UIM Aquabike World Championship – Qatar Grand Prix Heat 1 results

by Aquabike on 12 Mar 2011 UIM Aquabike World Championship – Results for the opening heats of the Qatar Aquabike Grand Prix.

French riders dominated the opening heats of the Qatar Aquabike Grand Prix, winning three out of the four categories, with Franky Zapata coming from behind to win in Runabout, Jean-Baptiste Botti and Julie Bulteau leading from the flag to win their respective races in Ski F1 and Italian Valerio Calderoni turning it on to win the Freestyle event.

In women’s Ski F1, Julie Bulteau got her season off to the perfect start, topping the times in qualifying and storming to victory in her opening heat. 'This is the perfect start for me,' said Bulteau. 'It was important that I made a winning start on a nice course at a new venue, and taking maximum points from the first heat was my target.'

Heading the line of eight in qualifying the defending champion fended off a determined and persistent challenge from Italian, Stefania Balzer, posting the fastest time, 1min 25.92secs, one and half seconds quicker than Balzer, with Pija Sumer third fastest in a time of 1.33.27secs.

And it was Bulteau who headed Balzer into the 15-minute race when the red flag was raised. But the French champion continued where she had left off when the race was restarted and cruised into the distance to seal an emphatic victory. Balzer came under pressure early on from Sumer, but eventually managed to pass and pull away as the race progressed to seal a comfortable runners-up spot.

In Ski Division F1 a tense qualifying session saw French riders grab the top five positions with last year’s championship runner-up, Jeremy Poret, snatching pole position by less than two tenths of a second from Jean-Baptiste Botti, in a time of 1min 26.70secs.

Christoph Courtois, who had briefly held the provisional pole, had to settle for third quickest ahead of defending champion, Mickael Poret and Vincent Villat, with Italy’s Emanuele Balzer completing the top six.

Twenty-five riders lined up for the 20-minute race, but there was immediate disappointment for the defending World Champion Mickael Poret, forced out of the race on the second lap, as Botti, Jeremy Poret and Courtois took up the challenge at the head of the field, with Poret passing his rival heading into lap five.

But Botti slipped passed on the next lap as the leading duo pulled well clear of Courtois and fourth-placed Spaniard Nachette Armillas.

The leading quartet held station to the chequered flag but France’s Vincent Villat passed Italian Alberto Monti to seal fifth and was promoted to fourth when Armillas was penalised for a jump start and slipped to sixth.

In Aquabike’s premier class 39 riders lined-up for their 20 minute qualifying session, with only the top 30 eligible to go through to race in heats 1 and 2.

The battle for top spot on the grid saw riders from France, Italy and the UAE swap fastest times and trade places at the top of the leader board throughout the session, with Frenchman Francois Medori eventually grabbing the pole position ahead of countryman, Franky Zapata and Italian Mattia Fracasso, posting a time of 1min 32.62secs.

The UAE’s triple aquabike champion and the reigning Class 1 World Powerboat Champion, Nadir Bin Hendi, posted the fifth quickest time behind Jeremy Perez, with Qatari Waled Al Sharshani knocking defending World Champion, France’s Cyrille Lemoine down to sixth spot.

Despite starting from second place on the grid Zapata found himself in third at the end of lap one. 'I was happy with my race and was always confident in my jet ski,' he said. 'But I made a mistake at the start and follow Bin Hendi to the first buoy and this let Medori get passed me. But I pushed hard all the time to try to catch them, and slowly slowly I saw I was closing the gap and was able to catch and pass both.

But it was Bin Hendi who stole the advantage at the start moving from fifth to head the field at the end of lap one, and immediately open up a lead over the chasing pack.

But Zapata, having passed Medori, slowly hauled in the Emirati, and held on to take victory by 2.62secss. Medori, Lemoine and Fracasso completed the top five.

The Freestyle event was fought out between three of the world’s top riders, with a panel of judges awarding points for a variety of tricks, including barrel-rolls, back flips and spins.

The UAE’s Khaled Al-Qubaisi was first out on to the water to try to impress the judges in his three-minute stint. Italy’s Roberto Mariani and Valerio Calderoni followed the Emirati but Frenchman Romain Stampers was a non-starter.

Calderoni was awarded the maximum 25 points by race judges, for a series of barrel-rolls, back flips and combinations, amassing a winning score of 429 points, with Al-Qubaisi (309 pts) earning 20 points for second overall.

Saturday’s timetable kicks off with a warm-up for the riders in the four respective categories from 11.00hrs until 13.00hrs with the second race heats getting underway at 14.00hrs with the Ski Ladies F1, followed by the Ski Division F1, Freestyle and Runabout.

Runabout – Heat 1 results
1. Franky Zapata	(F)	Zapata	16 laps	25 pts
2. Nadir Bin Hendi	(UAE)	Sea-Doo	+ 2.62secs	20 pts
3. Francois Medori	(F)	RXT	+ 33.12secs	16 pts
4. Cyrille Lemoine	(F)	Sea-Doo	+ 36.83secs	13 pts
5. Mattia Fracasso	(I)	Sea-Doo	+ 53.44secs	11 pts
6. Lorenzo Benaglia	(I)	Sea-Doo	1 lap	10 pts

Ski Division F1 – Heat 1 results
1. Jean-Baptiste Botti	(F)	Hydrospace	14 laps	25 pts
2. Jeremy Poret	(F)	Zapata	+3.01secs	20 pts
3. Christopher Courtois	(F)	Zapata	+41.12secs	16 pts
4. Vincent Villat	(F)	Zapata	+1m 17.93secs	13 pts
5. Alberto Monti	(I)	Polaris	+1m 19.05secs	11 pts
6. Nachette Armillas	(E)	Hydrospace	+ 1 lap	10 pts

Ski Ladies F1 – Heat 1 results
1. Julie Bulteau	(F)	Zapata	9 laps	25 pts
2. Stefania Balzer	(F)	FZ 950	+14.74secs	20 pts
3. Pija Sumer	(SLO)	Hydrospace	+ 47.25secs	16 pts
4. Marta Sorrentino	(I)	Hydrospace	+ 1m 34.25s	13 pts
5. Paola Boggi	(I)	FZ	1 lap	11 pts

Aquabike website

Freestyle – Heat 1 results
1. Valerio Calderoni	(I)	Jet Revolution	429 pts	25 pts
2. Khaled Al-Qubaisi	(UAE)	Yamaha	309 pts	20 pts
3. Roberto Mariani	(I)	Jet Revolution	225 pts	16 pts
Romain Stampers	(F)	Race Spirit	DNS