Local World Champion dominates Minehead Festival of Speed

Minehead Festival of Speed, held last weekend, proved a great success with crowds from all over Somerset flocking to see rounds six and seven of the RYA P750 ThunderCat National Powerboat Racing Championships….as well as some excellent jetski racing with P1 AquaX.  As the racing was just offshore, all the spectators had a great view whether viewing from the beach or along the promenade.  This free to watch event served up a succession of heats and finals across the weekend to keep all the spectators entertained.

The brilliant thing for the spectators to see was that each ThunderCat race began with a Le Mans style start.  This involved one of each crew running from the shore to the boat before they could take off …this made for an action-packed start.

There was significant local interest for the local crowds as Minehead is home to former four-time World Champion of the sport, James Tapp.  It was James and his co-driver, Scott Brown, who would dominate the racing over the weekend, winning round six and coming second in round seven of the RYA ThunderCat National Championships. Several teams had mechanical issues through the weekend although ‘Student Loan’ came back from a disappointing Saturday to perform magnificently on Sunday by winning round seven overall.

Results for the weekend are as follows

Round 6

Prostock

1st Place –  Mulitspark Racing (Boat 61)  (James Tapp & Scott Brown).

2nd Place – Steel Developments (Rob Davies & Lee Howells)

3rd Place –  Kingfisher Fire & Security (Boat 41) (Jon Cotgreave & Jordan Le Bon),

Modified

1st Place – Mutispark Broadbean (Tom William Hakes & Malachy Brown),

2nd Place – Ocean Racing (Andy White & Phil Adams)

Round 7

Prostock

1st Place – Student Loan  (Josh Broadbent & Sebastian Watts)

2nd Place  – MultiSpark Racing (Boat 61)

3rd Place –  Steel Developments,

Modified

1st Place –  Mutispark Broadbean (Tom Williams-Hawkes & Malachy Brown),

2nd Place –  Ocean Racing (Andy White & Martin Jerome)

Danielle Strawford, Officer of the Day, said: “What a great weekend of racing, ThunderCats and P1 Aqua X together in Minehead! All our racers did an excellent job of driving to a very high standard and providing a grand spectacle for all the spectators.

“Thanks also to Minehead Events Group, Minehead Coastal team, Minehead Council for making this event possible as well as to all the sponsors including Amicus Law solicitors, Beaver Ford, Jewson, Autohaus and C J Lynch & Sons.  Big thanks to all the volunteers for giving up their time including the safety teams, scrutineers and event management. Thanks also to powerboat commentators Shelley Jory-Leigh and Neil Sackley for providing up to the minute race coverage on Facebook Live.

“Importantly, thanks to the Somerset community for coming out and supporting the event…we all hope you had a great time.

Our next event is the final round of the RYA P750 ThunderCat Racing British Championship on Saturday 1st September & Sunday 2nd September 2018 which will take place at Rother Valley, in Rotherham.  This event will be slightly different for our racers as it will be on an inland lake, so we are hopeful for yet more great racing. For more details, stay tuned to our website www.thundercatracing.com or our social media feeds.”

Pictures courtesy of Jerry Lake