Aussie Formula 1 driver Bob Trask has again scored championship points in the UIM F1 World Championship. Racing the Trask Development Corporation team #3 boat, Bob Trask rated the race at Lahti in Finland as the ‘roughest ever’.
The weekend got off to a bad start for the Trask team when Bob’s boat was smashed in the opening practice session. US driver Jay price chopped into Bob’s #3 boat forcing him to recover from a wild gyrating ride.
With his best hull damaged too severely to be repaired in a day, Bob had his second string boat prepped and ready for the second practice session.
Meanwhile brother Dave Trask was doing well in qualifying. Having finished in the top six qualifiers Dave went out in the hot laps to eventually qualify in pole position four, just over a second off the pole sitter Guido Cappellini from Italy. Despite the dramas of the day, Bob Trask did a sterling job to take pole position 17.
From first light race day was going to be tough. The wind was strong and the water rough – two elements that send a shiver down the spine of any F1 driver.
Race officials took the unprecedented step of altering the start from the normal dock start to a rolling start Indian file behind the pace boat.
“The officials wanted to avoid a full on drag to the first turn under these conditions, “ Bob Trask said. “It was a good call because there would have been carnage otherwise.”
In continuing his good form David Trask made a great start at the head of the field and was running in fourth and fifth positions over the opening laps. Much of the strategy of F1 racing is to find a balance between keeping in touch with the leaders without over stretching the engine over the opening stanza of the 55 lap GP.
Regrettably for David Trask his good run again came to a premature end when the engine let go after 18 laps.
“Going into the 2008 F1 series we had a heap more horsepower than last year and that got us on to the podium on the opening round,” David Trask said. “But these last two rounds we have suffered engine failures so we now have to look for better reliability in our package.”
With David Task out of the race and under tow, Bob Trask was again left to fly the Trask Development Corporation team flag.
“This was the toughest day that I have ever endured in a F1 race,” Bob Trask said. “There were big holes around the course, and I mean over a meter deep! I’ve never raced in conditions like it before.”
With eight boats retiring and the yellow flag being flown several times due to crashes in the wild weather, Bob Trask drive like a man possessed to finish in seventh position. Having started way back in 17th, making up ten positions was a grand effort, especially in the second string boat.
“Given the adversity that we faced today, I’m very pleased with the outcome,” Bob Trask said. “I’ve scored points again for the second consecutive round and now we are looking forward to the next round in Russia where we hope to do better again.”
At the completion of three rounds, David Trask is in equal sixth position on the Drivers World Championship Points table, Bob Trask is in 13th position.
The next round of the 2008 UIM F1 World Championship is to be contested in Russia on June 14th.
Trask Brothers Racing will be contesting the next round of the Australian F1 Superboat series to be conducted at Port Macquarie Toukley NSW on July 13th |
