CAPPELLIN'S NARROW WIN MOVES HIM INTO TITLE LEAD!
CANTANDO CRASHES OUT; EMIRATES TEAM HAS 3 IN TOP 5!

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates: (12th October) – Italian Guido Cappellini held off a charging defending World Champion Scott Gillman for all 47 laps and went on to win his 5th race of the season and move himself squarely into the "catbird seat" for his 6th championship at the 2nd annual Grand Prix of Sharjah, the 9th round of of the 2001 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating. 

Cappellini, lead driver for the Assicom Team, entered the contest 4 points behind fellow Italian Francesco Cantando coming into the event, but Cantando got caught up with a Massimo Roggiero and Latvian driver Victor Kunitch  and had no where to go as the three got together ending the day for all 3 in the first corner. For Cantando, it was a critical blow in his first hopeful title and in order for him to do so he must win next Friday's event in Abu Dhabi while Cappellini taking only 8th or worst at days end.

With three of the top drivers out of the way on the first start Cappellini watched Saudi Arabian driver Laith Pharaon take the early lead and held that position for the first dozen tours before Cappellini went around him and into the lead followed closely by Gillman who stayed no further than 2.5 seconds from him for the rest of the afternoon.

A real surprise in the event was Gillman's young protogy Thani Al Qamzi of Abu Dhabi who stayed right with his "teacher"from the start and finished 3rd at the end of the day taking his first podium one year after his first race in F1. The day only got better for the Emirates Team as 3rd team member Awad Al Qubaisi took 5th after starting back in the 14th position at the start for his best result of the season.

French driver Philippe Dessertenne had a shot at the title trailing Cantando by 19 points and with the young Italian dropping out, giving the native of La Rochelle even more reason to push for more points. Dessertenne's day went for cheers to tears as his 3rd place finish disappeared on the very last lap as his boat came to a stop ending his race and his championship hopes for this season taking 8th and 3 championship points not enough to catch Cappellini.

Swedish driver Jari Honkala, another pilot who enjoyed his first anniversary at Sharjah, came home a strong 4th staying in the top 5 until all afternoon and finally taking 4th after a 3rd at the last round in Vienna.

Portugal's Duarte Benavente came home in a fine 6th after starting 7th, while Sami Selio finished 7th in his Johnson V-6, while England driver Andy Elliott who started 13th took 9th in the only wooden boat in the race. Italian Franco Leidi had a fine driver after starting in the back of the field finished in the 10th spot for the final championship point.

Rookie race driver Vincenzo Polli took 11th after starting 17th in the first race for the former offshore star, while K.Y. Loi was 12th in his best finish of his career after starting 19th for the Malaysian.

The 10th and final round of the 2001 U.I.M. F1 World Championship comes next Friday the 19th in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.