Well done to Glynn and Lee Norvall, driver and navigator of the Pickfords powerboat, for finishing the 2017 P1 SuperStock Championship in 3rd place! Following a dramatic season, Pickfords’ navigator Lee Norvall gave us his perspective on the final race weekend in Milford Haven on 15 – 16 July:
“The crash in Greenock took its toll on both the boat and crew, so we hurriedly tried to fix both before the next round at Milford Haven, which was not far behind Greenock.
Losing points [from the crash] had a big effect and it left us in 8th position leading into Milford. After [the intended final race in] Scarborough was sadly cancelled, two more races where added to Milford with a total of six 20 minute races (three a day) and more points up for grabs. On Saturday all three races were back-to-back meaning over an hour of racing!
We had a simple game plan for the weekend to pick up points and were focused on racing just three [competitor] boats. After the first race, sea conditions left a number of boats damaged and we hopped ahead with points. Then, at the start of another race, Kissimmee span out and we took advantage of it. A seven-lap cat-and-dog game began between PickfordsFX and Kissimmee, until their 25-plus years of off-shore racing experience meant they undertook us on a corner. Many commented that this fight was the highlight of the weekends’ racing!
With overnight repairs to a number of boats [after Saturday], we knew [on Sunday] that we just needed to keep Typhoo behind us and to pick-off Kissimmee if the opportunity arose, which it did! The overnight repair to Kissimmee left their boat running slow and we were able to jump ahead of them for the weekend. As always Typhoo played a tight game and kept the pressure on with only six points separating us at the end of the weekend.
With a weekend of 5th, 4th and 3rd finishes, we ended up taking a well deserved 3rd on the podium and gained enough points to leap-frog from 8th in the championship to 3rd overall!”
Thanks to our crew, the other powerboat teams, our local hosts at Aalborg, Greenock and Milford Haven, and Powerboat P1 Management for making a fantastic 2017 season. We look forward to doing it all again next year!