GILLMAN TAKES 4TH POLE OF SEASON AT ABU DHABI !
CAPPELLINI HOPING TO CAPTURE 6TH TITLE WITH AT LEAST AN 8TH !

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates : (18th October) Ð Defending World Champion Scott Gillman ran hard in the first timed session dominating the field with a 50 :48 second lap for a speed of 161.88 kph holding off 2nd quickest Saudi Arabian driver Laith Pharaon by 3.18 seconds in the Hyatt Hotels DAC to take his 4th pole of the season and his 17th in his five year U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating career.

Gillman, the lead driver of the three boat Emirates Team set the time with clean water in the sheltered lagoon in front of the picturesque back drop of Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. With his fourth pole Gillman has won the Pole Position Championship holding off Italian Guido Cappellini who along with Gillman had three fastest times coming into the event. Cappellini in the Assicom boat could do no better than 5th quickest with a 53.92 time and will be looking to finish at least in the top 7 positions in order for him to win his unmatched 6th world title.

Fellow Italian Francesco Cantando will start 3rd off the dock tomorrow knowing that he will need to not only win the event as he did a year ago, but hope at the same time that Cappellini finish 8th or worst. Cantando, the lead driver in the Singha Beer boat had a time of a 53.72 the same as local Abu Dhabi rookie Thani Al Qamzi the 2nd driver on the Emirates team who will start 4th for the 2nd straight race with a speed of 152.12 kph.

Latvian driver Victor Kunitch will be in the 6th starting spot in his Vivid boat running a speed of 151.36 kph and a time of 53.99 seconds. Italian Massimo Roggiero just missed making it into the top 6th starting 7th and hoping to move up quickly with a speed of 150.77 kph. 8th quick was the 3rd Emirates team driver Awad Al Qubaisi with a time of 54.38 and a speed of 150.27 kph.

Swedish rookie Jari Honkala continued to impress with a 9th place starting spot with a time of 54.43 and a speed of 150.13 kph. Starting in the 10th spot will be the only on Mercury engined boat of Finnish star Sami Selio who managed a 54.87 and a speed of 148.93 kph in his Hotel Van Boxtel 3.0 litre Johnson.

TomorrowÕs 10th Annual Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi will begin at 3 :45 local time, 11 :45 GMT and 7 :45 Eastern Time on the East Coast of North America.

Cappellini and Cantando are the only two left who can win the championship, weÕll see in a few hours who will be crowned champion after this 10 month quest for the title.