Loos like fun!

I’ll be perfectly honest here – I know very little about this, but for those that do, this is apparently quite a weekend for the powerboat community as Saturday and Sunday see the PowerBoatGP 2015 Chasewater Grand Prix at our favourite reservoir and country park.

There are races both days, and the action commences at 10:30am and runs through to 6pm (there seems to be some sketchiness about start and end times, with posters saying different things to the press releases – check with organisers if important to you), and I believe it’s free to spectate – so why not pop up and take a look?

You can check out the PowerGP website here.

This all harks back to the golden age of powerboat racing at Chasewater and the 24 Hour races – which I’ve covered here before. It’s great to see this kind of thing return.

The organisers of the Chasewater Grand Prix, PowerGP had this to say:

The Powerboat GP 2015 campaign cruises back to Chasewater over the 18th and 19th July for the fourth round of the championship. Following the successful return of Powerboat Racing to venue during the 2014 season after a 15 year absence, Powerboat GP once again brings the roar of the circuit engines back to the Chasewater Reservoir.

2015 sees the Powerboat GP Championship back, bigger and better with a 6 round British Championship series in addition the annual RYA Sprint Championships that will be held in Bedford on the 1st & 2nd of August. The Championship also welcomes back Tiff Needell to host the Powerboat GP series that will again be broadcast on Sky Sports.

Throughout the weekend competitors from all over the UK will compete for all important championship points in the hope of securing the Chasewater GP titles in 5 of the RYA British Championship classes.

Competitors from as young as 10 years old will grapple in the GT15 class proving their prowess amongst their peers in what is going to be one of the biggest championship battles of the season. There has been little separating reigning champion Thomas Mantripp of Lowestoft and Lincoln’s hotshot Jonathan Brewer and with over half of the championship campaign now behind them neither of them seems to be slowing up. Chasing them down will be local competitor Tiegen Goodfellow and Elliot Fleet who are showing a faster pace at every event.

Also back in action is the GT30 class where reigning British Champion Ben Jelf will be looking to secure maximum points for his season campaign but Jamie Norris will be aiming to put pay to that and to prove to the formidable youngster that as always in powerboat racing, anything can happen and it usually does. Whilst both are busy concentrating on each other, they need to keep their wits about them to fend off the challenges from Bexley Nunn & Tony Judge.

The senior racers in the T850 class will add a different kind of action into the mix as the wiley competitors of championship go head to head with each other. Lots of close racing will see every twist and turn round the course putting pressure on each other in the fight for the top sports on the podium. After his mishap last year, T850 maestro Bill Owen will be triple checking the course to avoid a repeat!

Another championship campaign hotting-up is in the F4 Class where Mike Pillow has looked infallible throughout the season but right behind and ready to put the pressure on him is Portsmouth’s Sam Whittle and Wigan’s Natalie Craddock who have been hot on the championship leader’s wake in every turn of campaign so far. Are we also going to see some new faces at Chasewater throwing their helmets into the arena in the points battle?

Also making a comeback after a break in the season is the mighty F2 Cats who will roar into Chasewater for the third round of their campaign. With virtually nothing separating the top of the championship table after just two rounds, there will be everything to play for with some of the big guns having a point to prove and could be pivotal in deciding the overall championship at the end of the season.

Matt Palfreyman will be still be on a high after his recent 3rd place in the F2 World Championship series round in Italy, but will that be enough to stop the lightening pace of Steve Hoult that we witnessed during the Lowestoft GP – who knows?

Powerboat GP promoter Jason Brewer is once more excited about the return of Powerboat Racing to the Chasewater Country Park ‘This venue is a historic part of Powerboat Racing and it’s fantastic to have it back as a regular venue for the championship. Many of the competitors are now in their third or fourth family generation’s racing at Chasewater so it’s a special venue in many people’s hearts.’

He continued ‘Throughout the season so far there have been some battles of epic proportions and the Chasewater GP will once more provide some awesome racing that’s not to be missed.’

The on water action will commence at 10.30am on both Saturday 18th and 19th July with competitors each competing during qualifying and then over three heats to claim the prestigious Chasewater GP crowns.