Friday, 10 July: With two events run and with two to go, competitors are now gearing-up to head to Mirandela in Portugal for round 3 of 4 of the UIM-ABP Aquabike European Continental Championships on the 24-26 July.
Last season Mirandela hosted a three race shoot out for the title and now part of the revised and highly successful multi series Championship which has seen huge entries and great racing at the events already held in Porec, Croatia in May and Roses-Girona, Spain in June.
World Rankings number one and defending European Champion, Jeremy Perez, is the standout rider of the moment and unbeaten in four races in Runabout GP1 and despite illness the French star produced a herculean performance in Roses-Girona to maintain his unbeaten run on the European-Continental tour and sits on top of the table with a maximum 100 points.
Leading what seems to be a hapless chase is countryman Christophe Agostinho on 58 points, Spain’s Jordi Thomas is a further seven points adrift with Didier Chabert on 49 points.
Missing from the line-up will be Herve Partouche who is likely to need an operation on his knee following a recent car crash.
The fight for the Ski GP1 title is building nicely; Spain’s Nacho Armillas sits in top spot [90pts] following his double win in Roses-Girona, with a rejuvenated Mickael Poret in second [65pts] and Marvin Martinez in third. But all are likely to face round 1 double winner Kevin Reiterer who was absent in Spain.
In Ladies Ski GP2 it is Portugal’s Beatriz Curtinhal who leads the pack of 10; she dominated in Croatia winning both heats but had to concede to World Champion Jennifer Menard in Spain, tied on points both grabbing a win and a third.
Curtinhal holds a healthy 18 point advantage over Menard in the overall standings, with Sweden’s Jonna Borgstrom, who leads the World Championship standings, in third.
Allessio Schintu from Italy and Belgian Claude Vangasbeck top the tables in Runabout GP2 & 3, Armillas and Hungary’s Gabor Szabo lead the way in Ski GP2 & 3 with Alec Enderli on top in Ski Junior.