The rough seas that were battering the Sliema coast over the weekend put paid to plans for the Voomquest Enemed UIM V2 World Championships circuit races to take place as the adverse conditions not only would hamper the powerboats’ performance but also pose risks to the safety of the participants.
As a result, Voomquest organisers amended the sequence of events, meaning that all racing taking place would be out of competition, resulting in no championship points being awarded to racing teams.
Nonetheless, a series of match races were organised in the Grand Harbour, which thanks to the efforts of Transport Malta was closed to traffic allowing racing to take place.
The match racing system is nonetheless an exhilarating race, which was implemented for both the V2 and 3D catamaran classes and followed a simple sequence where boats raced each other in pairs.
The boat winning the race earned a point, and the boat with the least points was declared the winner for the day.
Proceedings started off with the V2 Class, which had five boats taking part, representing three countries – Malta, England and France.
On Saturday, the first three places were taken up by Team Interceptor Remax (Great Britain), driven by Sam Howes and Michael Xuereb. Championship winners for the previous two years Team El Diablo (Malta) , driven by Clive Butler and Sammy Grima came in second place whilst newcomer Team Waist Not, of Malta, piloted by Jesmond Aquilina and Rhys Grima finished in third place.
In the 3D class, Team CRB, Gasebeton, and Sabbie di Parma were the first three finishers in what was a thrilling yet straightforward race.
Yesterday afternoon, Team Interceptor Remax continued on their winning streak taking first place once again, one point behind them were Team El Diablo whilst Team Cutting Edge clinched third place, ahead of Teams Marine Diffusion and Waste Not.
Following the V2 action it was the turn of the 3D Class was a more closely fought one, the fifth and eigth race being so close that footage analysis was required to determine the winners.
Winning the eighth race meant that Blu Banca took the honours for the day, followed by CRB and Sabbie di Parma. Teams Gasbeton and De Mitri finished in fourth and fifth place.
“Powerboat racing requires precise maneuvering and quick response times from the drivers. The rough seas can make it hard for them to maintain the necessary control over their boats, causing potential damage to the boats and making it unsafe to push the limits of speed and performance. Hence the decision to make changes to the original plans,” said Aaron Ciantar, Voomquest founder and five-time world powerboat champion.
“Although having to alter our plans, the event was a success, especially for spectators who had a veritable feast of powerboat racing in the iconic grand harbour”.
The Voomquest Enemed UIM V2 is sponsored by Enemed u and supported by Visit Malta, Chaudron Powerboats, Yachting Malta, Valletta Cruise Port, Sullivan Maritime, Grimaldi Group u The Skyroom.
