OBERTO WINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

[Hydro Junkie]

Pending verification, Steve David and the Oberto took the checkered flag in the last race of the season to take the title of World Champion. Dave Villwock and the Spirit of Qatar placed a distant 3rd but, in the process, took the high points championship and the honor of carrying the U-1 designation on the boat for the 2012 season. IW member Scott Liddycoat came in second overall.

 

[Ray Sametz]

Beef Jerky for breakfast. B)

 

[Tim Kish]

I think he was over at the start lol , great race though.

It looked like Scott was going to give him a run for his money.

Tim K

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Something is up. Scott Liddycoat has been named the winner but no details have been given as to why so I guess we have to wait and see. Tim, Steve Montgomery stated in lap 3 or 4 that the start was ruled legal. I can only assume Steve was hit with a fuel, N1 or lane violation since he lead for almost the entire race.

 

[Tim Kish]

Hard to call from my comuter but it looked like he was way over on the start?

Either way what an awesome season for Scott , World champion and Rookie of the year ?

Tim K

 

[Mike Betke]

Liddycoat won according to the web site. Took them 45 minutes to make a decision after the race was over, that's why the video did not make sense.

Glad to see it for him, he has gotten every ounce out of that boat this year. Check out heat 4B in the video archive. Awesome job of driving. He has been in 2 of the best heats I have ever seen this season between this and Detroit.

Here is the link to the results news.

http://www.h1unlimited.com/2011/11/liddycoat-wins-thrilling-oryx-cup/

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Took them forever to update the site but the final call was the Oberto, Qatar and Degree were all over, a reversal of what was officially anounced during the heat itself. Cudos to the officials for getting it right but doing so quicker would have been nice. Anyway, the official results, as posted on the H1 website are:

Results for Heat Final

1 U-7 Valken.com Scott Liddycoat 131.499 400

2 U-5 Graham Trucking Jeff Bernard 120.143 300

3 U-100 Leland Unlimited Greg Hopp 117.821 225

4 U-57 Formulaboats.com Jimmy Shane 112.04 169

5 U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto Steve David 110.376 127

6 U-96 Spirit of Qatar Dave Villwock 105.576 95

7 U-88 Degree Men J. Michael Kelly 103.578 71

Congrats to Scott for winning his first regatta and taking the World Championship title

Now I have a question, how do you change a thread title?

 

[Steve Caines]

I've been to a few of the Unlimited races when i have visited the US and they are fantastic. What i don't understand is why it is classified as the world title when the boats are from the US, the drivers are from the US and all the races are run in the US? I am sure all of you guys from the US should be able to put some light on this for me. Cheers Steve.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

It's called the World Championship because it's sanctioned by the UIM. Since this is an international organization, defined on the H1 website as "Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), the International Powerboating Federation and world governing body for all Powerboating activities", where the boats, drivers and majority of the races are is not considered important. ONe thing to remember is that hydroplane racing is/was also a sporting event in Australia so it is possible that, in the future, Australian boats could be running against the boats from the US

 

[Steve Caines]

Thanks for that Hydro Junkie. Unfortunately the Unlimited Hydro's aren't popular down here but the GP Hydro's are quite popular here and in New Zealand. The most popular UIM class down under i would say is the BAD (Blown Unlimited Displacement) class and also the Formula 1 tunnel boats (which i raced for a few years and had a blast). Cheers Steve.

 

[Wayne Johnstone]

Just further to that Steve, I think you will find that unlimited hydroplanes are now banned in Australia, they can run as demonstration only. Highest class you can go is GP hydro as far as competition racing is concerned.

 

[Ray Sametz]

Just further to that Steve, I think you will find that unlimited hydroplanes are now banned in Australia, they can run as demonstration only. Highest class you can go is GP hydro as far as competition racing is concerned.

Banned????? Why.....

 

[Wayne Johnstone]

Safety, apparently. Over here in Oz, these boats used to run in our Unlimited Unrestricted events (Very few races for unlimited hydro on their own) which basically means that these boats would race against such other boats as F1 tunnel boats, Unlimited displacement or BAD boats etc, the decision makers decided that this was no longer safe, so banned them. You can only have an automotive based engine in a boat now or an outboard type setup, no turbines, no v12's. A lot of very unhappy people when this was decided.

 

[Steve Caines]

Well there you go, didn't know they were banned just thought that the class priced itself out. In saying that the GP Hydro's sound so much better than the turbines! The V12's sound great too, but the last time i heard one it was in a Spitfire at an air show!

 

[Hydro Junkie]

That's like saying if you don't wear full protective gear you can't jog down the street in my opinion. That may also explain the return of the 7025 Miss Bud to the US a while back, no place to run it.

Steve, you must be in the wrong part of the country as we have demo runs of Allison, Merlin and Griffon powered boats during the racing season at some of the regattas. Trust me, there's nothing like the feel or sound of a V-12 running any time during the day