World GT15 Powerboat Racing Champion is 11 year old Ben Jelf

by RYA on 23 Jun 2011 World GT15 Power Boat Championship.

Eleven year old Ben Jelf from Maidstone, Kent was this weekend crowned World GT15 Powerboat Racing 2011 Champion, making him one of Britain’s youngest powerboat World Champions ever.

The youngster who turned eleven just days before becoming World Champion battled it out over the weekend (18 - 19 June) at Stewartby Watersports Club in Bedford for the World Championship title.

Ben who has been racing powerboats for just two years, last year clinched two British titles in the JT250 and JT250 Sprint Championships and in addition to competing in these two British championships again in 2011 also entered the 2011 GT15 World Championship, a class that is not yet raced here in the UK.

He held off strong competition from fellow Brit Charlotte Newton and Estonia’s Reio Kasnapuu and Sken Heidemenn to win all four of the competitions heats and secure the crown.

RYA Powerboat Racing Co-ordinator Nicola Drummond commented: 'We are all delighted for Ben. The GT15 class is relatively new in the UK and this was actually only the second time a World Championship has taken place, in 2008 Sweden’s Douglas Matton took the title.

'Despite gusting winds, less than perfect conditions and the first heat not getting underway until late Sunday afternoon the youngsters, like professionals, drove well in the conditions they were presented with at average speeds of around 35mph'.

In a class that allows racers between ten and sixteen to battle to be the best in the World, Ben dominated the fleet to take the Gold Medal with Estonia’s Reio Kasnapuu securing the Silver medal position and Britain’s Charlotte Newton of Leigh in Lancashire taking the Bronze in her first international competition.

Following in his father’s footsteps Ben is the third member of the Jelf family to win the coveted World Powerboat Champion status with both dad Colin Jelf having multiple World titles and uncle Owen Jelf also having secured a World crown.

Ben’s mum Jeni Jelf commented 'The whole family’s really proud of Ben and his World title. It’s easy to forget he’s only eleven and only been racing two years when you see how focused he is when he is racing. They all drove really well and to the conditions they were faced with.'

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