Heights of Abraham has one hand on the overall Galway Grand Prix of the Sea trophy after another ruthless performance on Sunday tightened the Matlock team’s grip on the Powerboat P1 SuperStock Championship 300 Class prize in Ireland.
The imperious pair of Rupert Pugh and Dan Whapples dished out another lesson in offshore powerboat racing after the dynamic duo romped home by over ten seconds in Salthill.
Leading from the front, Messrs Pugh and Whapples gave their rivals little chance of stealing the gold with some outstanding cornering in testing conditions.
Now looking very difficult to beat after its fifth successive win of the season, HeightsofAbraham pilot Pugh is confident of completing another clean sweep in Galway this weekend. He said: “It’s been an unbelievable couple of races. Our reliability has been a key ingredient of our success so far this season and if we can hold it together in some tricky conditions forecast for Monday then I’m sure we’ll finish the job off.”
Galway was painted in glorious golden sunshine in the afternoon and although the slight choppiness on the water coming off the stunning Salthill shoreline made it far from a comfortable day’s work, Pugh was quick to pay tribute to the fantastic support, which saw numbers reach a monumental 90,000 between the Galway Harbour and Salthill race villages over the weekend. He said: “It’s been a fantastic weekend for the sport. All of the pilots have noticed the huge interest from the spectators and we are all looking forward to completing a great Grand Prix of the Sea and hopefully coming back again next year.”
Once again continuing yesterday’s formbook, Premier Cru stole the headlines in the 150 Class. Powering home by a considerable margin, John Wilson and Neil Scarborough found an extra-gear to keep up their unbeaten record in the 21 ft discipline this year.
Taking the checkered flag ahead of Eclipse and Team Fox, Premier Cru pilot John Wilson pinpointed the “immense” navigation of Neil Scarborough as the chief reason for Sunday’s race victory. He said: “Neil is a fantastic navigator. He allows me to focus purely on what’s in front of me. We have a massive amount of respect for each other and our experience in the boat together is reaping great rewards this year.
“We were in the mid-52’s (mph) for the entire 10-laps and Flying Sparks were hitting 53 mph so the competition is starting to hot up.
“In smooth conditions on Saturday the lighter power-to-weight ratio suited the girls in Eclipse but today the rougher conditions were perfect for us.
ENDS
Published in Around Ireland Offshore Powerboat Race 2010
Published in
Around Ireland Offshore Powerboat Race 2010
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