NATIONS CUP
The final went down to the wire with the two youngest drivers
in the Nations Cup producing a spectacular race-off, Paoletti
winning heat 1 Ustinov hitting back to take heat 2 and force a
decider, with the Italian holding his nerve on the final run to take
the win.
The result put Italy at the top of the standings on 43 points ahead
of Russia on 36 points with Belarus in third spot on 35.
Back-to-back wins for Paoletti in the Sprint Races rounded off a
perfect three days for the young Italian. He trailed Ovchinnikov
through the first half of Race 1 and two yellow flag periods,
the first coming out on lap six when Russia’s Mikhail Kitashev
crashed out, the second on lap nine when Bin Kadri [Mohammed)
stopped then restarted.
The Italian hit the front on lap 16 and began to stretch his lead
moving eight seconds clear when the third yellow came out on
lap 20 with the exit of the second Russian driver Dmitry Malkin,
Paoletti leading the remaining seven boats to the chequered flag
behind the safety boat.
Belarus, Malaysia and Russia traded places behind the race
leader, Russia’s Dmitry Malkin moving into second place on
lap 19 before his exit two laps later, with Mohammed Bin Kadri
moving up from fifth to take second ahead of Ovchinnikov.
In Race 2 Paoletti survived one nervy moment at the end of
lap 12, but led from pole throughout to take a flag-to-finish
win with Mohammad Bin Kadri producing another impressive
performance keeping the pressure on the race leader and the
gap to two seconds and finishing in second.
TeamBelarus switched their drivers, Dmitry Vandyshev replacing
Ovchinnikov to line up alongside brother Roman who passed
Qatar’s Khaild Al Kuwari on lap 9 and ran a lonely second half
of the race to finish a distant third, over 40 seconds behind the
race winner.
Al Kuwari and Malaysia’s Alffian Bin Kadri then enjoyed a close
tussle with the Doha driver hanging on to take fourth, Dmitry
Vandyshev handed a yellow card and retiring from the race on
lap 20 from sixth place, but picking up 15 valuable points.
POS NOS DRIVER TEAM
POINTS
1
9
Belarus
Dmitri Vandyshev, Roman Vandyshev
108
10
Andrey Ovchinikov
2
8
Italy
Stefano Paoletti
107
7
Marco Gambi
3
11
Malaysia
Alffian bin Kadri
100
12
Mohammed bin Kadri
4
6
Qatar
Khalid Al Kuwari
61
7
Abdullah Gholam Ali
5
3
Russia
Mickhail Kitashev, Andrey Panyushkin
36
4
Dmitri Malkin, Kostantin Ustinov
13 Lebanon
Lebos Chaguri
after round 1
UIMNATIONS CUPWORLD SERIES 2014
40 | H20 MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2014
h2oracing.net
