Calderoni - Fracasso - Bulteau - Poret… Crowned World Champions!

2011 UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship LIUZHOU China, Wednesday, 5 October, 2011 Calderoni Fracasso Bulteau Poret Crowned World Champions news19.jpgRiders from France and Italy shared overall world title honours after the final Grand Prix of the season in Liuzhou, China - taking two apiece - as Julie Bulteau, Valerio Calderoni and Mattia Fracasso added their names to the list of 2011 ABP-UIM Aquabike World Champions, joining Jeremy Poret whose win in heat 1 yesterday secured his title.

France’s Bulteau was once again the stand-out rider in Ski Ladies F1, and in a class of her own, her second win in two days giving the now triple World Champion her third overall Grand Prix win of the season. Poret’s win-double in Ski Division F1 on the River Liu made it five heat wins in 2011 and added a third Grand Prix title, winning him back the world title he conceded to his older brother last season. In Freestyle, Italy’s Valerio Calderoni will be breathing a sigh of relief that his two fourth places here in Liuzhou were just enough to give him the title over Romain Stampers by just four points, despite Stampers taking four heat wins this year to the Italians two, as once again both were out-manoeuvred by the majestic Slovenian brothers Rok and Nac Florjancic who took first and second spots on the overall Grand Prix podium, with Stampers finishing third. But for the second day in a row it was a spectacular and nail biting heat in Runabout that had everyone on the edge of their seats, as Italy’s Mattia Fracasso held of an inspired ride by Francois Medori, fighting back from eighth to second place to finish just seconds behind the newly crowned Champion, Fracasso. For Julie Bulteau today’s heat became a formality as soon as the flag dropped. The French star moved out to an immediate five second lead by the end of the first of nine laps and by mid-race the gap had grown to 15 seconds over Pija Sumer, who managed to get the better of and keep Stefania Balzer behind. Bulteau’s only mistake of the weekend came on lap six, forcing her to take a penalty buoy and dropping six seconds to Sumer, but the Champion restored the gap within two laps and then cruised to take the chequered flag and title. Sumer’s second place over Balzer gave her second overall in the Grand Prix standings, but it was the Italian Balzer who claimed second place overall in the Championship standings over Sumer. And for the second day in a row it was China’s Ki Qianqian who grabbed fourth spot. Ski Divison F1 produced a repeat of yesterday’s heat with Jeremy Poret taking overall Grand Prix honours over Christopher Courtois and Mickael Poret, the result moving Courtois into second place in the overall rankings ahead of the absent Jean-Baptiste Botti. Jeremy Poret never looked threatened throughout the ten lap race, maintaining a five second advantage over second placed Courtois who resisted Mickael Poret’s early pressure. A late charge by Nachette Armillas and Morgan Poret moved them up to fourth and fifth slots, with Ludo Caumont completing the top six. The main race of the day produced the race of the day and jubilation for Italy’s Mattia Fracasso, but bitter disappointment for France’s Francois Medori. It was billed as a winner-take-all showdown after yesterday’s breakdown by Medori and Fracasso’s win catapulted the Italian to the top of the standings. The winner today would be crowned Champion. Fracasso made the perfect start to lead at the end of lap one. Medori didn’t and found himself down in eighth place, but immediately began his fight back. He passed Franky Zapata on lap five to move into fifth spot and on lap eight passed Lorenzo Benaglia and was into fourth, ahead of him the outgoing Champion, Cyrille Lemoine. In the next two laps Medori overhauled both Lemoine and Teddy Pons and with three laps to go was just five seconds behind race leader Fracasso. But Fracasso held his nerve and held off the hard-charging Medori to complete the double and take the title ahead of Medori with Lemoine claiming third overall. Fourth place for Teddy Pons was enough to give him second place in the overall Grand Prix rankings ahead of Pablo Lindner, whose sixth place today, added to his third yesterday, put him into third in the Grand Prix rankings, his best result of the season. Runabout - Heat 2 1 8 FRACASSO Mattia ITA 13 laps 25 pts 2 4 MEDORI Francois FRA + 8.48s 20 pts 3 9 LEMOINE Cyrille FRA + 27.01s 16 pts 4 24 PONS Teddy FRA + 35.37s 13 pts 5 44 BENAGLIA Lorenzo ITA + 44.78s 11 pts 6 108 LINDNER Pablo ESP + 2m 18s 10 pts Overall Grand Prix results 1 8 FRACASSO Mattia ITA 50 pts 2 24 PONS Teddy FRA 33 pts 3 108 LINDNER Pablo ESP 26 pts 4 44 BENAGLIA Lorenzo ITA 24 pts 5 4 MEDORI Francois FRA 20 pts 6 41 CHASSIER David FRA 17 pts Championship Positions 1 8 FRACASSO Mattia ITA 153 pts 2 4 MEDORI Francois FRA 144 pts 3 9 LEMOINE Cyrille FRA 90 pts 4 44 BENAGLIA Lorenzo ITA 74 pts 5 108 LINDNER Pablo ESP 54 pts 6 1 ZAPATA Franky FRA 50 pts 7 24 PONS Teddy FRA 48 pts 8 18 BARROS Yann FRA 47 pts 9 50 SANTI AMANTINI Gianluca ITA 45 pts 10 86 PEREZ Jeremy FRA 42 pts Ski Division F1 - Heat 2 1 72 PORET Jeremy FRA 10 laps 25 pts 2 95 COURTOIS Christopher FRA + 2.18s 20 pts 3 77 PORET Michael FRA + 20.78s 16 pts 4 36 ARMILLAS Nachette ESP + 24.03s 13 pts 5 5 PORET Morgan FRA + 44.16s 11 pts 6 2 CAUMONT Ludo UAE + 48.58s 10 pts Overall Grand Prix results 1 72 PORET Jeremy FRA 50 pts 2 95 COURTOIS Christopher FRA 40 pts 3 77 PORET Mickael FRA 32 pts 4 2 CAUMONT Ludo UAE 23 pts 5 5 PORET Morgan FRA 22 pts 6 222 BALZER Emanuele ITA 19 pts Championship Positions 1 72 PORET Jeremy FRA 185 pts 2 95 COURTOIS Christopher FRA 128 pts 3 85 BOTTI Jean-Baptiste FRA 104 pts 4 77 PORET Mickael FRA 99 pts 5 222 BALZER Emanuele ITA 81 pts 6 36 ARMILLAS Nachette ESP 78 pts 7 5 PORET Morgan FRA 70 pts 8 55 VILLAT Vincent FRA 53 pts 9 4 IVANCIC Slaven CRO 41 pts 10 301 MONTI Alberto ITA 37 pts Ski Ladies F1 - Heat 2 1 33 BULTEAU Julie FRA 9 laps 25 pts 2 81 BALZER Stefania POR + 14.53s 20 pts 3 25 SUMER Pija SLO + 58.19s 16 pts 4 12 QIANQIAN Ki CHN + 1m 23s 13 pts 5 19 NIXIN Yue CHN + 1m 40s 11 pts 6 96 PORET Estelle FRA + 1 lap 10 pts 7 61 GUTIERREZ Patty ESP + 1 lap 9 pts Overall Grand Prix results 1 33 BULTEAU Julie FRA 50 pts 2 25 SUMER Pija SLO 36 pts 3 81 BALZER Stefania POR 36 pts 4 12 QIANQIAN Ki CHN 26 pts 5 19 NIXIN Yue CHN 22 pts 6 61 GUTIERREZ Patty ESP 19 pts 7 96 PORET Estelle FRA 19 pts Championship Positions 1 33 BULTEAU Julie FRA 183 pts 2 81 BALZER Stefania POR 153 pts 3 25 SUMER Pija SLO 149 pts 4 96 PORET Estelle FRA 80 pts 5 61 GUTIERREZ Patty ESP 78 pts 6 4 SORRENTINO Marta ITA 65 pts 7 12 QIANQIAN Ki CHN 26 pts 8 19 NIXIN Yue CHN 22 pts 9 94 DARDILLAT Lou FRA 19 pts 10 11 BOGGI Paola ITA 17 pts Freestyle - Heat 2 1 3 FLORJANCIC Rok SLO 25 pts 2 7 FLORJANCIC Nac SLO 20 pts 3 20 STAMPERS Romain FRA 16 pts 4 16 CALDERONI Valerio ITA 13 pts 5 70 MARIANI Roberto ITA 11 pts 6 85 XIANYI Liu CHN 10 pts 7 86 LIGUO Qin CHN 9 pts 8 55 PINGKANG Zhu CHN 8 pts Overall Grand Prix results 1 3 FLORJANCIC Rok SLO 50 pts 2 7 FLORJANCIC Nac SLO 40 pts 3 20 STAMPERS Romain FRA 32 pts 4 16 CALDERONI Valerio ITA 26 pts 5 70 MARIANI Roberto ITA 22 pts 6 85 XIANYI Liu CHN 20 pts Championship Positions 1 16 CALDERONI Valerio ITA 156 pts 2 20 STAMPERS Romain FRA 152 pts 3 70 MARIANI Roberto ITA 106 pts 4 56 TCHERNIA Sebastien FRA 64 pts 5 3 FLORJANCIC Rok SLO 50 pts 6 7 FLORJANCIC Nac SLO 40 pts 7 32 AL QUBAISI Khaled UAE 33 pts 8 85 XIANYI Liu CHN 20 pts 9 55 PINGKANG Zhu CHN 17 pts 10 86 LIGUO Qin CHN 17 pts http://www.aquabike.net