Qualifying begins Thursday for the inaugural Oryx Cup-UIM World Championship on the Arabian Sea against the booming city backdrop of Doha, Qatar --the first stop for the unlimited hydroplane powerboat series’ race outside North America.
Steve David, driver of the defending national champion U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto, has a slim 216 point lead over U-5 Formulaboats.com’s Jeff Bernard (Kent, Wash.). In the modern era of Unlimited Hydroplane racing this is the closest margin going into the last race of the season.
Even though the Doha Bay racecourse oval is mirrored from Seattle’s Seafair 2-mile course there are a lot of unknowns going into tomorrow’s qualifying.
“Not only are we racing in beautiful Doha Bay we have new water conditions to learn which put all the teams on an equal playing field,” David said. This is new to all ten drivers and will make for an exciting finish on Saturday for the Martini & Rossi National Championship trophy.
David has won the driver’s championship three of the past four years in the Oh Boy! Oberto. The Oberto race team is owned and operated by the city 14,000 residents of Madison, Ind.
The town’s Unlimited Hydroplane is the longest continuous running team in the sport, beginning in 1961.
Formulaboats.com who began in 2006 has one national championship to their name, one win this season and has the depth of a two-boat team, entering the U-7 Graham Trucking in Saturday’s race. Bernard feels his two-boat team gives him the advantage over the other teams who have one boat teams.
“Even though we operate as two separate crews we will be able to compare boat set-up data and my teammate J. Michael Kelly and I will be comparing our boat rides on these uncharted waters,” Bernard said.
Dave Villwock, driver of Ballard, Washington’s U-16 Ellstrom Elam Plus, currently third in high points feels he has the advantage because he has more than half the career wins of all the other nine drivers combined.
Villwock has 59 career wins, third on the all time winningest drivers behind the late Bill Muncey’s 62 wins. Villwock said, “We have more than 2/3 the wins this season than any other team which is a complement to our team and the Ellstrom family (owners of the race team).”
Another team sure to give the three leader’s a run for their money is the U-37 Miss Peters & May driven by the only non-U.S. driver, Jean Theoret. Theoret from Canada has six career wins is also the defending World Champion having won the trophy in San Diego in 2006.
With the Oryx Cup-UIM World Championship trophy and the Martini & Rossi National Championship trophy both on the line, the first international race will sure to entertain the fans around the world.
The Unlimited Hydroplanes that made the trip to the Middle East:
- U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto, Steve David (Lighthouse, Florida)
- U-5 Formulaboats.com, Jeff Bernard
- U-7 Graham Trucking, J, Michael Kelly (Puyallup, Wash.)
- U-16 Ellstrom's Elam Plus, Dave Villwock (Auburn, Wash.)
- U-17 Our Gang Racing, Nate Brown (Preston, Wash.)
- U-22 Matrix System Automotive Finishes, Mike Webster (Reading, Penn.)
- U-25 Superior Racing, Ken Muscatel (Mercer Island, Wash.)
- U-37 Miss Peters & May, Jean Theoret (Lery Quebec Canada)
- U-48 Go Fast Turn Left Racing, Brian Perkins (Black Diamond, Wash.)
- U-100 Leland Unlimited, Greg Hopp (Snohomish, Wash.).
Live streaming Internet coverage begins on Thursday and will continue through Saturday’s racing at www.abrahydroplanes.com
