BOOKER STILL ON A HIGH AFTER SOUTHAMPTON

Reading powerboat racer Robert Booker hailed the Southampton Grand Prix of the Sea as the “best weekend’s racing yet” after he finished on the podium for the first time.

Astonishingly in only the Flying Sparks team’s third Grand Prix of the Sea in the UK’s premier marine motorsport series, Booker and co-pilot, Martin Wild, claimed the bronze medal in race one at on the south coast at the weekend.

Executive Vice President, Human Resources at BG Group, Booker, believes the team is growing in confidence and he is delighted with the exposure that the children’s charity, Sparks, is receiving.

“This was the best weekend’s racing yet!” said Booker. “We started on a nice flat surface but it didn’t stay like that for very long though. The wake from 9 high performance racing boats bouncing off the concrete walls of the docks meant it soon felt like trying to drive through a washing machine.

“There is something special about racing at the PSP Southampton Boat Show. We’d set our heart on getting a medal and it feels like such a great achievement on only our third Grand Prix of the Sea.

“The P1 Superstock series is a great championship - it’s exhausting, exhilarating and above all great fun – and this weekend it was also great news that we got a medal for the Sparks charity that we are racing to promote.”