Katsu blazes into Phuket Raceweek lead

PHUKET: After trailing Scott Duncanson’s Quantum Fusion M on the opening day of racing in the Six Senses Phuket Raceweek regatta on Thursday, Ben Copley’s Katsu fought back with two first-place finishes yesterday to take the lead in the IRC1 class.

Quantum Fusion M placed second and third in yesterday’s two races in the class to hold second place overall in the series with seven points, just one point behind Katsu.

Anthony Hastings on Baby Tonga is third overall in the class on 12 points.

Mark Chapman’s Picollo made amends for finishing fifth in the opening race to follow up with three first-place finishes to take the overall lead in IRC2 with eight points.

Royal Thai Navy 5, skippered by Jaray Tipsuk, is second overall in IRC2 with 14 points, but only just as Mike Downard’s Tuay Lek also has 14 points, but is in third place overall on a countback.

Hans Rahmann on Voodoo also scored two first-place finishes yesterday to lead the Firefly 850 Sports class with five points.

Roger Kingdon’s Moto Inzi is second overall with nine points, while Andrew Marshall’s Pink Lady is third overall with 13 points.

Thor, skippered by Henry Kaye and Fergus Wilmer, is holding to its reputation as arguably the fastest catamaran in Southeast Asia by leading the Multihull class with four points from four wins in four races.

Andy Pape on Da Vinci is five points behind in second place overall in the class, with David Liddell’s Miss Saigon five points further behind in third place overall in the class.

The racing in and around Chalong Bay continues today, wrapping up with the final day of racing tomorrow and a prize-giving party at The Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa, the “home” of Six Senses Phuket Raceweek.

The event is sponsored by the the Phuket Gazette and PGTV.