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2002 World Championships USA.

Report 2 - 19 September 2002.

Thursday started very well with John Gifford winning the prize for the best presentation at the Conference for Air Cushion Technology.

The morning began with the Opening Ceremony consisting of speeches and an opera singer, followed by a ballon release, a spectacular flight of the WIG and finally a parade of craft from each country.

The first set of races was quite interesting, with a steep learning curve for the Race Organisattion Team. Results saw Dan Turnbull and john bucknall leading F3, Tony Sullens come second in F2 and Chris Barlow actually made the grid after 2 visits to hospital with a mystery bug. Conrad Beale won the fist F1 race with a different craft behind him in second place position on each lap! The session was interupted by the first rainstorm of the week during which 3 inches of rain fell in 10 minutes.

The second set of racing saw Dan Turnbull and John Bucknall repaeting their earlier superb F3 performance. Mark Allman made it onto the grid after finishing his craft during morning practice. In F2, Chris Barlow made it up to second from the back of the field, with Tony Sullens in 4th place. Conrad Beale led the F1 race for 7 laps until he was nudged by Michael Metzner, who went on to win with conrad in second.

The evening started with a further 2 inches of rain, which sent us all running for the sports centre for a dry evening in!


Louise Beale