Aquabike World Championship

Tuesday, 4 October, LIUZHOU (China): A dramatic afternoon of racing in adverse conditions for heats 1 of the China Grand Prix on Liuzhou’s River Liu saw French stars Jeremy Poret clinch the Ski Division F1 World title and Julie Bulteau edge one step closer to the Ski Ladies F1 crown.

 

In Freestyle it was Slovenian brothers, Rok and Nac Florjancic, who stole the show to grab the top two spots as Valerio Calderoni and Romain Stampers continued their season-long title duel in Freestyle, Stampers again out-gunning Calderoni.

 

Whilst in a dramatic opening few laps in Runabout the fight for the world title was thrown wide open when Championship leader Francois Medori stopped, and watched helplessly as Mattia Fracasso, his only rival in the title race, swept past his stationary bike, going on to take the race honours and maximum points.

 

In Ski Ladies F1 it was all Bulteau who was in devastating form and produced a scintillating performance, dominating the race from start-to-finish. The defending World Champion led the line of seven from pole position and immediately opened up an eight second lead by the end of the first lap.

 

From then on she was in a race of her own and never looked like being challenged, going on to take her fifth win of the season by over 30 seconds and extend her lead in the title race to 21-points. “Today was really quite easy. I knew after the second lap I had the win,” said Bulteau, who now needs just five points to secure her third consecutive world title. “Tomorrow it will be more of the same. I plan to win both the race and the title.”

 

Behind the runaway race leader and eventual winner, Italy’s Stefania Balzer was made to work hard to keep her title hopes alive, holding off a race-long challenge from Slovenia’s Pija Sumer, with Ki Qianqian producing a spirited ride to finish in fourth place and claim the bragging rights as the first Chinese rider to take the chequered flag.

 

Having dispelled any fears that his injured knee wouldn’t hold out, after qualifying in Pole Position yesterday, Jeremy Poret produced a Champions drive to take his fourth win of the year and regain the World title that he lost to his older brother Mickael in 2010.

 

Poret led from start-to-finish with his only, but distant title threat, Christopher Courtois, pushing him for all of the 10 laps but was never able to close the gap to less than four seconds. “It is great to have won the title and with a win,” said Poret. “But it wasn’t easy. I had to work hard, but try not to do anymore damage to the knee. I have the title back and will now go out and try and end the season by winning the Grand Prix.”

 

Behind the leading pair, outgoing Champion Mickael Poret fended off the close attentions of Nachette Armillas, with the youngest of the Poret brothers, Morgan, taking fifth spot ahead of Ludo Caumont.

 

As Poret celebrated his title, Francois Medori saw his hopes of Championship glory take a big knock, a broken engine ending his race on lap three.

 

After dominating and qualifying in pole position, Franky Zapata flew out of the blocks to lead the 24-bike fleet at the end of lap one, with Medori in second and Fracasso in third. But halfway round the next lap Zapata stopped and was out with mechanical problems to record his fifth straight DNF.

 

Medori looked to be on the way and the title within sight, when he to suffered engine problems, coming to a halt on the next lap.

 

Fracasso took full advantage and for the next ten laps held off a frantic challenge from this year’s winner of the Karujet, Teddy Pons - the pair separated by less than three seconds throughout their race-long duel.

 

Pablo Lindner enjoyed a solitary race in third place to take his best result of the season, finishing ahead of Lorenzo Benaglia, with Emmanuel Cantamessa coming home in fifth ahead of Gianluca Santi Amantini, both scoring their season best finishes.

 

In tomorrow’s final outings of the year Julie Bulteau needs just five points to lift the ladies crown, and sees a winner-takes-all final heat show down between Mattia Fracasso and Francois Medori for title honours, with just seven just points separating Calderoni and Stampers as they go head-to-head for one final throw of the dice in Freestyle.

 

Runabout – Heat 1
1	8	FRACASSO Mattia	ITA	13 laps	25 pts
2	24	PONS Teddy	FRA	+ 4.81s	20 pts
3	108	LINDNER Pablo	ESP	+ 46.08s	16 pts
4	44	BENAGLIA Lorenzo	ITA	+ 1m 31s	13 pts
5	42	CANTAMESSA Emmanuel	FRA	+ 2m	11 pts
6	50	SANTI AMANTINI Gianluca	ITA	+ 1 lap	10 pts
Championship Positions
1	8	FRACASSO Mattia	ITA		128 pts
2	4	MEDORI Francois	FRA		124 pts
3	9	LEMOINE Cyrille	FRA		74 pts
4	44	BENAGLIA Lorenzo	ITA		63 pts
5	1	ZAPATA Franky	FRA		50 pts
6	18	BARROS Yann	FRA		44 pts
=	108	LINDNER Pablo	SPA		44 pts
8	86	PEREZ Jeremy	FRA		42 pts
9	2	BIN HENDI Nadir	UAE		40 pts
10	5	KASZA George	HUN		25 pts
Ski Division F1 – Heat 1
1	72	PORET Jeremy	FRA	10 laps	25 pts
2	95	COURTOIS Christopher	FRA	+  4.20s	20 pts
3	77	PORET Michael	FRA	+  33.05s	16 pts
4	36	ARMILLAS Nachette	ESP	+ 34.94s	13 pts
5	5	PORET Morgan	FRA	+ 37.20s	11 pts
6	2	CAUMONT Ludo	UAE	+ 51.51s	10 pts
Championship Positions
1	72	PORET Jeremy	FRA		160 pts
2	95	COURTOIS Christopher	FRA		108 pts
3	85	BOTTI Jean-Baptiste	FRA		104 pts
4	77	PORET Mickael	FRA		83 pts
5	36	ARMILLAS Nachette	ESP		78 pts
6	222	BALZER Emanuele	ITA		71 pts
7	5	PORET Morgan	FRA		59 pts
8	55	VILLAT Vincent	FRA		53 pts
9	4	IVANCIC Slaven	CRO		32 pts
10	66	POLO Olivier	FRA		31 pts
Ski Ladies F1 – Heat
1	33	BULTEAU Julie	FRA	9 laps	25 pts
2	81	BALZER Stefania	POR	+ 32.80	20 pts
3	25	SUMER Pija	SLO	+ 38.30	16 pts
4	12	QIANQIAN Ki	CHN	+ 1m 43	13 pts
5	19	NIXIN Yue	CHN	+ 1m 54	11 pts
6	96	PORET Estelle	FRA	+ 1lap	10 pts
7	61	GUTIERREZ Patty	ESP	+ 1lap	9 pts
Championship Positions
1	33	BULTEAU Julie	FRA		158 pts
2	81	BALZER Stefania	POR		137 pts
3	25	SUMER Pija	SLO		129 pts
4	96	PORET Estelle	FRA		71 pts
5	61	GUTIERREZ Patty	ESP		68 pts
6	4	SORRENTINO Marta	ITA		65 pts
7	94	DARDILLAT Lou	FRA		19 pts
8	11	BOGGI Paola	ITA		17 pts
9	12	QIANQIAN Ki	CHN		13 pts
10	19	NIXIN Yue	CHN		11 pts
Freestyle – Heat 1
1	3	FLORJANCIC Rok	SLO		25 pts
2	7	FLORJANCIC Nac	SLO		20 pts
3	20	STAMPERS Romain	FRA		16 pts
4	16	CALDERONI Valerio	ITA		13 pts
5	70	MARIANI Roberto	ITA		11 pts
6	85	XIANYI Liu	CHN		10 pts
7	55	PINGKANG Zhu	CHN		9 pts
8	86	LIGUO Qin	CHN		8 pts
Championship Positions
1	16	CALDERONI Valerio	ITA		143 pts
2	20	STAMPERS Romain	FRA		136 pts
2	70	MARIANI Roberto	ITA		95 pts
4	56	TCHERNIA Sebastien	FRA		64 pts
5	32	AL QUBAISI Khaled	UAE		33 pts
6	3	FLORJANCIC Rok	SLO		25 pts
7	7	FLORJANCIC Nac	SLO		20 pts
8	85	XIANYI Liu	CHN		10 pts
9	55	PINGKANG Zhu	CHN		9 pts
10	86	LIGUO Qin	CHN		8 pts

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