Thursday, 22 September, SHANGHAI (China): Roman Vandyshev completed a near perfect weekend on Dishui Lake in Shanghai, taking his second win of the day in race 2 to lead Team Russia to their second UIM H2O Nations Cup success and a successful defence of their title.
Vandyshev, who won his first Nations Cup in 2014 with Team Belarus, was supported brilliantly by Andrei Panyushkin, winning with Russia for a second time, the duo topping the overall standings with 120 points.
Second place overall went to Team USA duo Jay Price and Scott Gillman whose 73 point haul from today’s two sprint races edged them past two former Team UAE Nations Cup winners Rashed Al Qamzi and Rashed Al Tayer by a single point, 100-99.
Race 2 saw Vandyshev deliver another masterclass of winning from the front, and as in race 1 he led from pole position to take maximum points, his teammate Panyushkin repeating his race 1 result finishing in fifth.
The lead Russian driver was made to work hard for his second win and again was pressed all the way by Australia’s Corey Davoll who chased hard for 25 laps and closed to within 6/10ths of a second at the chequered flag, to help Australia to a very good fourth place on their Nations Cup debut. And but for Brock Cohen’s unfortunate exit, crashing out in race 1 and unable to start the second, the outcome may well have been even more impressive.
After technical issues forced Jay Price to miss out in the match race, the 2008 F1H2O World Champion bounced right back today finishing in third twice, with teammate and four time world champion Scott Gillman finishing fourth in race 1 and sixth in race 2.
But both were made to work hard their second place overall in race 2, Price chased all race long by match race winner Rashed Al Qamzi, with Rashed Al Tayer applying the same amount of pressure on Gillman, the Team UAE missing the runners-up slot by a point.
Team Germany’s two debutants Dietmar Kaiser and Jorn Lassig delivered a solid showing to take fifth ahead of Team Malaysia’s Kadri brothers, with China duo Xiong Ziwei and Ni Haojun seventh on their first outing and Team Italy’s solo driver Roberto Lo Piano eighth.
2016 UIM H2O NATIONS CUP OVERALL STANDINGS:
Russia – 120pts
USA – 100pts
UAE – 99pts
Australia – 77pts
Germany – 63pts
Malaysia – 49pts
China – 29pts
Italy – 20pts