CAPPELLINI EARNS 3RD STRAIGHT POLE IN 1999!
JONES, LEPPALA, GILLMAN & ROGGIERO IN TOP 5!

St. Petersburg, Russia: May 29th - Monaco driver Guido Cappellini took his 3rd straight pole position in the season's 3rd race with a time of 112.55 kph and will lead the field of 22 drivers from 11 countries in the 6th Annual Grand Prix of Europe on the Neva River tomorrow.

Cappellini, in his DAC Racing Laserline/Castrol boat came back strong after barrel rolling his craft in the 1st timed session of the day and came from 3rd place in the 6 boat ńshootoutî at days end to win the pole by 0.12 of a second with a speed of 112.55 kph and a time of 59:81. Defending World Champion Jonathan Jones of Wales driving his wooden Burgess Dragon Racing machine was the only other driver to run a sub par 1 minute lap on the 7 turn 2.0 kilometer course in the city of the Czars with a 59.93 second effort and a 112.33 kph lap.

Finland's Pertti Leppala in the Kodak/NLS DAC machine was poised to take his first pole having topped the sheets after two qualifying sessions, but a broken trim pump kept him slower than his previous best of 110.83 kph time. Starting 4th behind Leppala will be 1997 World Champion Scott Gillman of Basalt, Colorado in his Emirates/Hyatt DAC with a 110.83 qualifying effort now just 0.93 behind Cappellini.

Gillman, who has never lost here, has finally found more power and is confident in making tomorrow's event his 3rd straight victory on the Neva. Italian Massimo Roggiero in his Castrol DAC was 5th with a 109.14 kph time, while young Finland driver Sami Selio reached the ńshootoutî for the first time in his short career with a time of 104.21 kph and join his teammate Leppala in the top six.

Rounding out the top ten for tomorrow's race will be Italian Fabio Camparato of the DAC Racing team in 7th; Francesco Cantando of Italy from the Waircom/Singha team was 8th; while Argentina's Carlos Maidana in his Seebold TG Group/Havoline hull was 9th despite battling broken ribs and a trip to the hospital after qualifying. Swedish pilot Goran Karloff rounded out the top 10. Two new drivers returning to the F1 circuit for this race are Russian pilot Andrei Bernitsin and Italian Luca Fornasarig.

Tomorrow's event will once again be raced on the Neva River in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress the burial home of the Czar's and close to another 100,000 fans expected at the 16:15 local starting time (8:15 Eastern Standard Time).