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Sail-World.com : UIM ABP Aquabike World Championship – Dramatic opening day
UIM ABP Aquabike World Championship – Dramatic opening day
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UIM ABP Aquabike World Championship is being held at this week’s F1 H20 Grand Prix of China in Liuzhou during 4th and 5th October 2011.
A dramatic afternoon of racing in adverse conditions for heats 1 saw French stars Jeremy Poret clinch the Ski Division F1 World title and Julie Bulteau edge one step closer to the Ski Ladies F1 crown.
In Freestyle it was Slovenian brothers, Rok and Nac Florjancic, who stole the show to grab the top two spots as Valerio Calderoni and Romain Stampers continued their season-long title duel in Freestyle, Stampers again out-gunning Calderoni.
Whilst in a dramatic opening few laps in Runabout the fight for the world title was thrown wide open when Championship leader Francois Medori stopped, and watched helplessly as Mattia Fracasso, his only rival in the title race, swept past his stationary bike, going on to take the race honours and maximum points.
In Ski Ladies F1 it was all Bulteau who was in devastating form and produced a scintillating performance, dominating the race from start-to-finish. The defending World Champion led the line of seven from pole position and immediately opened up an eight second lead by the end of the first lap.
From then on she was in a race of her own and never looked like being challenged, going on to take her fifth win of the season by over 30 seconds and extend her lead in the title race to 21-points. 'Today was really quite easy. I knew after the second lap I had the win,' said Bulteau, who now needs just five points to secure her third consecutive world title. 'Tomorrow it will be more of the same. I plan to win both the race and the title.'
Behind the runaway race leader and eventual winner, Italy’s Stefania Balzer was made to work hard to keep her title hopes alive, holding off a race-long challenge from Slovenia’s Pija Sumer, with Ki Qianqian producing a spirited ride to finish in fourth place and claim the bragging rights as the first Chinese rider to take the chequered flag.
Having dispelled any fears that his injured knee wouldn’t hold out, after qualifying in Pole Position yesterday, Jeremy Poret produced a Champions drive to take his fourth win of the year and regain the World title that he lost to his older brother Mickael in 2010.
Poret led from start-to-finish with his only, but distant title threat, Christopher Courtois, pushing him for all of the 10 laps but was never able to close the gap to less than four seconds. 'It is great to have won the title and with a win,' said Poret. 'But it wasn’t easy. I had to work hard, but try not to do anymore damage to the knee. I have the title back and will now go out and try and end the season by winning the Grand Prix.'
Behind the leading pair, outgoing Champion Mickael Poret fended off the close attentions of Nachette Armillas, with the youngest of the Poret brothers, Morgan, taking fifth spot ahead of Ludo Caumont.
As Poret celebrated his title, Francois Medori saw his hopes of Championship glory take a big knock, a broken engine ending his race on lap three.
After dominating and qualifying in pole position, Franky Zapata flew out of the blocks to lead the 24-bike fleet at the end of lap one, with Medori in second and Fracasso in third. But halfway round the next lap Zapata stopped and was out with mechanical problems to record his fifth straight DNF.
Medori looked to be on the way and the title within sight, when he suffered engine problems, coming to a halt on the next lap.
Fracasso took full advantage and for the next ten laps held off a frantic challenge from this year’s winner of the Karujet, Teddy Pons - the pair separated by less than three seconds throughout their race-long duel.
Pablo Lindner enjoyed a solitary race in third place to take his best result of the season, finishing ahead of Lorenzo Benaglia, with Emmanuel Cantamessa coming home in fifth ahead of Gianluca Santi Amantini, both scoring their season best finishes.
In tomorrow’s final outings of the year Julie Bulteau needs just five points to lift the ladies crown, and sees a winner-takes-all final heat show down between Mattia Fracasso and Francois Medori for title honours, with just seven just points separating Calderoni and Stampers as they go head-to-head for one final throw of the dice in Freestyle.
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Runabout – Heat 1
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1
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8
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Fracasso Mattia
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ITA
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13 laps
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25 pts
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2
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24
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Pons Teddy
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FRA
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+ 4.81s
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20 pts
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3
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108
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Lindner Pablo
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ESP
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+ 46.08s
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16 pts
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4
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44
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Benaglia Lorenzo
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ITA
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+ 1m 31s
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13 pts
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5
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42
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Cantamessa Emmanuel
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FRA
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+ 2m
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11 pts
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6
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50
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Santi Amantini Gianluca
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ITA
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+ 1 lap
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10 pts
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Championship Positions
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1
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8
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Fracasso Mattia
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ITA
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128 pts
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2
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4
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Medori Francois
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FRA
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124 pts
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3
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9
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Lemoine Cyrille
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FRA
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74 pts
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4
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44
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Benaglia Lorenzo
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ITA
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63 pts
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5
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1
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Zapata Franky
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FRA
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50 pts
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6
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18
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Barros Yann
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FRA
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44 pts
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=
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108
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Lindner Pablo
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SPA
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44 pts
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8
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86
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Perez Jeremy
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FRA
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42 pts
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9
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2
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Bin Hendi Nadir
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UAE
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40 pts
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10
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5
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Kasza George
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HUN
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25 pts
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Ski Division F1 – Heat 1
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1
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72
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Poret Jeremy
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FRA
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10 laps
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25 pts
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2
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95
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Courtois Christopher
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FRA
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+ 4.20s
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20 pts
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3
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77
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Poret Michael
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FRA
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+ 33.05s
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16 pts
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4
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36
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Armillas Nachette
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ESP
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+ 34.94s
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13 pts
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5
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5
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Poret Morgan
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FRA
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+ 37.20s
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11 pts
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6
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2
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Caumont Ludo
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UAE
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+ 51.51s
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10 pts
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| |
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Championship Positions
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1
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72
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Poret Jeremy
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FRA
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160 pts
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2
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95
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Courtois Christopher
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FRA
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108 pts
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3
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85
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Botti Jean-Baptiste
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FRA
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104 pts
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4
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77
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Poret Mickael
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FRA
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83 pts
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5
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36
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Armillas Nachette
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ESP
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78 pts
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6
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222
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Balzer Emanuele
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ITA
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71 pts
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7
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5
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Poret Morgan
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FRA
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59 pts
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8
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55
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Villat Vincent
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FRA
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53 pts
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9
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4
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Ivancic Slaven
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CRO
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32 pts
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10
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66
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Polo Olivier
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FRA
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31 pts
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| |
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Ski Ladies F1 – Heat 1
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1
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33
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Bulteau Julie
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FRA
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9 laps
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25 pts
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2
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81
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Balzer Stefania
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POR
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+ 32.80
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20 pts
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3
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25
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Sumer Pija
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SLO
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+ 38.30
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16 pts
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4
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12
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Qianqian Ki
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CHN
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+ 1m 43
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13 pts
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5
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19
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Nixin Yue
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CHN
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+ 1m 54
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11 pts
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6
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96
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Poret Estelle
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FRA
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+ 1lap
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10 pts
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7
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61
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Gutierrez Patty
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ESP
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+ 1lap
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9 pts
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Championship Positions
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1
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33
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Bulteau Julie
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FRA
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158 pts
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2
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81
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Balzer Stefania
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POR
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137 pts
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3
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25
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Sumer Pija
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SLO
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129 pts
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4
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96
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Poret Estelle
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FRA
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71 pts
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5
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61
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Gutierrez Patty
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ESP
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68 pts
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6
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4
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Sorrentino Marta
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ITA
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65 pts
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7
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94
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Dardillat Lou
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FRA
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19 pts
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8
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11
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Boggi Paola
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ITA
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17 pts
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9
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12
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Qianqian Ki
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CHN
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13 pts
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10
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19
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Nixin Yue
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CHN
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11 pts
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Freestyle – Heat 1
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1
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3
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Florjancic Rok
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SLO
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25 pts
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2
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7
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Florjancic Nac
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SLO
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20 pts
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3
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20
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Stampers Romain
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FRA
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16 pts
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4
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16
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Calderoni Valerio
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ITA
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13 pts
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5
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70
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Mariani Roberto
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ITA
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11 pts
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6
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85
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Xianyi Liu
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CHN
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10 pts
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7
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55
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Pingkang Zhu
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CHN
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9 pts
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8
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86
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Liguo Qin
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CHN
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8 pts
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| |
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Championship Positions
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1
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16
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Calderoni Valerio
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ITA
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143 pts
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2
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20
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Stampers Romain
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FRA
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136 pts
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2
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70
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Mariani Roberto
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ITA
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95 pts
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4
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56
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Tchernia Sebastien
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FRA
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64 pts
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5
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32
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Al Qubaisi Khaled
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UAE
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33 pts
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6
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3
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Florjancic Rok
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SLO
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25 pts
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7
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7
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Florjancic Nac
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SLO
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20 pts
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8
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85
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Xianyi Liu
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CHN
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10 pts
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9
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55
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Pingkang Zhu
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CHN
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9 pts
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10
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86
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Liguo Qin
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CHN
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8 pts
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Aquabike website
by Aquabike.net
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4:08 PM Tue 4 Oct 2011 GMT
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