Six of the seven 2012 Powerboat GP RYA British Championships were decided at Stewartby Watersports Club in Bedford over the weekend of 22 and 23 September. The British Hydroplane Championship will not reach its climax until late October, but the other six series were decided as follows…

Powerboat GP winners

1. GT15 Class
Eight youngsters took to the water for the final weekend of competition and (true to form), Ben Jelf took pole position and all three heat wins to win the weekend and with it secure another British title in his young career. Charlotte Newton took the weekend’s silver medal and Thomas Mantripp (tied with Tiegen Goodfellow) took third on a count back.

1st Ben Jelf
2nd Tiegen Goodfellow
3rd Thomas Mantripp

2. GT30 Class
There was nothing separating the two championship leaders of Kevin Hill and Ben Morse heading into the final round of the competition.  Tied on 67 points, it was the closest championship campaign of the year. In the event, Kevin took two heat wins with Jordan Muckles and Natalie Craddock bearing down on him every inch of the race. Morse was forced to settle for three fourth positions, enabling his JPL Racing Team mate Kevin Hill to secure the 2012 Championship title.

1st Kevin Hill
2nd Ben Morse
3rd Jordan Muckles

3. OSY400 Class
The final round of the Championship saw James Marr looking for one final push to steal the championship from rival Luke Hugman. Marr was flying and secured the first three heat wins to secure the Stewartby Grand Prix, but three second places for Luke Hugman saw him retain his 2011 OSY400 Championship title. Marr took the silver medal and Jason Mantripp secured bronze medals in both the Stewartby Grand Prix and the 2012 Championship.

1st Luke Hugman
2nd James Marr
3rd Jason Mantripp

4. T850 Class
Reigning Champion Mark Williams was looking to make it four out of four Grand Prix wins to retain his T850 Championship title for another year - and he went on to secure three heat wins to take top spot. TopCat Racing’s Mike Pillow took second in the Grand prix in addition to the British Championship Silver Medal, with Bill Owen taking third in the Grand Prix and teammate David James securing the Bronze Championship Medal.

1st Mark Williams
2nd Mike Pillow
3rd David James

5. F4 Class
Champion Scott Curtis was in for a busy weekend as he looked to secure the 2012 F4 British title as well as competing in the F2 Class and trying to boost himself up the F2 table. He started with pole position and the first two heat wins to secure first place, with Steve Hoult taking the Silver Championship Medal and the excellent rookie, Paul Veares, securing Bronze in hois first ever season of racing.

1st Scott Curtis
2nd Steve Hoult
3rd Paul Veares

6. F2 Class
Ten F2 racers lined up for the start of the final Grand Prix of the season and it was JPL Racing’s Malcolm Goodman that was back on flying form, following disaster at the finals of the F2 World Championships in Nottingham where he crashed out twice.

Goodman had something to prove and (amid lots more crashes and retirements) the restarted first heat was again red flagged, causing the pressure to mount on Goodman and Alan Marshall as they vied for the championship win. It all went down to the third and final heat where Goodman took the chequered flag ahead of Alan Marshall who took double silver.

1st Malcolm Goodman
2nd Alan Marshall
3rd Ian Andrews

Written by: Alex Smith
Alex Smith is a journalist, copywriter and magazine editor with a long history in boating and a happy addiction to the water. He’s worked on boats, lived on boats, bought boats, sold boats and – when he’s not actually on board a boat – he can generally be found in his Folkestone office, tapping away at the computer and gazing out to sea.