Offshoreonly.com - Cigarette Wins P1 Evolution Race

CIGARETTE SMOKES THE EVOLUTION FIELD AND DONZI PREVAILS IN SUPERSPORT
TURKISH GRAND PRIX OF THE SEA ROUND 4

There was no looking back for Luca Fendi and Matteo Nicolini as their Mercury-powered #10 CIGARETTE SMASH POKER team took the lead at the start of Sunday’s 15-lap Endurance race; the team finished nearly a minute ahead of the second place Fountain #33 FURNIBO team, also Mercury-powered. The #53 PIGNOLO Metamarine diesel made a great comeback from its accident in Malta, with both team and boat injuries repaired, to take third in this race—even though it did not start on Saturday due to a fuel cell problem.

Typically, attrition plays a part in endurance races, but it began at the start as the Mercury-powered #88 SNAV OSG Outerlimits was not able to recover from engine issues experienced on Saturday in the Sprint race, when the boat retired quickly after breaking a supercharger belt. Though with a new engine, the boat tested successfully earlier in the day, it could not make the start, leaving the 6-boat field to take the course.

When the Cigarette launched ahead, the FURNIBO Fountain and #77 LUCAS OIL/BUDWEISER Outerlimits fought for position, trading second and third places for several laps while #66 CRANEFIELDS WINE Searex, #53 PIGNOLO Metamarine and #47 SILVERLINE Buzzi boats competed for 4th, 5th and 6th positions. Since water conditions were smooth and the strong current seemed to subside somewhat today, speeds were well in excess of 100 mph so racing action proved exciting until CRANEFIELDS WINE retired in the 4th lap with an overheated engine followed by LUCA OIL losing power in one of its Chief Engines in the 7th lap. Since a team has to complete 70% of the total laps to earn points in the race, the #77 Outerlimits struggled to keep the boat on plane for the 4 more laps required.

In the meantime, Cigarette SMASH POKER continued to dominate with the Fountain FURNIBO team running cautiously at times as it seemed to periodically experience some guardian mode engine issues, running at 113 for its top speed. The PIGNOLO team continued to pick up speed as the bigger, heavier boat burned off fuel, achieving speeds of 110 mph. In the end, it was Cigarette SMASH POKER ahead by 53 seconds while the Outerlimits LUCAS OIL “was making painfully slow progress” according to P1 Radio announcer, Steve Ancsell, and failed to achieve its 11 laps by the end of the race.

“We have been working on a new set-up,” said Eugenio Voltolina, of Sea Horse Marine, the Italian Cigarette team owner, “On Saturday, we decided to run conservatively for points as we did not want to repeat the mistake made in Malta when we ran very fast (and spun out). After the sea trail and practice here, we got it this morning and everything went very well!”

In the SuperSport class, the Team #26 SW1 CAPITAL Donzi made a dramatic comeback after breaking a shaft and losing a propeller in Saturday’s race. The incident exemplified the off-the-race-course camaraderie of racers as the British team arranged overnight transport of a prop shaft from fellow British racer, Martin Lai, who plans to have his boat ready for the next race in Italy. A set of used and slightly battered props from the #38 BAIA ATTOLINI team gave the young bucks all they needed to take a convincing first place in the Endurance race. “They did well!” said Donzi VP of Sales, Craig Barrie, “They need to slow down! In motorsports today, it’s all about the set up. When we set this boat up for them in Key West last year, I told them to be careful as this boat could run away from them. Then they called and told me (in the last race when they broke out of their speed limit), ‘It got away from us!’”

The Sterling-powered Donzi team was followed by last year’s World Champions, Angelo Tedeschi and Aaron Ciantar, in the new #43 Ilmor-powered Chaudron SEAGULL, with their championship boat from last year in 3rd, piloted by the all-female team of Shelley Jory and Audrienne Ciantar. However, the ladies fell into the same circumstances experienced by their Chaudron counterparts on Saturday and were penalized 1 minute for speeding, giving up second place to the #38 Donzi BAIA ATTOLINI Team. The 1st-4th place Donzi/Chaudron line-up was completed by the Nor-Tech #5 MASFORCE Spirit of Belgium team, then by the 2-boat Italian team, Al & Al Racing, #22 BIG SERGIO and #28 BLU SHAFT in 5th, 6th and 7th places.

The overall standings for the series, listed below may be surprising as the acclaim and podium celebrations generally focus on speed and winning. But many other factors come in to play as teams like the #47 SILVERLINE Buzzi boat can attest. This experienced team of Jan Falkowski and Drew Langdon who competed in Powerboat P1, the Round Britain and Cowes-Torquay-Cowes races last year, worked in the off-season to put a canopy on their former SuperSport boat and added new Sterling Performance engines to compete in the Evolution class. As P1 Radio announcer Martin Sanborn commented, “You don’t have to be the fastest boat, you just have to be consistent.”

The Powerboat P1 World Championship moves on to Italy’s San Benedetto del Tronto, the hometown of Marco Pennessi of Metamarine, over the July 3-5 weekend. Stay tuned!

Classified Results For Round 4 of the Turkish Grand Prix:

Evolution Class

1. #10 Cigarette Smash Poker (Luca Formilli Fendi / Matteo Nicolini) 00:54:47.75
2. #33 Furnibo (Frank Hemelaer / Pierre Colpin) 00:55:49.19
3. #53 Metamarine Pignolo 53 (Marco Pennesi / Max Ferrari) 00:57:40.25
4. #47 Silverline (Jan Falkowski / Drew Langdon) 00:55:49.85
5. #77 Lucas Oil Outerlimits (Joe Sgro / Nigel Hook / Mike Fiore) 00:55:53.70
6. #66 Cranefield Wines (Siegfried Greve / Gino Passchier) RETIRED
7. #88 SNAV OSG (Hannes Bohinc / Giovanni Carpitella) DID NOT START

Points:

1. #10 Cigarette Smash Poker 81
2. #33 Furnibo 90
3. #53 Metamarine Pignolo 53 0
4. #47 Silverline 73
5. #77 Lucas Oil Outerlimits 100
6. #66 Cranefield Wines 66
7. #88 SNAV OSG 0

SuperSport Class

1. #26 Team SW1 Capital (Daniel Cramphorn / Kim Collins) 01:00:17.59
2. #43 Seagull Chaudron (Aaron Ciantar / Angelo Tedesci / Viktor Shemchuk) 01:01:01.98
3. #38 Baia Attolini (Stefano Acanfora / Renato Guidi / Roy Capasso) 01:02:01.98
4. #44 Ikocasa (Shelley Jory / Audrienne Ciantar) 01:02:07.41*
5. #17 MasForce (Micha Robyn / Patrick Huybreghts / Marc Sluszny) 01:02:45.39
6. #22 Big Sergio (Alfredo Nuzzo / Alfredo Amato) 01:03:31.25
7. #28 Blue Shaft (Gianbattista Gabriele / Alfredo Zanardo / Federico Montanari) 01:02:33.47**

*Includes 01:00 time penalty ** 14 laps completed

Points:

1. #26 Team SW1 Capital 100
2. #43 Seagull Chaudron 90
3. #38 Baia Attolini 81
4. #44 Iko Casa 73
5. #17 MasForce 66
6. #22 Big Sergio 60
7. #28 Blue Shaft 55

Overall Points Standings 2009 to Date:

Evolution ClassTeam Total Pts

1. #47 Silverline 309
2. #10 Cigarette Smash Poker 281
3. #77 Lucas Oil Outerlimits 271
4. #88 SNAV OSG 181
5. #33 Furnibo 180
6. #66 Cranefieds Wine 132
7. #33 Metamarine Pignolo 121

SuperSport Class

1. #43 Seagull Chaudron 350
2. #38 Baia Attolini 334
3. #44 Iko Casa 320
4. #17 MasForce 294
5. #26 Team SW1 Capital 260
6. #38 Blu Shaft 236
7. #22 Big Sergio 133