Jones Still Looking For Points; Cantando Crashes Out!!

CHALON-SUR-SAONE, FRANCE June 25, 2000 - Mission accomplished! Guido Cappellini in his Laserline/Castrol DAC/Mercury 2.5 litre machine is back and in a big way, winning on the Saone River for the 5th time in the last 6 years and maybe more importantly, slowing down American Scott Gillman's growing momentum, by winning the 12th Annual Grand Prix of France from Chalon-sur-Saone in front of thousands of fans during the 5th round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for powerboat racing.

Early on in the event, it was the native of Basalt, Colorado in his Abu Dhabi Tourism DAC/Mercury 2.5 litre boat had the speed and the momentum as the 3-time U.S. titleholder held leads of just over 6 seconds before Cappellini started to reel him in. It turned out to be a 2 boat duel from the beginning with every boat being lapped at the end of the event other than the top two in the 58 lap event.

Gillman's downfall came when Cappellini passed him for good on the first of three restarts on the sun warmed afternoon after young Italian Francesco Cantando of the Singha Beer/Waircom DAC/Mercury 2.5 litre boat barrel rolled down in turn one chasing another young Italian Fabio Comparato of the Laserline/Castrol DAC/Mercury 2.5 litre machine who eventually finished 3rd and his 2nd straight podium in two races in France.

Cappellini drove past Gillman and then held him off on the inside lane of the 800 meter back straight before pulling away to a 3 second lead. It didn't last long however, as Jonathan Jones, a 3-time winner in France and 4-time World Champion slowed to a stop after regaining 3rd position in his Fuchs/Eurobet Burgess/OMC 3.0 litre entry. Jones started strongly, holding 3rd before dropping backwards in the first few laps going back as far as 6th before chargin his way back to 3rd. His good run ended on the back stretch while his boat went silent on the 37th lap and he will continue to look for championship points in 2000 when the tour moves to Sardinia next weekend.

Gillman tried his best, but Cappellini had him covered on the final laps winning by 2.1 seconds and taking his 4th win in 5 races this season and his 5th at the Grand Prix of France. The day featured wonderful performances by a host of pilots including youngster Duarte Benavente of Portugal in his Singha Beer/Siemens Burgess/Mercury 2.5 litre machine taking his 2nd 4th of the season as he continues to run steadily better in his first full season of F1 boat racing.

The Baba Team of lead driver Massimo Roggiero of Italy in his Petrobras OMC/Mercury brought home the first of many 2.0 litre pilots in 5th while his new teammate in his first event, one-time World Champion in offshore, Laith Pharon of Saudi Arabia in his Hyatt OMC/Mercury 2.0 litre was 6th only 2 laps back from the leaders in a great effort.

Hungarian Rudy Mihaldinecz back after missing the Grand Prix of Latvia because of an accident in his home grand prix a month ago, came home 7th in his Dunaferr/EMA Power Seebold/Mercury 2.0 litre boat while finishing ahead of Argentinia's Carlos Maidana in his brand new Texaco Havoline RVS/OMC 3.0 litre boat brought over from America and put into the water for the first time on Saturday. Maidana did well to finish 8th while his teammate, Finnish pilot Sami Selio missed the start, crashing heavily on Saturday.

Brazilian rookie Paul Gaiser of the Petrobras OMC/Mercury 2.0 litre machine recovered nicely after his terrible practice crash on Saturday and made the top 10 for 5th straight time this season. Missing from action at the end of the race was Italian Franco Leidi, who made it through 26 laps, while 1992 World Champion and 1993 winner in France Fabrizio Bocca also stopped on the 26th circuit.

Abu Dhabi pilot Awad Al Qubaisi was not having a good event. First spinning out in the first turn of the race and stalling his engine only to later drop out on the 25th lap. France's Philippe Dessertenne in the Fuchs/Eurobet DAC/OMC 3.0 litre machine had the eyes of France on him as he charged from 13th to 6th early only to drop out after just 3 laps. Returning runner Gert Ladefoged of the Baba racing team in his Lindab Favari Variatori OMC/Mercury 2.0 litre boat lasted just 2 laps, while Alan Marshall in the TG Group Seebold/Mercury 2.0 litre didn't start after strugglling to get his engine ready after breaking it in morning warm-up.

Cappellini now leads the World Championship with 80 points, while his teammate Comparato is 2nd with 58 and Gillman 3rd with 50.

The 6th round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for powerboating will be next week in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy on Sunday, July 2nd and can been seen worldwide on the internet by turning to www.f1boat.com.