(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) On the joyous occasion of the UAE National Day celebrations, the home team Victory had lot to celebrate within the UIM XCAT World Championship.
Their drivers Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali (boat 3) won the 2017 crown, while Gary Ballough and Ahmed Al Hameli clinched the first spot in Saturday's race. But it hadn't been easy at all, for neither of the crews.
The water west of Palm Jumeirah presented a substantial swell and waves up to two metres since the morning, so the course was modified and the long laps cancelled.
At the start, Al Wasl and Swecat engaged Victory 33 in a battle for the lead, with several overtakes and wake-crossings, all while jumping in the air at every other wave. In the back, Team Australia (Brett Luhrmann - Pl Virik Nilsen) from P8 had to find any possible way to catch up on Victory 3 (fourth on the grid) and overtake them, as a one-point gap to the opponents left no other choice.
But a sudden failure at lap 5 put out all their hopes, even more disappointing as two days ago they were still the championship leaders. From that moment the Dubai Team needed just to finish the race safely, and they made it.
Meanwhile, in a sort of knockout tournament, Al Wasl were forced to retire, as were Caccia Engineering, Gasbeton and 222 Offshore. Behind Victory 33 and Swecat were Abu Dhabi and Fujairah Team. But beside the indisputable skills of all the drivers, the latter had a better setup, so a breathtaking recovery took the Italian duo up to third. And, were this not enough, they closed the gap on Swecat, finally being able to overtake them with one lap to go, and close the race on the second stage of the podium.
A solid performance came also from the Russian duo of New Star Racing, with the best result of the season (5th) and from the Kuwaiti team Raheeb, who closed 7th.
Victory 3 closed in P6, but their satisfaction was in winning the 2017 World Championship after a battle which lasted until the last race. Team Australia feel the bitter taste of having lost the leadership and the title in one weekend, but with the pride of having been able to fight and almost beat the team who won the XCAT titles five years in a row.
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