12:00 PM Wed 28 Sep 2011 GMT
British RYA F2 Championship at Stewartby Powerboat Racing club was held over the weekend of 24th and 25th September 2011.
Lancashire Powerboat Racing Club's Malcolm Goodman (29) headed to Bedford last weekend for the final round of the Championship, where he was to face fierce competition from rival Paul Balfourt.
Goodman went into the weekend with a comfortable 21 point lead on club mate Paul Balfour, but knew that any wrong move or mistakes and Paul would capitalise on them and could take the championship.
There were a total of ten contenders battling it out for the coveted 2011 British Title in what has been one of the most exciting championship campaigns throughout the year and the finals were set to not disappoint either.
Ian Wright got the weekend's proceedings off to a flying start taking the weekend's pole position. But championship leader Malcolm Goodman was suffering from engine gremlins and saw him retire in practice and then in the first heat of the weekend.
Tensions rose with Paul Balfour taking the first heat win and with it a step closer to catching Malcolm in the championship race.
With the gremlins appeased Goodman came back to win the final two heats of the weekend and finished in fifth for the weekend. A first, second and third finish in the heats saw Balfour win the weekend with Alan Marshall securing second and Ian Wright in third.
So with the racing over the calculations began had Malcolm done enough to claim the title? The answer was yes. With a 15 point lead the Lancashire Powerboat Racer secured the 2011 British RYA F2 Championship. Paul Balfour secured second and Ian Wright claimed third.
Here's what the new champion had to say: 'At the beginning of the weekend I thought I'd lost the championship the same way as I missed out on the Sprint title, but luckily the engine was okay and we solved the problem!
'It's fantastic to have taken the title, it's been 14 years since I was last a British Champion and it feels really good. It's been a real team effort all year and the half the praise has to go to the team I've had behind me who I couldn't have done it without!'
RYA website
by Emma Slater
|
Trangie, NSW
