Press Release
Shelley's Belgium Bound
02 Mar 2010
Following the recent news that the opening event of the P1 World Championship in Croatia has been cancelled The Spirit of Belgium team have decided to capitalize on the extra preparation time this gives the team, and have rearranged their testing schedule.
Shelley had been due to fly out to the States to meet up with throttleman Patrick Huybreghts for final testing of the New custom built Spirit of Belgium this week. But with the first event now being postponed to Yalta, Ukraine on the 7th May the team have rescheduled their testing to Mid April.
“We’re extremely disappointed that Croatia has been cancelled as all the team were looking forward to the event and had already made all our travel arrangements and were hoping to have sponsors at the event to kick the season off in style. Unfortunately it’s out of our control and we’ve now turned our attentions to the May and the Championship start in Yalta.” explains Shelley
“I was due to fly out to the States this week to meet up with Patrick for testing before the Boat was shipped over to Europe. We’ve now reassessed and decided to postpone the testing until mid April when the Boat arrives in Belgium. Which will give Nor-Tech that little bit longer with the boat to do any fine tuning they need to”
Like the 2009 Boat, the new Spirit of Belgium boat has been manufactured by Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats with Mastry Engine Center powering the team. Huybreght’s decided to stick with last year’s tried and tested formula, and with Shelley at the wheel hopes to build on last years fourth position overall.
Patrick said: “At the end of the season I considered this year’s rule changes, and chose to commission a completely new race-boat to give the team the best possible chance of success in 2010.
“The 2009 results gave me a thirst for more, both as a competitor and a business person, so my goal is to maximise opportunities, and ensure the financial efforts are rewarded with positive race results.”
Despite facing stiff competition from some of the world’s top boat builders, Patrick's growing trust with Nor-Tech was the primary reason for choosing the Fort Myers-based manufacturers to supply the Spirit of Belgium team with its championship boat for this year.
Patrick's argued: “Nor-Tech comes with years of experience in competitive powerboat racing and I feel we have an excellent chance to compete for the title this year with them on board.”
