Exciting finale at Phuket Six Senses Raceweek

PHUKET: Neil Pryde and his Team Premiere crew have claimed overall IRC Racing class honors at the Six Senses 2011 Phuket International Raceweek.

Final day conditions brought early rains which gave way to good winds and allowed for decent racing.

The battle for Racing class boiled down to who would take second. Ricky Pointon’s Jing Jing won both races to decide that question with Ben Copley’s Katsu in third.

IRC 2 class was won by Mark Chapman and his Piccolo crew from Cdr Pornprom Sakultem on Royal Thai Navy 4 in second, and Peter Dyer’s Team Sea Bees in third.

Only four points separated the top three in IRC 3 going in to the last races. Remington skippered by Jim Ellis won the series with Jim Kane’s Linda placing second ahead of Rob Azzopardi’s Dreamtime in third.

Peter Dyer’s Team Land and House secured the Firefly 850 Sport class title from Ian Coulson and Clarence Tayong’s Voodoo in second, and John Newnham’s Twin Sharks finishing third.

Sidewinder, skippered by Alan Carwardine took the Multihull series title from Paul Larsen’s DaVinci in second while David Liddell’s Miss Saigon placed third.

Mark Myking’s Idiom won Classic class ahead of Seraph skippered by Khun Bao after an entertaining series which saw the lead regularly change hands.

Grenville Fordham of Image-Asia was delighted with this year’s event. “It has been four days of great racing and five days of even better partying. Everybody is looking forward to this evening’s prize-giving at the Evason, and then we start planning for 2012,” Grenville told the Gazette.

The Phuket Gazette is a proud sponsor of Six Senses Phuket Raceweek.

For full racing results see: www.phuketraceweek.com

— Neil Quail