27 Zapcat teams entered into the Bournemouth Grand Prix including a new mixed team boat 52 Team Angel Mandy Castle and Andrew Foster, along with a couple of old faces we haven’t seen for a while. The racers started with a surprise at drivers briefing with a slightly unusual inverted T-shaped course which went down a storm and challenged the racers on the circuit with lots of left and right hand turns.
With lots of action on the water everyone was trying hard to get into the division 1 and 2 finals which as always take place at the end of the day. In the division 2 final youngsters Dan Smith and Nathan Parker in boat 10 SeaVation were battling with an old championship Martyn Wilcox and Nick Selfe in boat 38 Speedy Hire, boat 10 crossed the line first leaving a slightly disappointed Martyn in his wake. Behind them boat 42 Go Commando secured the final place on the podium.
The action continued into the Division 1 final where current champions Mick Pritchard and Baz Minns in 01 Pegasus Vortex Racing had a tussle with 98 father and son team Greg and Kieron Richardson and our champions came off worse and flipped leaving them disqualified from the re-start. This allowed their nearest competitors boat 03 Commandos Predator Bligh Julius and Simon Butters to close the gap and take 1st place and 100 points. 2nd and 3rd place went to boat 98 Team Suffolk Greg and Kieron Richardson and 02 Vortex Racing Craig Davis and Rob Martin.
For Sundays racing the sun continued to shine and we had yet another unusual and challenging course for our competitors. Boat 28 Westgate driven by Charles Morris were back on the water but this time with a different co-pilot as his brother Ed Morris landed awkwardly on Saturday and injured his shoulder.
The course gave the spectators lots to watch with quite a few teams flipping and landing on buoys! Martyn Wilcox and Nick Selfe had something to prove after yesterday’s second place and raced hard all day and took 1st place on the podium, 2nd place was battle for between boat 10 SeaVation and 42 Go Commando but the Commandos couldn’t quite get it and Dan Smith and Nathan Parker managed to secure the 2nd place on the podium.
Mick Pritchard and Baz Minns were not going to get into any problems today and took the lead to secure 1st place in division 1 final with team mate 02 Vortex Racing close behind them. Boat 88 Team Bladerun Tristan Haigh and Mike Hammer raced hard and grabbed the final place on the podium.
The consistent driving of birthday boy Craig Davis allowed boat 02 Vortex Racing with co-pilot Rob Martin to win the Grand Prix and take home the Bournemouth Grand Prix trophy.