The 2008 World Championships for APBA - UIM were held October 23rd & 24th at Lake Alfred, Florida. According to reports, one of the favorites to take at least one World title, Luigi Colombi (Italy) was injured in a bad crash in FL while testing before the championships. This prevented him from achieving a third World title in 125. He was also entered in 250 where he is the current European Formula 250 champion. (Photo courtesy of Wayne Baldwin)

The Chinese although entered failed to appear, but 19 drivers took part in the 125 qualifying. Each driver individually made a beach start and completed three quarters of a lap to determine the qualifying time, the clock starting on the dropping of the green flag. (Photo courtesy of Wayne Baldwin.)

19 drivers took part in the 0-125 qualifying. Each driver individually made a beach start and completed three quarters of a lap to determine the qualifying time. Billy R.Allen from Massachusetts (USA)qualified fastest at 47.40 seconds. European Formula 125 champion Francesco Marsala (Italy) 47.44 secs with Giuseppe Rossi 48.83 secs. ahead of Attila Hencz (Slovakia) 49.58 secs in the Bazinsky hull that won Formula OSY 400 this year. Salvatore Chiuri (Italy) and Rene Behncke (Germany). (Photo courtesy of Wayne Baldwin.)

In 250 qualifying Alessandro Cremona (Italy) 40.22 secs with the GRM was beaten by VRP powered Rene Behncke (Germany) to pole position with a time of 39.95 secs. Salvatore Chiuri headed Max Cremona and Demmler racer Ilkka Rytkonen (Finland) . J.P.Jedwabny was the best of the Americans, then the two Andick boats of Olle Dickfors (Sweden) and Paul Jillings (GB) 41.96 secs. Chris Hellsten (USA) in the ex Cremona Mostes boat was ninth ahead of Anja Friedrich (Germany) and Marian Jung (SVK). 175 had thirteen entries with World OSY 400 champion, Diego Bacchiega (Italy) taking pole with the VRP powered Baba boat 46.64 seconds . Buddy Tennell (USA) the defending World 0-175 champion was second 47.06 secs ahead of Billy Allen and Giuseppe Rossi. (Photo courtesy of Wayne Baldwin.)

The World APBA 500 Runabout class had 9 runners - all Americans with Konig and Konny motors and just one VRP. Francesco Marsala took the first heat of 0-125 from Giuseppe Rossi with Viktor Vo (Hungary) and Diego Bacchiega with the VRPs third and fourth. Billy Allen the pole sitter finished 11th. The best finish for an American was Bill Tetro in fifth spot. In heat two Bob Wartinger, the World record holder for the class, finished last place. In the third heat Marsala finished third, behind Rossi who took the win from Vo. The final race was a victory for Diego Bacchiega.

The spectacular 1100 hydro class came to a great finale with a hard fought final race. Doug Hall with his GRM powered boat won heat one. Brandon Thirlby placed 2nd, Yvonne Konig 3rd with David Hooten 4th. Thirlby took the win in heat two from Konig with Pat Wright 3rd and Kenneth Nicholson 4th. In the shortened races on Sunday, Thirlby took the win in heat three from Hall with James (Ike) Yoder 3rd. Sean McKean had problems most of the weekend but ran well in the final race. Hall and Thirlby battled lap after lap. Hall took the heat win but his winning percentage over Thirlby (1.52%) was not as great as the 1.31% advantage by Thirlby in race three which settles equal scores should the course be changed. Brandon Thirlby (USA) therefore took the World title from Hall (USA) with Yvonne Konig (Germany) collecting the bronze.

The World 500 Runabout title was also decided over the weekend, with all of the contestants being American. R.C. Hawie from Florida crashed his boat in heat one and was out for the remainder of the competition. Tim Small took the win of the restart from Brian Payn and Pete Voss. Mike Thirlby won heat two, ahead of Small and Voss. Tim Small took the championship, Thirlby took the silver medal with Voss claiming the bronze.

WORLD 0-125 CHAMPIONSHIP 1st 17 Francesco Marsala (Italy) 1025 pts, 2nd 66 Giuseppe Rossi (Italy) 1000 pts, 3rd 19 Viktor Vo (Hungary) 750 pts, 4th 90 Diego Bacchiega (Italy) 569 pts, 5th 53 Attila Hencz (Slovakia) 479 pts, 6th F45 William Tetro (USA) 391 pts, 7th B2 Billy Allen (USA) 322 pts, 8th 45 Ivan Copelli (Italy) 264 pts, 9th F22 Ralph Donald (USA) 239 pts, 10th 88 Rene Behncke (Germany) 172 pts, 11th 24 Bob Wartinger (USA) 158 pts, 12th Z22 Kirsti Ellison (USA) 117 pts, 13th F40 Buddy Tennell (USA) 106 pts, 14th E51 J David Augustine Snr (USA) 79 pts, 15th 32 David Jones (USA) 57 pts, 16th 72 Salvatore Chiuri (Italy) 53 pts, 17th F14 Amy Eldredge (USA) 47 pts, 18th S300 Bill Giles (USA) 000

WORLD 0-250 CHAMPIONSHIP 1st 46 Alessandro Cremona (Italy) 1200 pts, 2nd 72 Salvatore Chiuri (Italy) 925 pts, 3rd 109 Rene Behncke (Germany) 769 pts, 4th 56 Olle Dickfors (Sweden) 619 pts, 5th 54 Anja Friedrich (Germany) 554 pts, 6th 86 Marian Jung (Slovakia) 465 pts, 7th 22 Chris Hellsten (USA) 303 pts, 8th 23 Massimilliano Cremona (Italy) 177 pts, 9th W9 J.P.Jedwabny (USA) 170 pts, 10th 27 Paul Jillings (GB) 135 pts, 11th F15 Melvin Cooper (USA) 117 pts, 12th 65 James Aderholdt (USA) 110 pts, 13th D1 Mike Schmidt (USA) 101 pts, 14th 66 Ilkka Rytkonen (Finland) 71 pts, 15th M14 Brandon Thirlby (USA) 70 pts, 16th 77 David Weaver (USA) 39 pts, 17th 45 Attila Hencz (Slovakia) 39 pts, 18th F6 David Mitchell (USA) 22 pts

WORLD 0-175 CHAMPIONSHIP 1st 66 Giuseppe Rossi (Italy) 1100 pts, 2nd 88 Marian Jung (Slovakia) 1100 pts, 3rd 90 Diego Bacchiega (Italy) 750 pts, 4th 45 Ivan Copelli (Italy) 619 pts, 5th F40 Buddy Tennell (USA) 423 pts, 6th F45 William Tetro (USA) 391 pts, 7th B2 Billy R.Allen (USA) 293 pts, 8th 19 Viktor Vo (Hungary) 222 pts, 9th F81 Brian Payn (USA) 177 pts, 10th 32 Brian Palmquist (USA) 151 pts, 11th 53 Robert Hencz (Slovakia) 131 pts, 12th 5 Attila Hencz (Slovakia) 123 pts, 13th F22` Ralph Donald (USA) 47 pts

APBA WORLD 1100 HYDRO CHAMPIONSHIP 1st M14 Brandon Thirlby (USA) 1100 pts, 2nd Y51 Doug Hall (USA) 1100 pts, 3rd M4 Yvonne Konig (Germany) 694 pts, 4th N7 Pat Wright (USA) 479 pts, 5th M50 James (Ike) Yoder (USA) 450 pts, 6th F38 Jenneth Nicholson (USA) 335 pts, 7th F88 David Hooten (USA) 169 pts, 8th T4 Sean McKean (USA) 95 pts, 9th N88 Jim Wright (USA) DNF, 10th 53 Tiziano Trombetta (Italy) DNS

APBA WORLD 500 RUNABOUT CHAMPIONSHIP 1st F5 Tim Small (USA) 1100 pts, 2nd M47 Mike Thirlby (USA) 969 pts, 3rd N66 Pete Voss (USA) 825 pts, 4th N611 Brian Payn (USA) 694 pts, 5th Y200 Tim Chance (USA) 479 pts, 6th V18 Nick Noethe (USA) 169 pts, 7th N9 Don Rusnak (USA) 166 pts, 8th F109 Tony Walk (USA) 127 pts, 9th 44F R.C.Hawie (USA) DNS

JUNIOR K-PRO CLASS 1st M44 Andrew Thirlby (USA) 569 pts, 2nd 14F Becky Nichols (USA) 427 pts, 3rd 71W Amy Nydahl (USA) 400 pts, 4th 171W Kurt Nydahl (USA) 300 pts, 5th F25 Kayl Nicholson (USA) 296 pts, 6th 131F Joe Waterson (USA) 264 pts, 7th Z7 Travis Ellison (USA) 225 pts, F4 Wendy Eldredge (USA) DISQ