RYA P750 ThunderCat British Championship – Tough racing in Cornwall

by Emma Slater on 12 May 2015 RYA P750 ThunderCat British Championship moved on to Watergate Bay, Cornwall last weekend (09-10 May) for the first of this year’s ‘surf events’.

2015 RYA P750 ThunderCat British Championship - Round 3

An ever increasing entry into the series included a good few rookie teams who found the going tough and even the most experienced of competitors made a few errors in the four-foot surf.

South African Sean Fisher, the 2013 ThunderCat World Champion was making his début appearance for Team Bobkat – Moku Racing, returning with no loss of form, only the ejection of his co-driver in heat three robbed him of a 100% win rate going into the final.

James Tapp, Microlink / Ahmad Tea also went into the final with three heat wins, with Fisher the driver to relegate him to runner-up in the final heat of the day.

Team 33 were missing their 2014 British Champion driver Bligh Julius, Jack Weller was drafted in to race with Charlie Hatfield and impressed with a very consistent four-second places in the heats.

Hoonigan / Ahmad Tea showed how quick they could be in the previous rounds at Boscombe and continued to improve into the final. Welshman Simon Harding was starting to dial 51 Racing in to the surf conditions.

Due to late running of the heats, it was decided to run the much-anticipated final on the Sunday Morning, which, with the tide much closer to the spectators looked like a master-stroke.

The Round Three final was an absolute cracker, with Sean Fisher leading Microlink / Amad Tea home, although it wasn't enough to stop James Tapp taking the round overall, due to Fisher’s zero point score in heat three.

The new crew combination in Team 33 completed the podium line-up, very pleased indeed with their third place.

2015 RYA P750 ThunderCat British Championship - Round 4

Straight after the Round Three final the competitors got straight down to fighting for Round Four honours, with some tough racing from the previous day, a few crew changes had to made with certain injuries preventing some racing.

The most notable change was that Demelza Johns was now the co-driver for the current World Champion Sean Fisher and she was to enjoy her first heat wins in ThunderCat Racing with the Surf Master and the other story of the day was meteoric rise in form of Simon Harding’s Team 51.

With weather conditions still extremely tricky, the final was cancelled and the decision was made to award the overall Round Four positions from the heat results.

Team 51’s Ocean Racing prepared engine powered it through to the overall win, Demelza Johns was to claim her first ever ThunderCat Racing podium with second place in Team Bobkat – Moku Racing, while James Tapp kept his championship challenge on course with a third.

The racers now have a few weeks for the bruises to heel, the bumps to go down before they return to Cornwall for Rounds Five and Six at Fistral Beach on the 30 -31 May.

For more information about ThunderCat Racing UK visit website.

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