bit, but we had to go for it as it was neck and neck the whole way," explained throttleman Steve Curtis. "Our reliability was great. Sticking with Lamborghini has proved positive - they’ve worked hard through the winter to get their engines to this performance."
Spirit of Norway, using amazing tactics, quickly realised its advantage over Jolly Motor was on the down-wind leg of the course, so it criss-crossed the wake of the Italian vessel, overtook on the inside and gained advantage on the final down-wind leg. Unfortunately for Jolly Motor the overtaking manoeuver co-incided with losing its air intake canopy which automatically slowed them down.
"Towards the end of the race I felt that we were losing power, so now we need to check the ignition system," said Massimo Lippi. "Our other problem was with the canopy lid which we lost on lap 10. The sea was so bumpy and we were going at full throttle because we had Spirit of Norway right next to us. I suddenly heard a big bang and looked outside but couldn’t see anything. I think it blew away because the wind was up to 35 knots!"
Third place laurels went to the crew of Victory 5 of Dubai. Puerto Rican throttleman Felix Serralles explained: "You couldn’t see a lot of the waves and big holes were forming on the sea which caught us by surprise. Victory 5 is the oldest boat in our stable and a little behind in terms of design. The two boats that came in ahead of us are very similar designs, but we will have a new boat for the Dubai race in November which will make us more competitive."
Yesterday’s pole position winner Bilboa, driven by Italian Edoardo Polli and Laith Pharaon from Saudi Arabia, led the race from the start, however suffered a recurrence of the gear-box problems experienced in Bari, retiring from the race on lap three.
The third round of the championship will take place on 19 July in Arendal, Norway.