Williams secures F4 Powerboat Sprint title again
Mark Williams of Lowestoft retains F4 Sprint Title for consecutive year
This weekend (4/5 August) at Stewartby Powerboat Racing Club in Bedford the 2012 Powerboat GP RYA British Sprint Champions were declared after a fantastic weekends racing that saw 40 teams compete for 7 individual titles.
Reigning F4 Sprint Champion was back on the water in his catamaran ready to defend his 2011 crown as 9 boats took to the water in anticipation of the battle.
Qualifying
Williams took to the water and secured the fastest lap in qualifying recording a speed of 59.24mph. Qualifying had to be stopped when Matt Palfreyman took out the right hander turn buoy on his second lap so the session need to be restarted. Paul Veares took the second fastest lap and Stuart King qualified in third.
Heat 1
Mark Williams got a flying start in the first heat of the day with Paul Veares and Stuart King battling it out for second and third in the race to the chequered flag. Disaster once more for Matt Palfreyman when on the 4th lap he hooked spectacularly and was forced to retire from the race. Steve Hoult, Brian Block and Brian Shulver had a three way battle for fourth place in some exhilarating racing. But it was Williams that took the chequered flag.
Heat 2
Into the second heat and Palfreyman had gone to the local hospital as a precautionary to have a neck injury checked (he was released later that day). Williams got another fantastic start and led from start to finish. Stuart king and Paul Veares once again battled for second and third until Stuart King’s engine died in the later stages of the race forcing him to settle for 6th. Paul Veares took second and Britain’s oldest Circuit racer Brian Block (72) took third.
Chequered flag in sight
Another clean sweep for Mark Williams in the third heat leading from start to finish saw him retain the Powerboat GP RYA British F4 Sprint Championship. Heat three became a battle for second and third places between father and Son Paul and Robert Veares. Paul Veares held on to second and with it secured second place in the championship with son Robert securing third and a 4th place finish being enough for Stuart King to take the Bronze medal in the 2012 championship.
Talking to the newly crowned Champions Mark had this to say “I’ve been racing the British Championship in my T850 but I love racing the F4 at Stewartby it’s a great venue and I really enjoy racing it here. So I decided to try to defend my title once more.”
He continued “After seeing the qualifying times I was quietly confident but you can never be over confident as anything can happen. A couple of my competitors had problems but I was lucky to have the perfect weekend.”
2012 Powerboat GP RYA British F4 Sprint Championship Standings
1st Mark Williams
2nd Paul Veares
3rd Stuart King
4th Brian Block
5th Robert Veares
6th Brian Shulver
7th John Masters
8th Steve Hoult
9th Matt Palfreyman