The stars of the P1 SuperStock Championship are busy preparing for the grand finale of the ‘Race to Liverpool’ which takes place this weekend.
Based at the impressive Albert Dock on the River Mersey, the final round of the season for the UK’s top powerboat racers is set to be a truly spectacular event with both the P1 250 Panther and P1 150 class titles still up for grabs.
Off the back of last weekend’s visit to the Isle of Wight, the Pertemps crew of John Wilson (Coleshill, Birmingham) and Neil Scarborough (Monks Risborough) lead the way at the top of the P1 250 table, 21 points ahead of star rookie Team 88 – Simon Bayles (Battersea) and Phillipa Baker (Kensington).
Despite a troublesome race in Cowes, in which Pertemps led comfortably before a throttle problem required Wilson to clamber onto the back of the boat to try and make a mid-race repair, the 2010 P1 150 champions have high hopes of claiming the inaugural P1 250 crown just over a week from now.
Team 88 has enjoyed a sensational debut year in powerboats and with 40 points in total up for grabs in Liverpool, it’s not unthinkable Bayles and Baker could pull off a massive upset. That said, they’re only currently three points ahead of the Peters & May boat which raced to success in Cowes in the hands of Darren Hook (Wadhurst, East Sussex) and David John Harwood (London).
Fourth in the P1 250 standings is Edox, piloted by Rupert Pugh (Matlock, Derbyshire) and navigated by Anthony Crossley (Sidmouth, Devon). Unfortunately a heavy landing early in the Cowes-Poole-Cowes encounter led to injury for Crossley so Pugh wasted no time in immediately retiring from the race.
In P1 150, Team Purple – Stuart and Sara Cureton (Lindford, Hampshire) – has a 22 point cushion over the Eclipse entry of Rose Lores (Stubbington, Hampshire) having inherited victory in Cowes when Rose and 17-year-old rookie navigator Lucci Levi (Cowes) incurred a time penalty for missing a marker buoy while embroiled in a fantastically close battle with Team Fox.
The Jersey crew of Martin Colligan (St Helier) and Liam McDermott (St Helier) also received a similar time penalty post-race so the final order was Purple from Eclipse and Fox. Just four points are all that separate Eclipse and Team Fox so the final two races of the year should be classics.
In addition to the P1 SuperStock powerboat racing, the action-packed AquaX Championship will contest its final two races of the year after an exciting weekend of jet-skiing in Cowes. Russell Marmon (Christchurch, Dorset) and Duncan Johnstone (Fareham, Hampshire) sealed the Elite 300 and AM 200 class titles respectively on the Isle of Wight but the AM 300 crown can still go one of three ways.
Paul Attiwell (Abingdon, Oxford) leads the standings by eight points from Dave Huddleston (Milton Keynes) thanks to a pair of wins at Egypt Point in Cowes but third placed Mat Shipley (Seaford, East Sussex) is only four points further adrift.
