#44 Conam Yachts continue victory run

Saturday 27 September 2008

#44 Conam Yachts secured another SuperSport win in Saturday's Sprint race in Portimao

The 2008 SuperSport title-winning #44 Conam Yachts team continued their season-long winning streak in this morning’s Portuguese Grand Prix of the Sea Sprint race. Throttleman Angelo Tedeschi and pilot Aaron Ciantar surged through the field from fifth place to first over the first three laps after a rare poor start, then comfortably held their position at the front of the pack to score their 10th win of the year

The Italian-based outfit have now cleared the 1000-point tally in what has been an incredible season, and are now focused on completing an almost-clean sweep of wins in tomorrow’s Endurance race.

“It was a very bad start for us, because the flag didn’t seem to go up properly,” said Tedeschi. “We were in fifth at the end of the first lap, but we really pushed ourselves to the limit to try and get back up the field as quickly as possible. Once we were in the lead, we could control the pace – especially as we had a few electrical problems from the rough conditions.”

All eyes were on the battle for second place which could prove vital in the battle for second in the championship chase. On the track, there was little to choose between the #38 Baia High Performance and #07 Microlink PC VoomVoom.com boats, with the Italian team maintaining a narrow margin to the chequered flag.

“It was crucial for us to get second place today,” said #38 Baia High Performance navigator Roy Capasso. “It was nice to lead the first few laps, but we were concentrating on our race when #44 Conam Yachts came through. Now tomorrow we’ll see what happens. The Endurance race will be very important.”

Thanks to scoring third place, the #07 Microlink PC team now enter tomorrow’s Endurance race with a narrow lead as they try and secure second place in the standings. “Obviously we would have preferred to have been first or second, but to be honest we just wanted to make sure we didn’t do anything stupid,” said pilot Gareth Williams. “A DNF today would have been a disaster. Now we know what we have to do tomorrow.”

The #26 Team Konrad Wild Card team scored an impressive fourth place on the second of their two-race taster of Powerboat P1, finishing ahead of the #46 Spirit Of Portomaso entry. The #17 Going Lean Wild Card outfit scored a solid sixth place in their first Powerboat P1 appearance, while the #08 Phoenix boat limped home last of the points finishers. The #22 Big Sergio boat retired midway through the race, while the #47 Silverline Buzzi Bullet team failed to make the start with turbo problems.