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crowds lined the banks of the Clyde and enjoyed some spectacular
racing on the second day of the 2007 Zapcat National
Championship Glasgow River Festival Grand Prix and saw their
home boat, 17 Glasgow: Scotland with style, win two of their
four heats.
The
high-octane spectacular featured thirty teams from the world’s
biggest one-design powerboat series and saw an emphatic Grand
Prix win for last season’s Rookies of the Year, Mick Pritchard
and Baz Minns in their Zapcat 8 Pegasus Vortex Racing. Their
first place on day two of racing combined with their second
place finish on the first day of the meeting means the pair have
further consolidated
their lead in the Championship standings 124 points ahead of
their nearest rivals, Bligh Julius and Ben Toogood in Zapcat 3
Pretty Buoy.
The River
Clyde course once again proved that tactics are as important as
speed as the pilots choosing to take their obligatory pit lap at
the wrong moment realised the error of their ways when they were
left in the wake of their rivals.
Proving the
point, 78 Island Racing’s brilliantly-timed pit lap in
Saturday’s Division Two final gave them third place and their
great form continued into Sunday’s racing when Stephen and Kevin
Watts earned themselves the top spot on the podium.
 The
city of Glasgow, hosting the River Festival, had its own entry,
17
Glasgow:
Scotland with style, piloted by Zapcat Racing veteran, Tony
Jones. His co-pilot for the day was rookie Glaswegian lass,
Ursula Ketterer, 24, who proved herself a natural Zapcatter and
helped steer them to a win in her debut race and to second place
overall in the Division Two final in front of a home crowd.
Thirty of
the highly-manoeuvrable Zapcats battled it out in the Glasgow
River Festival Grand Prix, racing in small packs of six, around
the course between Bells Bridge and the Clyde Arc Bridge. 85,000
spectators lined the banks of the river to get up close to the
action as the boats hit speeds of around 50mph.
2007 Zapcat
National Championships Glasgow River Festival Grand Prix
results:
Division 1
1st 8 Pegasus Vortex Racing (Mick Pritchard, Baz Minns)
2nd 7 Potential (David Paget, Tony Cooper)
3rd 38 Speedy Hire (Daren Ford, Claire Cranstone)
Division 2
1st 78 Island Racing (Stephen Watts, Kevin Watts)
2nd 17 Glasgow: Scotland with style (Tony Jones, Ursula Ketterer)
3rd 72 Huntzpill Boyz (Ashley Chappell, Ryan Jones)
Grand Prix
8 Pegasus Vortex Racing
2007 Zapcat
National Championship standings
8 Pegasus Vortex Racing 540 points
3 Pretty Buoy 416 points
98 Team Suffolk 393 points |
