News

Monday, May 26: The Grand Prix of Poland, the opening round of the UIM-ABP Aquabike European Continental Championship, takes place on Jeziorskomeer in Poland next weekend (May 30^th-June 1^st).

Entries have continued to flood in for the event being organised by the Polish Motorboat and Water Ski Association in collaboration with Aquabike Promotion. This year’s championship will be fought out over four Grand Prix, with further races to be held in Portugal (July 4^th-6^th), Hungary (August 1^st-3^rd) and France (September 5^th-7^th).

Race officials have now received a very impressive entry. Additional racers, including numerous new faces from across Europe, have boosted all the race categories and a burgeoning field for the Ski Division GP1 section currently sees 23 riders grace the provisional list.

Recent entries include defending World Champion Quinten Bossche, Estonians Mattias Reinass and Marlon Tiik, the French duo of Tanguy Mezière and Paul Thomas, Hungary’s Tomaz Kete and the Belgian duo of Anthony Beernaut and Maxence Russel.

Defending World Champion Jasmiin Ypraus and 2023 World Champion Jessica Chavanne have joined the Ski Ladies GP1 ranks along with Finland’s Siiri Salonen, while Reinass, Tiik, Pole Slawomir Piechniat and the Dutch duo of Daan and Luuk Hoeke have boosted the Ski Division GP2 list. Additional riders in the Ski Division GP3 class include Croatian Dorijan Jakopanec, Norway’s Julian Kristoffersen, Belgian Loris Lambert and Dutchman Bram Hoeke.

Latvia’s Daniils Potrivailo, Lithuanian Grantas Gurkšnys and Mezière have added their names to the Ski Division GP4 list, while additional Juniors include Marvin Bohuslav, Adrian Kristoffersen and young Belgian Milo Beernaut.

The ranks of the Runabout GP1 category have been boosted to 19 by current World Champion Samuel Johansson, his fellow countryman Linus Lindberg, Germany’s Benjamin Boecker and the Polish quartet of Konrad Wróbel, Andrzej Wisniewski, Krzysztof Olszewski and Tomasz Kaźmierczak.

The Estonian duo of Karl Kesküla and Mattias Siimann will now compete in the 14-strong Runabout GP2 category with Wróbel, Janina Johansson, Ibiza-based Spaniard Alejandro Prats Palau and the Lithuanian trio of Arnas Jakucionis, Edvinas Banys and Domantas Vaznys also registering their intention to compete.

Kesküla and Gurkšnys will also attempt to earn Runabout GP4 success along with further class additions, who include Arti Mölter, Dane Thomas Hansen, Croatian Jurica Marović, Prats Palau, Estonian newcomer Kauri Kaunispaik and Lithuanian Karol Puzelevic.

Twelve racers now constitute a potent Runabout Ladies GP4 field, with the Estonian trio of Carmen Roosmaa, Kimily Lepp and Katarina Sepp being joined by Lithuania’s Astra Gurkšnytė and Czech Markéta Hollerová. Margus Kesküla and Kaźmierczak are targeting the Runabout Veterans GP1 category and Lepp, Sepp and Rihard Leinsalu will race in the Runabout Juniors GP4 section, along with another late addition, Lithuania’s Emilija Jakučionyte.

Registration and technical checks take place on Thursday (May 29^th) and a hectic Friday sees free practice for the relevant categories followed by the first of the Motos.

Saturday morning will be taken up by a whole host of opening Motos, culminating in the opening heats for the Runabout GP1 and Ski Division and Ski Ladies GP1 sections. The second of the Motos follow on Saturday afternoon with the first of the Freestyle Motos rounding off another hectic day’s action.

The remainder of the second Motos are completed on Sunday morning before a relentless timetable of on-water action sees the third of the Motos and the second of the Freestyle heats at the end of the day.