CANTANDO'S CLEAN SWEEP IN GERMANY

STRALSUND, GERMANY, (August 5^th) – Italian Francesco Cantando tore down his boat and rebuilt it in the four weeks he had off from the last event and went out and tore up the competition walking away with his first win of the season and the fourth of his career at the Grand Prix of Germany to move into 2^nd place in the championship. His victoy has now opened up a route for him to win his first title on the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating.

Cantando, winner of 3 races a year ago and a 2^nd place in the Championship, shot away from his pole position and was never seriously challenged winning by 25 seconds over current World Champ American Scott Gillman of the Emirates Team who struggled with visability. Dispite these problems he still managed to pick up his 2^nd straight runner-up position on the podium after having started the season with 5 straight DNF's.  The battle for the remaining top 5 was between fellow Italian's Fabio Comparato who started 2^nd and finished 5^th and Massimo Roggiero who began from the 3^rd position off and was 6^th at the end of the day and 5-time World Champion Guido Cappellini.

Cappellini, who is leading the points chase for the championship, struggled all weekend but made his way to the podium in the final 10 laps passing Comparato and picking up 12 more points and now holds down 92 on the season. His 3^rd place now has him 16 points ahead of Cantando who gained 20 more with his victory.

Frenchman Philippe Dessertenne, who came to the event in 2^nd place in the championship with 61 points, left with a 4^th place finish after starting 7^th and is now showimg 70 points and has dropped to 3^rd behind Cantando in the chase for the crown. Dessertenne has continued his streak of finishing every event this season and still has a solid shot at the titile before the season is over.

Returning  to the tour for the first time since the opening round in Malaysia was 4-time World titlest Jonathan Jones of Wales, getting familiar with the boat once again, starting 8^th and ran a steady race finishing 6^th and proving he still has what it takes to be a winner.

Rookie driver Thani Al Qamzi of the Emirates Team picked up his first ever world championship points finishing 8^th after starting from 11^th in a steady ride in his 4 year old Seebold wooden boat.

Japanese driver Yutaka Sugihara of the Assicom Team was 9^th at the start and was 9^th at the finish while another Emirates driver Awad Al Qubaisi overcame a glancing blow with Cappellini late in the race to finish in 10^th for the final championship point giving all 3 Emirates drivers points for the first time in their history.

Englishman Andy Elliott started 20^th and battled his way to 11^th just missing the points while Dane Gert Ladefoged who had one of his best starting spots of the season 11^th off the dock. Other noteables were rookie driver German Frank Schulze who started 25^th and finished 14^th while Portugal's Duarte Benavente and last race winner Victor Kunitch took each other out when the Siemans driver got caught up with the Latvian Vivid Team pilot just past the start finish line as they both pinched in towards turn 2 on the front straghtaway taking each other out in the process.

Saudi driver Laith Pharaon, challenging for the race win in Sardinia at the last round crashed in practise on Saturday, started 17^th and was quickly up to 10^th before having his boat come to a stop 18 laps into the event. Brazilian Paul Gaiser dropped out 41 laps into the race after moving from 15^th to 11^th in his Petrobras boat, while Italian Fabrizio Bocca didn't get officially started in his brand new DAC Rainbow Racing machine.

Argentinian Carlos Maidana struggled all weekend with his Johnson 3 litre engine and finally gave up his fight 49 laps into the 60 lap event. Finnish driver Sami Selio running the same package as Maidana started 12^th and left after only 1 lap not adding to his 24 championship points.

Austrian Rupp Temper back since Hungary lasted 51 laps after starting 21^st and Ivan Torta who started 14^th was 18^th failing to go any fartther than 45 laps.

Seven rounds of the 2001 U.I.M. F1 World Championship are now in the books and Cappellini now has a fight on his hands with Cantando finishing with a win and 6 of 7 finishes on the year and trails Cappellini by just 16 points as we head to the next round on the 9^th of September in Vienna, Austria. It marks the final race of the season in Europe before we head east to the United Arab Emirates and the championship.