CAPPELLINI TAKES 2ND STRAIGHT WIN AND 4 IN CAMPIONE!
COMPARATO AND GILLMAN FINISH IN TOP 3!

CAMPIONE d' ITALIA, ITALY (19th of May) – Guido Cappellini used his local knowledge and some luck to win his 2nd straight victory of the season and his 4th in Campione d' Italia at the 6th Annual Grand Prix of Campione at the 2nd stop of the 2002 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for powerboating.

The thousands that lined Lake Lugano for the 40th addition of powerboat racing in the Italian onclave surrounded by Switzerland that has the tradition that goes back as far as 1931, saw three different leaders in the event beginning with Italian Fabio Comparato taking the point on a restart following a first lap accident between Portguese driver Duarte Benavente and Frenchman Philippe Dessertenne. Bennavente ended his day at the turn bouy on the south side of the lake, while Dessertenne was able to restart and finish 9th despite losing two laps getting back into the event after the restart.

Comparato led only to lose the lead when Cappellini took it back on another restart and dropped back into the top 5 before fighting his way back to 2nd before the end of the event. With his 2nd place finish, the Nautica Comparato driver is now 2nd in the World Championship with 24 points.

Meanwhile, Francesco Cantando of Milan, moved up from 7th to first and led until the final 15 laps until his trim started acting up and he drifted back into a final 7th place spot after not only showing his power by passing Cappellini, but controlling the event until the problems became uncontrolable.

With Cantando's trim sending him back into the grasp of the top 6, Cappellini took advantage and took over control of the event as it became evident that the weather and strong winds were creating problems for the bouys to be held in place in the 200 metre depths of Lake Lugano.

With the course changing American Scott Gillman moved around the top 4 fighting a setup he didn't plan on  moving up to 2nd in the first third of the event before eventually finishing 3rd getting his first points and podium of the season. With his 3rd place, Gillman continues to keep his streak alive of finishing on the podium in every event he has finished since 1997.

Another American, Mike Seebold of the MM Power Team battled up to third on the original start and held off Saudi driver Laith Pharaon for 4th at days end finishing in the top 5 once again and now has 21 points on the season in his Seebold Mercury 2.5 litre package.

Pharaon was happy with his 5th picking up his first points of the campaign. Italian Ivan Torta was 6th in a good run from the back of the pack while Massimo Roggiero struggled to 8th after starting 11th in his Zepter DAC Mercury.

Finish star Sami Selio dropped out of a possible top 3 finish when his engine expried late in the race, the only starter with a 3 litre Johnson engined boat.

Ten boats finished the event as Cappellini now has a perfect 40 points after his first two events and lead the pack as they head off to the next round in Helsinki, Finland in one month's time.