Inge contributed enormously both as a racer, a member of the Board of Tvedestrand Racing Club, in the Norwegian Motorsport Association and as a volunteer in countless events over the years – most recently during the 2022 World Championships in Tvedestrand. Inge, who was sixty-three passed away on Saturday.

Inge started racing back in 1978, and participated in many World and European Championships, most recently during the UIM 3X World Championships held in Larvik just two weeks ago.

He held several titles along with a World Record to mention just some of his success.

Those of us who were lucky enough to know Inge remember him as a man of honour, one of the old kind – a hard worker and someone who cracked down on injustice. Inge also always contributed with his good humour and determination especially when the rest of us needed it.

He was also eager for the young guard to come forth and watched with immense pleasure the success of young racers at the TRK. Inge was a role model for us all. Inge leaves behind a large void that cannot be filled by one person alone. TRK will not be the same without him. Our thoughts go out to his loved ones at this time.

The TRK Club President, Svein Henriksen said

Thank you, Inge – for who you were to all of us in TRK.

His Co-pilot, Andre Glastad in X66 said

Rest in peace my best friend, I will forever hear your voice in my helmet.

The previous weekend he had been in Tvedestrand, along with Christoffer Groth, where he took a giant leap ahead of the pack all chasing down the 2022 UIM 3B World Championship title. He was due to mechanic for a team but with borrowed equipment and Norwegian Andrine Goderstad Hirschel Haag as their navigator, he set about securing a title that had eluded him in the six years he had raced in the class.

Wednesday morning was the first time he had even seen the boat, so that morning’s test session would see him ‘hit the ground running.’ It was obviously to his liking because just a few hours later they crossed the finish line taking a maximum four hundred points. Following them home were the Norwegian pairing of Mathias Halvorsen and Mats Omholt in A-4.

When Halvorsen spoke to PRW he said.

It was a good result for us as the waves were further apart then we had propped for, so we kept dropping in between them.

The following day saw the second heat take place and once again it was Modin and Hirschel-Haag that crossed the line in first place followed by Halvorsen and Omholt. The heat winners were certainly using their longer boat to beneficial effect even though the conditions were calmer.

Having never raced this boat before yesterday I thought the safest option would be to not change the set-up, run the same prop even though it was slightly calmer and now we have two wins which means I can play it safe on the final day.

True to their word Modin and Hirschel-Haag sat back and let Halvorsen and Omholt make all the running knowing second place would be enough for the title Modin so desperately wanted having won the European version three times but never the World.

As they crossed the finish line and returned to the harbour Modin said.

What a result in very, very rough conditions. The wind had switched direction and was coming straight from Denmark. Halvorsen and Omholt drove an excellent race today and deserved to be on the top step of podium for that performance.

Four hours before the race had started Halvorsen had decided to run a small propeller for the first time that week. He didn’t flinch once over his decision even as the breeze increased and was justifiably proud when he collected the silver wear.

Third place went to the Swedish team of Filip Soderqvist and Melker Edin in A-95, a position that would translate into bronze when it came to dishing out the UIM medals.

The top step of the podium for the medals though would be for Modin and Hirschel-Haag who ended up completely soaked through with champagne for their troubles, all part of the sweet taste of success.

Modin’s attention now switches back to 3B and a chance to make it two world titles in one season.

Photos Chris Davies/PRW

Serafino Barlesi and his co-pilot Francesco Calo could have gone to lunch at the fabulous Restaurant Vadskjæret that overlooks the finish line and still taken the gold medal back to Rome such was their advantage going into the last round. As true racers though they joined the fleet heading out in what had become very blustery conditions, a total transformation from the morning’s practice session.

Barlesi’s closes rival throughout the championship was the French team of François Pinelli and Saul Bubacco onboard Espace Power. They made the best possible start and took an early lead hoping that the World Champions ‘in waiting’ would settle for second place.

What Pinelli hadn’t considered was the frailty of his Mercury engines and just after the first turn mark, they began to lose power. He would push on regardless as he was mindful that his silver medal was now in reach of the Norwegian team of Erik Sundblad Johansen and Pål Virik Nilsen.

Once again though Virik Nilsen had fluffed his lines in the start run.

The start boat was telling all of us to slow down so I back off the throttles just as the green flag was raised, the engines were in totally the wrong torque range and so once again we had to battle our way through the field.

With Serafino and Calo now in a commanding lead, the race was all about the silver and bronze places. Any chance that Alfredo Amato and Roberto Lo Piano onboard D-69 Marco could repeat their race four result of a second place were done for when yet again the aging gearboxes failed, and they headed back to the race pits.

By now Sundblad Johansen and Virik Nilsen had moved into second place and were looking comfortable, whilst Pinelli and Bubacco were desperate to hang onto their silver medal chances, certainly a tough ask as this was the longer race of the two in Larvik.

Finally, to the French team’s relief they saw the chequered flag, which meant that the medal was theirs.

We had no chance today. Sure, we got to the top turn first but that was it. Then it was buoy, rocks, Serafino, buoy, rocks, Serafino, it was tough out there in that technical sea. I should be happy with silver but now we concentrate on the European Championships in Italy where we will have a new team, it will be a surprise.

For Sundblad Johansen and Virik Nilsen collecting the bronze medal was an excellent achievement bearing in mind it was a brand-new boat and just how little seat time they had together.

Considering the fact that it’s the first time we have raced together it’s an amazing result. It was rough at the end of the course. North, South, East, and West, the waves were coming from all directions I was really pleased I had Pål Virik in there with me today. I know the boat handles the turns differently to how he is normally making them, it’s something we will have to resolve.

Once again, the race winners showed that it’s all about balance and Barlesi knew exactly how to go about it.

Into the wind my balance won. At first, we were step by step with the French. Then after lap nine my boat was super speedy as I had planned to push ahead of the pack at that point.

Another ‘masterclass’ delivered by the Roman Emperor.

The UIM President Raffaele Chiulli, who had held meetings earlier with members of the Norges Motorsportforbund including Harald Halvorsen, NMF’s international member of Cominoff, paid tribute to the way the clubs hosted two weeks of offshore class 3 racing.

The clubs have done an outstanding job and we can say that with good cooperation we reached our goal. Norway has not been an organiser of offshore 3D since the 1990’s and after these momentous events let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long to return.

Photos supplied by Chris Davies/PRW

Polo Shirts supplied by Mr. Lars Inge Graver.

It’s fair to say that the race certainly did not go the way that the Banca Generali backed team had planned, when they made an error in counting the laps they had completed.

Even after radio messages from the team and race control had advise Barlesi and his co-pilot Francesco Calo that they had completed the ten laps, the pair carried on and completed a further two, much to everyone’s surprise and amazement. It was almost like they were doing a ‘lap of honour.’

When the triumphant pair reached the harbour, their boat including the pilots were weighed. It was only at that point they realise that they were underweight by twenty-five kilogrammes.

The race officials then proceeded to double-check all their measurement’s but even after an extremely thorough review they still concluded that the entry was under-weight and could potentially face disqualification.

Now their fate lay in the hands of the Race Jury headed up by its Chairman, Mr Harald Halvorsen along with input from the UIM Sport Commissioner, Mikael Lundblad and the UIM Technical Commissioner, John Lasschuit.

Considering the fuel weight lost through their miscalculation of the number of laps, they concluded that a three-minute penalty should be applied to their race time.

This meant that Erik Sundblad Johansen and Pål Virik Nilsen inherited the race victory and were both understandably delighted to be on the top step of podium at the awards ceremony.

When PRW spoke to Virik Nilsen he said.

As you can understand we were both incredibly happy with getting a second place. Then when Barlesi got a penalty, and we got first well it’s just the perfect bonus. I take any victory I can get but I do feel sorry for him but that’s racing sometimes.

Making his debut in the Rashed Al Merri built catamaran, sponsored by Energima Gruppen AS, Virik Nilsen also said that they had a dreadful start to the race.

I had to back off just before the green flag went up. When I then pushed again on the throttle, I had no power and all the competitors passed us. Anyway, we managed to overtake them all except Barlesi. We tried to catch him and were remarkably close on several occasions. I felt I had to push over the limit to really catch him. At the stage we are now it’s not worth it because we need more time in the boat and not ruin the good start we have now made.

Barlesi’s closes rival in the championship was the French team of François Pinelli and Saul Bubacco onboard Espace Power but reliability doubts had begun to creep during the mornings practice session.

Yesterday I had no issues, today I have no rpm.

It wasn’t long after the race had got underway before the French pair were limping back into the harbour. One engine was down on power, and the other engine had snapped a drive shaft inside the gear case. Pinelli was far from happy.

Never in my entire racing career have I broken a gearbox, now I come to Norway and in less than a week I brake two, c’est incroyable.

Gearbox woes also accounted for Alfredo Amato and Roberto Lo Piano onboard D-69 Marco. They will now go into the final round on Saturday with everything still to play for in the medals table.

Photos. Chris Davies/PRW

Burgers supplied by Mr. Lars Inge Graver