F4 World Powerboat Championship - Curtis reclaims Champions title
by Emma Slater on 27 Jul 2011
Scott Curtis in action - F4 World Powerboat Championship 2011 RYA
http://www.rya.org.uk
F4 World Powerboat Championship final was held over the weekend of 23rd and 24th July 2011 in Portugal.
Twenty seven year old powerboat racer Scott Curtis from Norwich has been crowned the 2011 World F4 Champion for the second time.
Curtis, from the Lowestoft and Oulton Broad Motor Boat Club, fought off strong competition from competitors from four different nations in the fifth and final round of the F4 World Championship to reclaim the Champions title.
Scott’s campaign for World glory began back in May in Dunaujvaros, Hungary where he took the first win of the season and the first step on the ladder to the World Title.
The next two rounds saw the teams head to Epinay in France and Stewartby in Bedford where once again Curtis took wins in his bid to regain the World title from British competitor Mark Williams.
The final two rounds of the campaign saw racing held in two venues in Portugal. Heading into final event Curtis had maintained a comfortable lead on his closest rivals with a 15 point lead. This meant he only needed to finish the race in 11th or higher to take the World Championship title.
The final race of the season started with Scott in third position on the grid following the timed trails behind Portugal’s Miguel Ribeiro and Pedro Fortuna who was currently sitting in second in the championship.
The race got underway and 35 laps of furious racing ensued. Miguel Ribeiro was on top form for the last round of the series and took the chequered flag in front of Pedro Fortuna with Curtis finishing in third and with it claiming the World title.
Pedro Fortuna claimed the silver medal position overall. Meanwhile fellow British racer Brian Block finished fourth in the final race of the season and in doing so the 71 year old from Lowestoft secured the World Bronze Medal in the 2011 Championship.
Former World Champion Mark Williams finished the competition in fourth overall and club mate Brian Shulver completed the top five World Rankings in fifth position.
Scott Curtis has now joined several elite British Powerboat Racers in the history books that have held numerous World Championship titles in their Powerboat Racing careers, he will next do battle for the British RYA Sprint Title at Stewartby in Bedford on the 6th and 7th August.