FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fountain in Position to Secure Second Consecutive P1 World Championship

Portimão, Portugal; September 26, 2008:  It all comes down to the final event of the 2008 Powerboat P1 World Championship as the Fountain Team hopes to clinch the overall Evolution Class title in Portugal.

The Fountain team, with Craig Wilson and James Shepard piloting the Ilmore powered  42 foot Fountain race boat, have a 190 point lead going into the finals on the southern most port in Portugal.  The closest challenge comes from the diesel powered GFN Gibellato; but, they have the potential to gain the only remaining endurance points in the class for having run the same engines for the entire second half of the season.  If they receive the additional 50 bonus points, the Fountain team will need to put an additional 60 points over the Italian team in order to secure the title in the Saturday Sprint Race.

“GFN’s appeal was granted, and they got their points back for the accident in France,” said team manager Mark Wilson.  “That 80 point bump put them within 190 points of us, but at least we have the UIM decision before the start of the event so that we can plan our strategy for the weekend.” 

If the margin had been greater going into the finals, the pressure would have been off and they could have run for the lead in both races, but Wilson explained that now they have to be aware of position and race for the championship.

“Now it’s not about winning each race, although we would certainly like to do that.  It’s about running smart, and keeping GFN behind us,” Wilson said.  “We would love to see them a couple places behind us, but we can’t control that.  We just have to focus on finishing both races, and staying ahead of GFN.”

The team has 2 practice sessions on Friday before the Power Pole qualifying session scheduled for 4:00pm local time in Portugal.

Live radio coverage of the Power Pole, as well as the remaining races of the Portugal Grand Prix of the Sea can be heard on P1 Radio, located at www.powerboatp1.com.

For more information, please visit the Powerboat P1 website at www.powerboatp1.com, or the Fountain Powerboats site at www.fontainpowerboats.com.