The 32-year old American aquabiker, driving a Kawasaki jet, led the fleet home after a gruelling 138km to win heat 1 by 56 seconds, with Frenchman Teddy Pons on a Yamaha in second place.
The race started at 1.50 pm from the plage of Viard at Petit Bourg in pouring rain; Chris McCluggage (USA) led from the start to open up a gap of over a minute to Farthing, and looked set to be on his way to victory. But a big misjudgement over the fuel required to go the distance proved to be a costly error, with the American stopping several miles before the finish line.
Farthing was the first to pass, even without his seat, lost during the race, followed by Teddy Pons (FRA), an expert driver in the UIM Aquabike World Championship.
Guadeloupe's Ramassamy Cedric arrived only 1'09 later to take an impressive third place and give the home supporters something to shout about.
2010 winner Pastorello dropped out of the race after only a few minutes because of an engine problem, all but ending any hope of competing for the overall win, with a gap of 2h 30' between him and leader, Farthing.
Today April 15th at 11am second heat: 120 km of racing from Viard beach to Baie-Mahault, Bain (Vieux-Bourg) - Baie Mahault - Point Noire and back to Viard Beach.
FIRST TEN OVERALLS
1 - Dusting Farthing - USA -1h49'06 average speed 75,9 Km/h
2 - Teddy Pons - FRA - + 56"
3 - Ramassamy Cedric (GUA) +1'09"
4 - Francoise Medori (FRA) + 4'27"
5 - Mathieu Podda (FRA) + 6'22"
6 - Luca Oujagir Granger (GUA) +6'50"
7 - Pierre Carlier (FRA) + 7'52
8 - Jean Meclot (FRA) + 10'07"
9 - Alexandre Barret (FRA) + 10'12"
10 - Sebastien Touyeras (FRA) + 11'36"
For further information: www.aquabike.net
The race started at 1.50 pm from the plage of Viard at Petit Bourg in pouring rain; Chris McCluggage (USA) led from the start to open up a gap of over a minute to Farthing, and looked set to be on his way to victory. But a big misjudgement over the fuel required to go the distance proved to be a costly error, with the American stopping several miles before the finish line.
Farthing was the first to pass, even without his seat, lost during the race, followed by Teddy Pons (FRA), an expert driver in the UIM Aquabike World Championship.
Guadeloupe's Ramassamy Cedric arrived only 1'09 later to take an impressive third place and give the home supporters something to shout about.
2010 winner Pastorello dropped out of the race after only a few minutes because of an engine problem, all but ending any hope of competing for the overall win, with a gap of 2h 30' between him and leader, Farthing.
Today April 15th at 11am second heat: 120 km of racing from Viard beach to Baie-Mahault, Bain (Vieux-Bourg) - Baie Mahault - Point Noire and back to Viard Beach.
FIRST TEN OVERALLS
1 - Dusting Farthing - USA -1h49'06 average speed 75,9 Km/h
2 - Teddy Pons - FRA - + 56"
3 - Ramassamy Cedric (GUA) +1'09"
4 - Francoise Medori (FRA) + 4'27"
5 - Mathieu Podda (FRA) + 6'22"
6 - Luca Oujagir Granger (GUA) +6'50"
7 - Pierre Carlier (FRA) + 7'52
8 - Jean Meclot (FRA) + 10'07"
9 - Alexandre Barret (FRA) + 10'12"
10 - Sebastien Touyeras (FRA) + 11'36"
For further information: www.aquabike.net
aquabike.mp3 
Face aux nouveaux défis, le cheval s’adapte 
