Round 8 – Emirates Grand Prix – Dubai, U.A.E.
NASSER & SCISM CROWNED WORLD CHAMPIONS IN DUBAI
* Victory 7 celebrates Class 1 World Title following steady 3rd place in Dubai *
* Sister boats Victory 44 & Victory 4 complete jubilant 1-2-3 on home territory *
*Jolly Motor chases World Champions to the line to finish 4th *
* Jotun & No Fear retire with blown turbos after promising form *
Ali Nasser and Randy Scism in ‘Victory 7’ were crowned 1999 U.I.M. Class 1 World Powerboat Champions today, after completing a steady race to finish 3rd in the Emirates Grand Prix in Dubai.
Top honours on the day however, went to Saeed Al Tayer and Felix Serralles in ‘Victory 44’ who scored their first win in almost three years to earn the distinction of winning the most Class 1 races in the history of the sport. With Khalfan Harib and Mohamed Al Ghaith 2nd in ‘Victory 4’, the result marked the second podium whitewash of the season for Victory, and confirmed the team as the dominant force of the 1990’s by securing the Dubai-based outfit’s fourth World Class 1 title since 1993.
With either ‘Victory 7’, or ‘Victory 44’ mathematically certain to lift the 1999 Pole Position Trophy at the final round in Dubai next week, the distinctive blue liveried team are also assured of their fourth Class 1 Pole Position title in the same period.
Furthermore, should ‘Victory 7’ go on to secure the Pole Position Trophy next week, Nasser will have earned the unique honour of holding four major titles concurrently. Having already been crowned 1999 European and World Class 1 Champion with long-time American partner Randy Scism, the Dubai national also holds the 1998/99 World Class 2 title with fellow Victory Team member Khalfan Harib.
Forty-three year-old Scism on the other hand, was, until today, often referred to as the nearly man of the sport, having notched up an impressive Class 1 tally of 11 race wins, 21 podium finishes and eight Pole Position wins, without actually winning the elusive title. Having finished 2nd overall twice and 3rd overall twice since 1994, the Missouri born throttleman finally went one better today to cap a powerboat racing career that began back in 1985.
"It’s very difficult to describe my feelings today. I just can’t thank our crew and the team enough for their support," said Nasser, after continuing Victory 7’s record of finishing on the podium every race this season.
"We were stuck in 3rd gear from the fourth or fifth lap and had to stop to sort it out, so it was a close run thing," admitted Scism later. "We managed to temporarily fix the problem, but although we had good top end speed we lost a lot of ground through the corners. It’s certainly been a long time coming, with lots of near misses, but I’m just over the moon to finally be home and dry. It’s been a fantastic season," he concluded.
"I’m delighted for Ali and Randy, but it’s really a win, win situation with the Victory Team," continued Saeed Al Tayer at the post race press conference. "We’ve had some tough times, but it’s always a real pleasure to race with such a dedicated team of people behind us."
"We felt a vibration on the first lap and after all our prop troubles recently we started to feel a bit paranoid," added Serralles. "It was a tough race, but it was a lot of fun and it’s great to finally be back on the top rung of the podium."
Behind the Victory boats, ‘Jolly Motor’ completed another steady run in fourth, while Turkish throttleman Ugur Isik and driver Philippe Benhamou brought ‘Isiklar’ home in fifth place for the third time in four races, to demonstrate that reliability is as much a part of the sport as speed.
Meanwhile, the 1997 World Class 2 Champion, Ken Thorne, failed to continue the form that he showed in ‘No Fear’ in yesterday’s Pole Position run, falling victim once again to a blown turbo.
Ironically, a similar fate befell yesterday’s Pole Position victors, Andreas Ugland and Jann Hillestad in ‘Jotun,’ following gearbox problems that forced them to run on the limit to catch up. "We had problems from early on with an automatic cut off switch in the gearbox, so we had to slow right down to fix it. Of course, we then had to run right on the limit to catch up, and the turbo just couldn’t take the punishment," explained a disappointed Ugland.
Also joining the list of casualties on the day were Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis, who experienced yet another disappointing result in ‘Spirit of Norway’. Despite once again challenging for the lead in the early stages, the Anglo-Norwegian pairing lost a propeller at the end of lap three, and were forced to sit helplessly as the expensive chunk of stainless steel sank to the bottom of the Arabain Gulf.
Sadly, Giovanni Giorgi and Giampaolo Montavoci in ‘L.A. Jeans,’ continued to be beset by the sort of technical problems that have seen them retire from every round of the Championship so far this year. Although unlikely to challenge for top honours at the final round of the Championship next week, the likeable Italians will be sure to raise a big cheer if they finally break their duck and complete a full race distance.
Although the final round of the Championship, the Dubai Duty Free Grand Prix, takes place a week today (Friday November 5th) it will be the Pole Position run the day before which will perhaps be more keenly observed. With the World Championship already under their belt, it only remains to be seen whether Ali Nasser and Randy Scism are prepared to back off at all, or if they intend to underline one of the most dominant seasons of all time by lifting the Pole Position trophy as well.