Husband and wife team score second V24 win

Mark and Odette Priestley in their boat V16 Express Logistics ran a fantastic race in Sunday's V24 Championship 3rd round in Sweden (15 August). After a very close start, Sweden's Ted Mannerfelt and Richard Agnew in V8 Jaguar Racing showed they meant business in this only their third race, taking the lead in the rough waters around the lighthouse turn. The boats all remained within feet of one another down the second straight towards the beach turn with V8, V16 and V9 Ricky Hill and Alan Layton all battling for the lead.

click to enlarge		click to enlarge
photos courtesy of Ocke Mannerfelt

More images from this event can be found here

Racing back towards the shore on the triangular circuit, V69, raced in the Europeans by Pete Little and Gavin Brown and this time being driven by Marc Lamont and navigated by Ana Banet, were gunning for a piece of the action. They came up with the goods, taking a position within the lead pack that they were able to retain throughout the race.

Playfair Offshore (V7) with Tom Powell and Daneille Strawford never really saw their true potential which Tom later put down to running with too much oil. They remained in the middle of the fleet along with V24 Doritos Extreme (Gardiner and Sydenham) and V11 Sportrib.com, again driven by Shelly Jory in the absence of Mark Pascoe and navigated by Peter Phillipson.

With placing for the V24 Championship extremely tight with V9's Ricky Hill and Alan Layton and V11 Mark Pascoe and Peter Phillipson in joint first place and Tom Powell and Danielle Strawford (V7) just behind them there was all to play for in this 3rd round.

The course had been shortened from the Friday race to provide an exciting racing spectacle. With the Oregrund water front providing a natural grandstand for the many spectators, and two turn buoys close to the beach, there was a fantastic view of the close racing and some heart-stopping action as the five lead boats thundered to the turns within feet of each other.

On the third lap, V8 (Ted Mannerfelt and Richard Agnew) made a single mistake around the lighthouse turn and lost their lead to 16 Express Logistics (Mark and Odette Priestley). From then on the Priestleys made it look like plain sailing, taking full advantage of the clear water out in front of them and gradually increasing their lead.

V8 Jaguar Racing made some superb, clean turns in their efforts to keep clear of third placed V69 (Lamont and Banet) who were challenging all the time. Hill and Layton (V9 Colourpro/Colourmet) remained right up there tucked in behind them waiting for their opportunity to pass but were continually blocked by V69.

V11's Shelley Jory was enjoying her ride back in the V24 following her crash last season, making the most of the calm waters and managing to climb from second last to 5th position as the race progressed, very closely followed by Powell and Strawford (V7).

The Priestleys took the chequered flag for their second win of the season, with Jaguar Racing (V8) second and Lamont and Banet (V69) in third. However, it was to be all change for the podium positions as V8 and V69 both weighed in just a few kilos under weight and were disqualified. Thus V9 Colourpro/Colourmet with Ricky Hill and Alan Layton and V11 Sportrib.com with Shelly Jory and Peter Phillipson were able to gain 2nd the 3rd positions.

With each heat having produced a different winner, the V24 Championship positions are extremely close. The final results in Oregrund have put Ricky Hill and Alan Layton (V9) out in front, with the Priestleys (V16) gaining ground from 4th overall to 2nd place and V11 Sportrib.com dropping from 1st to 3rd position. There are still only 128 points separating the top four boats leaving the championship wide open with another two races to go.

Results:

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