OSO News

An extended lead following another double victory in Zeebrugge puts us firmly in pole position, but the pressure is mounting to win in Portugal and claim our second P1 world title.

What a weekend! It could not have had a better ending, winning both races to take the Belgian GP title and at the same time seeing our main two competitors lose ground in the championship standings.

It was one of the toughest racing weekends we have ever known and we were glad to get out of the boat at the end of it. The waters were very choppy and, whilst we love these conditions, the intensity of the competition and relentless crashing into waves made it difficult to keep our concentration throughout the race, hence a few mistakes were made by both of us. The grey sky, grey sea and sizeable waves made it incredibly difficult to see the buoys and I had to yell at Jackie at the last minute to manouevre around them. In the first leg on Saturday we nearly made a horrendous error by thinking we had finished a lap too soon, but thankfully we noticed the chequered flag wasn't up so, after slowing down for a quick 'what's happening' discussion, we raced on and still crossed the line first, this time with a chequered flag!

On Sunday the sea was even more ferocious and a shorter storm course was put into action. The hairiest moment was when a huge wave knocked us sideways and everything went into slow motion as we thought we were going right over, but miraculously another wave hit us from the other side and set us back on course. We may have had to settle for second had VoomVoom not missed a buoy on the last lap but they did, we didn’t and our lead is now 110 points with just two races remaining and a maximum 210 points up for grabs.

It was a very bruising weekend and like all of the competitors we are now suffering a few aches and pains. Our boat stood up brilliantly to the challenge whilst others were breaking and Dragon Powerboats deserve congratulations on building such a resilient and competitive hull.

It was certainly an event full of drama. With the big seas, boats were suffering from broken engine mountings (Sunseeker), hull delaminations (OSG), fuel starvation (Outerlimits), on board fires (Buzzi Bullet and FORone) and even running aground causing damage to skegs and propellers (Roscioli). In the bigger seas on Sunday, even the ultra reliable King of Shaves suffered electrical problems allowing us to lap them twice (probably will never happen again, so we really enjoyed that!).

This time last year we were in second place with a 30 point deficit, so things are much more comfortable this season and we know Roscioli Hotels Roma have to push for a win in both races in Portimao. Whilst it is a good position to be in, we will definitely not be complacent. P1 is a championship that seems to have drama at every turn, and we know that it ain’t over until the fat lady sings!

We are now preparing with the same thoroughness that we do before every event and will be ready in Portimao to do what is required, but we can’t deny that it is becoming pretty nerve-wracking, the pressure is intense and the sooner we can get back on the water and race the better.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mike Shelton