5 / 40
PORETS LOCK OUT PODIUMS
AT AQUABIKE OPENERS
For ‘jet ski’ aficionados and race fans around
the world, as well as the 140 riders from 26
countries who signed up, the only place to be
for the first two weekends in June was the
stunning region of Puglia in Italy.
The opening rounds of the UIM-ABP Aquabike
World Championship in Porto Cesareo and
Vieste served up a feast of vintage racing,
drama, incident, tantrums and tumbles and set
up a season to savour.
On the water the talking points weremany and
mainly about a trio of Porets who locked out
the top step of the podiums, Estelle enjoying
a stellar two events winning both GP titles in
the Ladies division, with elder brother and
defending champion Jeremy taking one, oldest
brother Mickael the other.
In runabout GP1 the anticipated three-way
slug fest between defending champion Yousef
Al Abdulrazzaq, James Bushell and Lars
Akerblom did not disappoint and set the tone
for the months ahead.
In the frantic world of Freestyle there were
two fights going on; one for the top step of the
podium between Slovenia’s aerial aces Rok
and Nac Florjancic who traded the titles and
the other for the third step between Italian’s
Roberto Mariani and Alberto Camerlengo and
Czech, Jaroslav Tirner, Mariani winning that
battle.
Look down the line of the 20 boats in
this years’ UIM F1H2O Championship
and one stands out immediately, the
newest generation Blaze Performance
Hull, designed and built by Francesco
Cantando at his facility in Milan, Italy
and unveiled in France.
The project has been a long time
coming for Cantando as he balances
the tougher commercial side of
running a race team and competing at
the top level. “I am very happy to have
realised and completed this project to
deliver a new model of boat that has
evolved with the latest technology
using complete computer analysis in
design and understanding critical air
flow criteria. All the boat’smoulds were
realised by CNC machining with the
latest technologies available.”
CANTANDO’S NEW
BLAZE RUNNER
5