British Powerboating Team turn up the heat in Italy 

European Silver for Goodman

British competitors Malcolm Goodman (30, St Helens) and Ian Andrews (45, Atherstone) of the F2 JPL Racing Team last weekend (25/26 August) competed for glory in the 2012 UIM F2 European Championships in Auronzo, Italy.  

Fifteen teams lined up on the start line representing seven nationalities, including Sweden, Great Britain, Norway, Latvia, Germany, Hungary and Italy in the bid to walk away with the European Gold Medal.  

Stark in dominating form

Qualifying saw World Championship leader Erik Stark of Sweden continue his dominating form to take the fastest lap time with Britain’s Malcolm Goodman qualifying in 4th and Ian Andrews in 8th on this World Class stage.  

Heading into the first of four races, Goodman got a great start off the line behind leader Eric Stark and challenged all the way throughout the heat, putting in some impressive driving in his first International F2 race, to secure second place.  

Andrews finished in 7th but after two boats were disqualified for not keeping their lines to the first turn mark he was promoted to 5th place in the first heat.  

Goodman piles on the pressure

With heat two underway the pressure was on once again as Malcolm got a fantastic start and was hot on the wake of Stark when Mette Bjerknaes of Norway lost his cowling and the race had to be red flagged.  

At the race restart Goodman sat in 2nd, with Andrews in 7th.

Goodman began to pile on the pressure as he closed down on the race leader Stark. In a twist of fate Stark barrel rolled losing control of his boat leaving Goodman to take the heat win and pole position going into the third heat. Team mate Ian Andrews narrowly missed disaster finishing 9th after nearly barrel-rolling.  

Stormy conditions

As Erik Stark’s team battled to repair boat damage to make the third heat the Italian skies darkened with an imminent thunder and lightning storm fast approaching. There was a delay in proceedings as the Italian Storm passed through and with improving conditions heat three got underway.  

Stark once again got a good clean start and even from the back of the field managed to claim the top spot leaving Goodman to settle for second.  

Guaranteed silver

Going into the final heat Goodman was leading by 200 points with a first and two second places, he was guaranteed second place overall. Stark needed another race win, to achieve the outright win overall – the challenge was on.  

Stark got the start he needed and took command of the top spot; he was straight out in front and leading the race from start to finish. Goodman got pushed out by the other boats, and in the rough conditions meant he had too much to do to challenge for the top spot so held his position in fourth to secure the Silver in the European Championship; a magnificent achievement.  

Andrews was forced to pull out of the final heat with a technical issue that saw his resigned to strong 9th place in the European Championship.  

World Finals

It was a fantastic first international race meeting for the new British F2 Powerboat Racing team of JPL Racing, but both drivers now turn their attentions to the final round of the UIM F2 World Championships.  

Preparations are underway to compete on home water in front of home crowds as the World Championship returns to Britain for the first time in over a decade at the National Water Sports Centre over the 15/16 September.  

Following the weekend’s competition European silver medallist Malcolm Goodman had this to say on being ranked second in Europe:  “It was a fantastic achievement for all of the team. With the finals of the World Championships coming to Britain next month the team decided to head to Italy to see how competitive we were.

"There’s still work to be done but we’re moving in the right direction and we’ll learn from what we’ve learnt this weekend to hopefully put in an even better performance in front of the home crowds at Nottingham.”  

Results

• 1st Eric Stark, SWE
• 2nd Malcolm Goodman, GBR
• 3rd Per Edwardsen, NOR
• 4th Uvis Slakeris, LAT
• 5th Stefan Hagin, GER
• 6th Ola Petterson, SWE
• 7th Johan Osterberg, SWE
• 8th Bela Cserni, HUN
• 9th Ian Andrews, GBR
• 10th Bimba Angelica Sjoholm, SWE
• 11th Frode Sunsdal, NOR
• 12th Martins Moroz’s, LAT
• 13th Paolo Zantelli, ITA
• 14th Mette Bjerknaes, NOR
• 15th Nick Bisterfeld, GER