In the world of Formula 1 powerboat racing there comes a weekend when the spray has settled, the team sits back, reflects and wonders why they even bothered to pull on the race suit.
Abu Dhabi, the penultimate round of the UIM World F1 powerboat series, proved to be such a weekend for Bob Trask and the Trask Development Corporation / Sea Quest Boats team.
The Trask team endured major difficulties as early as qualifying. Bob Trask secured an 11th place qualifying position in the first session before his race engine blew. Similarly team mate and brother David Trask was in 15th place and after just two laps his engine died.
With fresh engines on for the second session Bob Trask fared better on the time sheet but remained in 11th place when the crankshaft failed. So far Bob’s engine score was two dead power-heads for two incomplete qualifying sessions.
Trask Development Corporation / Sea Quest Boats team mate David Trask fared much better qualifying in 8th position.
Despite ideal weather conditions on race day, misfortune continued to dog the Trask Development Corporation / Sea Quest Boats team in the Grand Prix itself. Off the start dock David Trask got hit twice by other boats in the run to the first buoy but managed to power on.
But on just lap 8 of the 50 lap race, Bob Trask suffered another major engine failure and had to be towed back to the pit area with his Abu Dhabi weekend race weekend in tatters.
David Trask continued to fly the team flag running a solid race. On the first re-start, caused by an accident on the course, David Trask suffered an electrical fault in the main battery switch. Without any power, the engine wouldn’t fire on the start dock. While the team thought they had quickly rectified the problem, David got back onto the course to chase the field. Then the engine unexpectedly stopped again forcing officials to disqualify the remaining Trask Development Corporation / Sea Quest Boats team on safety grounds.
While the weekend at Abu Dhabi was a great disappointment, such horror weekends are from time to time an inevitable aspect of motor sport at the elite level.
However the good news is that after the Abu Dhabi round, Bob Trask remains in sixth position on the driver’s pointscore while brother David is in 4th place. The Trask Development Corporation / Sea Quest Boats team retains its 3rd place standing in the team table.
There is one round remaining on the UIM F1 World Championship for powerboats, to be conducted at Sharjah in the UAE December 16th. |
