Local Maltese hero Aaron Ciantar, driving the #44 Conam Yachts entry, piloted his team to victory in today's SuperSport Endurance event - the first race of the Malta Grand Prix of the Sea weekend. Ciantar and reigning SuperSport champion throttleman Angelo Tedeschi led the race from start to finish in their locally-built, Mercury-powered Chaudron boat.
The #88 Kiton Outerlimits pairing of 2006 Evolution class champion Giancarlo Cangiano and Joe Sgro dominated the Endurance event in incredibly rough conditions, ultimately taking the chequered flag with a four-minute lead over the second-place #60 GFN Gibellato boat of Marco Pennesi and Giampaolo Montavoci.
The 99 Fountain 1st4boats.com crew of James Sheppard and Craig Wilson took a dominant win in today's Evolution class Sprint race of the Grand Prix de Marseille, heading home the 88 Kiton Outerlimits OSG Racing boat and the 10 Fantastic 1 Cigarette Racing Team in a dramatic event that had thrills and spills aplenty.
The race got off to a controversial start before the boats even reached the first turn as the 99 Fountain boat and the 69 Honeyparty.com had a close shave that left the 69 Honeyparty.com boat limping back to harbour with severe hull damage. In the ensuing confusion, the majority of boats managed to miss the first buoy, allowing the 99 Fountain boat to make a clean escape before building a 20-second lead.
"It was a fantastic race," Sheppard said. "We never pushed the boat to the maximum. We had a difficult situation at the start with three boats who missed a buoy and were forced to turn around. Conditions were incredibly difficult, but we have a superb crew. Mark Wilson, our team manager, planned an awesome boat."
In today's SuperSport race, the reigning champion 44 Conam Yachts crew continued their dominance. The Italian-based pairing of Angelo Tedeschi and Aaron Ciantar led home the 59 Saho Offshore Rana's boat and the 08 Phoenix TV team, with a lead of almost three-minutes at the chequered flag.
The battle for second place was initially an incredibly close-fought scrap between the 47 Silverline Buzzi Bullet and 07 VoomVoom.com crews, but both boats ground to a halt midway through the race with technical problems, severely hampering their bid to stay ahead of the 44 Conam Yachts crew at the top of the points table.
"The water conditions were very bad, but we applied our strategy to make a good start," said Ciantar. "This advantage gave us the possibility to manage our position to the middle of the course. The conditions kept changing with the wind, but it was okay for the victory."
#44 Conam Yachts pilot Aaron Ciantar has acknowledged that his double SuperSport victory and overall Grand Prix of the Sea victory on home waters in Malta is the highlight of his powerboat racing career so far.
The #88 Kiton Outerlimits OSG racing crew of Giancarlo Cangiano and Joe Sgro took their second Evolution class win of the Malta Grand Prix of the Sea weekend in today's Sprint event, securing the overall Grand Prix of the Sea victory and moving into second place in the Evolution class championship standings.
The SuperSport title-leading 44 Conam Yachts crew of Angelo Tedeschi and Aaron Ciantar took their seventh win of the year in today's Tunisian Grand Prix of the Sea Sprint race, securing overall Grand Prix of the Sea honours at the same time. The double win - allied to their 50-point bonus for completing the first half of the year without an engine change - gives them a 190 point advantage in the championship points table.
Sunday's Evolution Sprint race round of the Tunisian Grand Prix of the Sea proved as much of a test of stamina of man and machine as Saturday's Endurance race, with the #10 Fantastic 1 Cigarette Racing Team Europe squad, the #76 Italcraft boat and the #88 Kiton Outerlimits emerging the top-three survivors from an attrition-marked race.
Saturday 10 May, 2008: A glorious sun-splashed sky and a calm Adriatic Sea made for exciting racing on the opening day of the 2008 Powerboat P1 World Championship season in picturesque resort of San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy.
Reigning P1 World Champion #99 'Fountain Worldwide,' which ran third for most of the Evolution class race, made a dramatic move on the last lap to take the checkered flag. The victory was made sweeter by the fact that the British team of Craig Wilson and James Shepperd didn't have their 12 metre boat until almost 6:00 a.m. on race day itself, having lost its trans-Atlantic transport from the Fountain Powerboat factory in the United States in favor of U.S. Military cargo. "I've never had to work so hard in my life," said pilot Shepperd after emerging from his Ilmor-powered Fountain boat. "My hands hurt. Everything hurts. We didn't have much setup time, but there was some superb stalking by Craig that allowed us to get ahead in the closing stages of the race. That was tough, but a great start to the year."
The 77 'Lucas Oil' team of American Nigel Hook and Brit Shelly Jory, the only male-female Evolution Class team, led for most of the race but ended second place in their 12-metre Skater, powered by Mercury Racing. The German Searex Racing team of Siegfried Greve (Germany) and Belgian Gino Passchier drove the 40-foot 'Cranfield Wines' to a third place finish.
In P1 SuperSport class, the locals had much to cheer about with a win by Italian team 44 'Conam Yachts.' The crew of team owner and throttleman Angelo Tedeschi and his new pilot Aaron Ciantar dominated the SuperSport event that got the race weekend off to a great start, quickly opening a dominant 30-second lead over their nearest rivals and extended that by a further 10 seconds by the chequered flag. Great Britain was well represented on the podium with second and third place captured by the #07 Voom Voom.com, followed by 47 Silverline Buzzi Bullet.
A large crowd enjoyed world-class racing and are prepared for tomorrow's second round of the 14-race series which spans three continents.
blobby ikun fuq bank gewwa tas-sliema, wahdu jpejjep sigarett al kwiet, meta jara tfajla addejja, pupa kienet, u jipprova jabbiha....
blobby gestures - andrea sghendo
blobby voice - clive
pupa - mark azzopardi
filming - Patrick ciantar xD