DOHA, Qatar -- J. Michael Kelly drove the U-7 Graham Trucking to his first hydroplane victory in grand fashion, passing an ailing U-16 Ellstrom Elam Plus on the final lap to win the inaugural Oryx Cup UIM World Championship on Saturday in Doha, Qatar.
Driver Dave Villwock, in the U-16, had engine difficulties after a bumpy ride through the west turn on the second lap.
The boat started to compression stall, and yellow flame came through the tailpipe. He managed to hold off Kelly until the final lap.
The final heat had to be rerun after Jeff Bernard in the U-5 Formulaboats.com flipped during its initial running. Bernard was talking with the media and the crowd after the incident and appeared to be fine.
Steve David and the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto finished second, giving them enough points to lay claim to both the team and driver H1 Unlimited national high points championship and retain the coveted U-1 designation for the 2010 season.
David bounced back to take the overall title after he flipped his boat during Heat 4A.
Racing on the outside of Kelly, David's boat lifted off the water and flipped once. However, the Oberto landed right-side up, and David never actually turned off the boat.
There was little, if any damage to the boat, and although he was disqualified to run in the heat's restart, David already qualified for the final.
David and the Oberto finished the season with 7,970 points -- just 235 ahead of Villwock and the Elam (7735) and 406 ahead of Bernard and the U-5 (7564).