DOHA: Jimmy Shane and J Michael Kelly ensured that the battle for the National High Points title in the 2014 H1 Unlimited series will go down to the final day of the season after the first set of race heats at the Oryx Cup in Doha Bay yesterday.
Kelly cruised to a comfortable victory in the first of the afternoon’s heats in 1 Graham Trucking.
Start violations for both Shane and Jon Zimmerman meant that 96 Spirit of Qatar’s Jean Theoret cruised to a straightforward win in heat 1B – marking a superb return to the sport for the Canadian after a five-year absence.
Shane made up for the disappointment of starting his opening heat prematurely and led from the start of 2B to maintain his push for the National High Points title. Theoret was an impressive second and Phipps finished third.
Heat 2A was rescheduled to run after 2B following a fire onboard the 11 Peters & May boat of Tom Thompson. Kelly was never troubled by Zimmerman and recorded his second set of 400 maximum points to take the title challenge into the final two pairs of heats and the Oryx Cup today.
The performance of the day came from Qatar’s Theoret, however.
The 96 Spirit of Qatar driver belied his five-year absence from the sport by winning one race heat and finishing second in the other.
“I had a good feeling from the start and couldn‘t really of asked for a better day, a first and a second, 700 points and a good foundation to build on for tomorrow,” said Theoret.
THE PENINSULA
