95 Spirit of Qatar’s Kip Brown (left) receives his trophy after finishing in third place in Seattle. PICTURE BY: CHRIS DENSLOW
SEATTLE, USA: 95 Spirit of Qatar’s Kip Brown finished third in the final of the Albert Lee Appliance Cup at Seattle Seafair in a race where Jimmy Shane denied Steve David his fourth win.
David was the man to beat over race weekend in 1 Oh Boy! Oberto and he managed to extend his advantage in the National High Points standings.
David won qualifying and all three of his race heats at the sixth round of the 2013 H1 Unlimited Championship to claim 1600 valuable points to add to his current total.
Brown finished second with 1174 points and was a mere four points in front of Seattle Seafair final winner Shane.
Brown, who is backed by the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), that runs under the presidency of Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al Thani, qualified in second position behind David on Lake Washington.
David won the session with an average speed of 152.229mph, but Brown’s run of 149.031mph demoted Shane and Zimmerman to third and fourth.
David and Mike Webster went on to win the first of the heats.
David drove around the outside of J Michael Kelly and Brian Perkins to steal a march on his rivals in heat 1A and held on to the chequered flag from Kelly, Perkins and fourth-placed Mark Evans.
Zimmerman and Brown looked set to battle for honours in 1B, but officials ruled that both had jumped the start clock and they were demoted to fourth and fifth.
Shane was unable to take the start and up-stepped Webster to the plate in 22 Boitano Homes presents Performance Tools to claim the heat win. Brown eventually finished fourth.
Shane emerged victorious in heat 2A in a close heat from QMSF-backed Brown and David held off Kelly to snatch 2B. Brown ran well in 3A to take the maximum 400 points after seeing off the advances of Shane and Mark Evans. Kelly was fourth and Brian Perkins ran fifth. David won his third successive heat in 3B.
Shane gained the inside advantage in the final to hold off David to take the chequered flag and the fourth win of his career. Brown finished third and Kelly was fourth with Jon Zimmerman, Mike Webster and Jamie Nilsen completing the field.
The next round will be on August 30. THE PENINSULA
