Qatar to race in Key West!

225 · 22-09-2009, 03:42 PM

29TH ANNUAL KEY WEST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Key West, Florida – November 8th-15th, 2009

For immediate release
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

SPIRIT OF QATAR TEAM SET TO RACE IN 29TH
ANNUAL KEY WEST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sheikh Hassan teams up with Steve Curtis for new American offshore challenge
• Spirit of Qatar 95 and Spirit of Qatar 96 set for Key West-based championship
• Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Sulaiti and Italy’s Matteo Nicolini complete QMSF line-up

DOHA (Qatar): His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani has confirmed that the Spirit of Qatar Team will enter the 29th Annual Key West World Championships in Florida on November 8th-15th, 2009.

Just got this message on facebook and thought it sounded pretty intresting will be nice to see how they compare to the americans.

Marinautic · 22-09-2009, 03:46 PM

Wearing of rucksacks at immigration would be a bad idea.

Andree · 22-09-2009, 06:52 PM

Full Press release:

SPIRIT OF QATAR TEAM SET TO RACE IN 29TH *

*ANNUAL KEY WEST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS*

* *

· *Sheikh Hassan teams up with Steve Curtis for new American offshore
challenge*

· *Spirit of Qatar 95 and Spirit of Qatar 96 set for Key West-based
championship*

· *Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Sulaiti and Italy’s Matteo Nicolini complete
QMSF line-up*

* *

*DOHA (Qatar): *His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani has
confirmed that the Spirit of Qatar Team will enter the 29th Annual Key West
World Championships in Florida on November 8th-15th, 2009.

The seven-day powerboat extravaganza attracts up to 100 entries annually,
with races taking place on Wednesday, November 11th, Friday, November
13thand Sunday, November 15
th. Sheikh Hassan will team up with England’s Steve Curtis MBE in Spirit of
Qatar 96 - running to full Class 1 race specification - and Qatar’s Abdullah
Al-Sulaiti will be joined by usual Italian throttleman Matteo Nicolini in
Spirit of Qatar 95.

The Qatar Team, which runs under the wing of the Qatar Marine Sports
Federation (QMSF), withdrew from this season’s UIM-WPPA Class 1 World
Championship in protest at some of the official decisions that had been
taken in connection with racing infringements, but the QMSF quartet are
relishing the opportunity to return to a racing environment in the United
States of America and increase their race experience before a possible
return to the Class 1 arena in 2010.

“We will race in the (Superboat) 750 and (Superboat) 850 classes,” enthused
Sheikh Hassan, who has claimed 20 Class One podium finishes since he joined
the world’s premier powerboat series in the middle of the 2003 season. “Both
these classes have the same rules and regulations and similar
power-to-weight ratios.”

Both Sheikh Hassan and Abdullah Al-Sulaiti will be racing in the USA for the
first time, although Curtis has taken part in the Key West race meeting on
four occasions and won his championship class twice. Nicolini visited the
venue many years ago to manage a customer team, but has never raced in
Florida before.

“We have yet to see the final race formats, but I don’t think it will be
much different to what we are used to,” added Sheikh Hassan, who will need
to leave Florida as soon as the Sunday race is finished to return to Doha
for the build-up to the Unlimited Hydroplane racing in Qatar the following
weekend.

“I can only speculate that it will be more of a top-end speed course than we
have been used to in Class One. Steve (Curtis) has been racing for many
years and his experience in the USA and at Key West will be a great asset
for us.”

Curtis is relishing the opportunity to represent the Spirit of Qatar Team in
Florida with the Skema V12-engined Qatar 96. “We are ideally suited to the
Superboat 750 and Superboat 850 classes, although the American boats may be
a little lighter than ours. It will be a great chance for us to get back
into race mode and also a chance for Sheikh Hassan to spread the word about
Class 1 to an American audience. Maybe it will even attract a few American
teams to enter Class One in the future.”

Al-Sulaiti and Nicolini will use their Sterling V8-engined Qatar 95 at Key
West, where former Class One racer Randy Scism is a regular among the 100 or
so competitors and competes in the Superboat Unlimited class. “For me it
will be a good experience to compete against other teams and at a new race
venue,” enthused Nicolini.

The Key West race week is held under the auspices of Super Boat
International Productions and starts with a boat parade and registration at
the Race Village, Truman Annex, on November 8th-9th. Testing and official
practice will be permitted on Tuesday, November 10th between 09.00hrs and
17.00hrs (local time), before the first race fires into life on Wednesday,
November 11th.

Further testing and practice will be permitted on Thursday, November
12thand the Spirit of Qatar Team will be in race action for a second
time on
Friday, November 13th. Testing and practice is again allowed on Saturday,
November 14th and the final race of the Key West meeting fires into life on
Sunday, November 15th.

Renegade · 22-09-2009, 07:31 PM

I'm going so that should be interesting to watch

Gordon McMath · 22-09-2009, 08:56 PM

See you there.

littlenige · 23-09-2009, 10:38 AM

You lucky people! I do hope we'll be seeing lots of your pictures on here Gordon afterwards!

timtap · 23-09-2009, 10:59 AM

73 teams and 15 classes ...............Awsome !!!

http://www.superboat.com/teams.cfm

Gordon McMath · 23-09-2009, 08:07 PM

Bollocks now youve said that ill have to take a camera !!!

Scream-it.com · 24-09-2009, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 225

29TH ANNUAL KEY WEST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Key West, Florida – November 8th-15th, 2009

For immediate release
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

SPIRIT OF QATAR TEAM SET TO RACE IN 29TH
ANNUAL KEY WEST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sheikh Hassan teams up with Steve Curtis for new American offshore challenge
• Spirit of Qatar 95 and Spirit of Qatar 96 set for Key West-based championship
• Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Sulaiti and Italy’s Matteo Nicolini complete QMSF line-up

DOHA (Qatar): His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani has confirmed that the Spirit of Qatar Team will enter the 29th Annual Key West World Championships in Florida on November 8th-15th, 2009.

Just got this message on facebook and thought it sounded pretty intresting will be nice to see how they compare to the americans.

Are they going to get back to Abu Dhabi and Dubai on a magic carpet?

D~OOD · 24-09-2009, 10:49 PM

They didn't show in Romania - perhaps they've stopped now they know they can't win the Class 1 series!!!???

Scream-it.com · 25-09-2009, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D~OOD

They didn't show in Romania - perhaps they've stopped now they know they can't win the Class 1 series!!!???

Do you think that they may have thrown their toys out of the pram after Norway?

To think some Honda people on this forum think I have. Perhaps it has rubbed off from the series leader!!