Friday, 2 June, PORTO CESAREO (Italy): James Bushell survived a close shave after just managing to make the cut in Q1 and then bounced back to claim pole position for Moto 1 in Runabout GP1 for the UIM-ABP Aquabike Grand Prix of Italy.

There will be a sense of déjà vu for the British rider who claimed pole position for the season opener on his UIM-ABP tour debut this time last year and after scraping through Q1 in ninth place went onto set the fastest time in the final 10 minute qualifying session with a 1:20.98s lap.

In a somewhat bizarre final 10 minute session with several of the top ten runners from Q1 failing to get out on the water or breaking early, it was Bushell who took advantage setting the best time with just one flying lap.

Sweden’s Lars Akerblom matched his second place in Q1 in the final session, missing out on the pole by 1.73s, but narrowly finishing ahead of defending world champion Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq.

Gyorgy Kasza marked his return to the UIM-ABP tour going fourth quickest, ahead of Poland’s Andrzej Wisniewski and current world ranking number Jeremy Perez.

It was a frustrating afternoon for Marcus Jorgensen ,who after going quickest in Q1, failed to post a time, but his time set in the first session putting him in seventh spot, ahead of Christophe Agostinho, Carl Lampe and Alessio Schintu who all suffered a similar fate.

For full classifications: www.aquabike.net/results