WITH two immaculate first place finishes at Ramsgate over the weekend, powerboat racer Roy Smith has pulled himself back into contention to win the British National Offshore 2 litre championship.

Currently in fourth place, the Jerseyman, with new navigator Peter Philipson from Southampton at his side, settled into third place in both of the races, the first on Saturday and then again yesterday afternoon, before taking the lead by the half-way point.

‘We’re only 303 points off the overall lead,’ said Smith yesterday evening.

‘As there are 400 points for a win, and another four races to come, I believe we can win the national championships yet again.’ Before then Smith’s best placing had been third, earlier on in the season offshore in Wales, but he admitted that his misadventures in Guernsey, during the early May Bank Holiday weekend, had made him question whether he could ever compete successfully at this level ever again.

‘I was thrown out of the boat and, for a while was unconscious, while my navigator also broke his ribs,’ explained Smith.

‘Being thrown out of the boat at 80 mph took a lot out of me, but here, in Ramsgate, I really got my confidence back.

‘We were racing in calm conditions and, after a little while, we decided we’d really give it a go.

‘It was a multi-lap course and I must give credit to my new navigator, who’ll be with me for the rest of the season.

‘We’ve four more races to go but, before then, I’ll be preparing my boat for the three-race world championships in Oregrund, in Sweden, north of Stockholm, during the first weekend of August.

‘The boat’s going fine, and I was very pleased by the way we raced this weekend.

I’m normally quite cool and calm under pressure, so I was glad to get my confidence back and to press on to win both races, against the other 12 competitors.’ Smith added that the Guernsey experience had shaken him up considerably – ‘wouldn’t you feel shaken if you’d been thrown out of a boat travelling at 80 mph?’ – but he is focused, again, to win both the UK and world titles onboard Commodore Ferries which, he said, ‘was going fine’ during the two races at Ramsgate, even though the organisers have said that the weekend’s series of races are probably the last in the 2 litre category.