International Hydroplane racer secures European Bronze 

Last weekend saw the final rounds of the F250 & F350 European Championships in Boretto, Italy, Paul Jillings & Julian Codling of the Lowestoft and Oulton Broad Motor Boat Club were there to represent the UK.

Codling, competing in his first International season in the F250 series, saw his campaign start in Hungary over the weekend of the 2nd July which saw him get off to a promising start finishing 5th in a very experienced fleet.   

The next stop in  the 4 round competition  saw him head to Bitterfield in Germany where he improved on his previous result and  finished 4th Overall.   

The final two rounds of the competition were held in Italy the first in Auronzo over the August Bank Holiday weekend saw Julian secure his first International Podium finishing in 3rd.  

The final round of the European Championship was held in Boretto on the 3rd – 5th September. Julian went into the round in 3rd position in the championship with Italy’s Salvatore Chiuri in second with a 10 point buffer on him and Sweden’s Christoffer Soderstedt just 5 points behind in 4th place. The Boretto Round was won by Germany’s Rene Behncke who with it secured the 2010 European F250 Championship. Julian took second place in Boretto and with that secured the Bronze Medal in the 2010 European Championship and a fantastic  finish to his first international season.  

Reflecting on his first international season he commented “I'm very happy. I hoped to be able to get in the top 3 but never imagined that I would be able to.”

Julian Continued “ It wasn't always that I was quicker than the others but I made some terrific starts and was able to keep in front. I  also  didn't have  as many mechanical problems as some of the others did. So it’s been  a fantastic first year and hopefully I'll be able to get enough money together to do it again next year!”

Meanwhile Club mate Paul Jillings has been battling it out in the European F350 Championship. Suffering a series of setbacks throughout the season that saw him not make the first of the 4 round competition in Mora, Sweden in  July.

Paul then headed to Bitterfield on the 7th August securing 5th amongst the fleet of 16. Whilst problems plagued fellow Brit Nigel Edwards.   More problems for Paul at the 3rd round in Auronzo saw him finish 9th  overall after only being able to complete 1 out the 4 races.  

Heading into the final round of the competition in Boretto Paul sat in 7th position in the European Championship. The Czech Republic’s Jiri Krajincak won the round with Austria’s Bedy Tunde taking second place to secure the European Title with Paul Jillings taking his first podium finish of the international season to take the bronze podium place and boost his overall Championship position to 5th.  

A huge congratulations to Julian and Paul and all our Circuit Drivers representing the sport abroad!