Sunday, 4 October, LIUZHOU (China): The rain may have descended over the River Liu for the second heats of the Grand Prix of China but it didn’t dampen the spirit of  Mohamed Al Heidus, becoming just the second  Qatari to win a heat and GP title on the UIM-ABP tour.

In Ski, overall victory went to Kevin Reiterer and Jennifer Menard, with Rok Florjancic back in front and back on top in Freestyle.

Heat 2 in Runabout was frantic; heat 1 winner Jean-Baptiste Botti led from the start but his hopes of victory ended almost immediately, stopping on lap 1.

Al Heidus hit the front and despite being hounded for all 16 laps by Jeremy Perez went on to take the win and overall victory. But a penalty lap given to Perez for missing a buoy dropped him to sixth. "It is great for me and the team to have this win especially after the problems I had in Qatar and Italy, " said Al Heidus. "The race was hard not just because of the conditions but because of the very good other riders I was up against."

Lars Akerblom rounded out a great return to form at the venue where he won last year finishing second in the heat and overall, with Thamer Al Darwish completing a good weekend for Qatar coming home third and completing the podium and now heads the championship standings. 

The second heat of Ski GP1 may have just have produced the pivotal moment in the race for the 2015 world title.

There is no doubt that Kevin Reiterer was the pick of the field, his second win of the day and maximum points giving the Austrian his second career Grand Prix win in his first season on the tour.

But it was the black flag waved at defending World Champion and points’ leader Jeremy Poret for ‘cutting’ a buoy that may well signal the end of the Poret family’s five year reign as Ski World Champions.

Today’s turn of events puts Kevin Reiterer on top in the title race with 111 points, Jeremy Poret now fourth and 20 points adrift. “The second heat was much better for me than the first. I managed to get back to my usual pace I just felt tired at the end after being sick for a couple of days. But I pushed hard, gave it all I had and it worked out well.” said Reiterer. “Jeremy was the biggest obstacle for me but now the championship is all to play for. I am looking forward to Sharjah. There is a lot of time to prepare but I am pretty confident.”

Reiterer again won the run to the first turn, this time it was Nacho Armillas behind him with Jeremy Poret in third.

The lead trio raced away at the front and on lap 8 Poret moved into second, on lap 9 he disappeared off the radar, the beneficiary his older brother Mickael who followed the leaders to the chequered flag to take third overall.

Stian Schetlein completed his best weekend on the tour going one better than in heat 1 to take fourth ahead of Morgan Poret and Raphael Maurin.

In the Ladies division Jennifer Menard enjoyed the perfect weekend, fastest in qualifying yesterday and unbeaten in the heats today and has put herself right back into contention in the title race with overall victory and maximum points.

The result moves Menard up into second place in the overall standings on 107points and is now only three points behind Emma-Nellie Ortendahl.

In a repeat one-two-three of heat 1, 26-year-old Menard was too strong from the off, again holding onto the advantage of starting from pole position and holding P1 throughout the ten laps. “It is a great result for me and I think also good for the championship,” she said. “My team has been working a lot on the engine and the bike ran very well. I also have no more injuries so I look forward to Sharjah. I want to keep my title.”

The woman she has to beat is still 17-year-old Emma-Nellie Ortendahl, but she had to settle for third overall after being soundly outpaced in both heats by the European Champion Beatriz Curtinhal who kept the pressure on Menard for all 10 laps to take second place and now moves up into fourth spot in the points.

For the first time this season Rok Florjancic turned the tables on brother Nac to take the overall victory, his fourth win in Liuzhou and now moves six points clear in the standings. Third place went to Roberto Mariani.

The final round of the UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship takes place in Sharjah in the UAE on the 19-20 December.

[ to see full classification click on ‘live timing and results’ ]