14 DAY TRIAL // 27-year-old Mike Lovell was killed on Sunday during a speedboat championship in Weymouth Bay, Dorset. His boat capsized during the last race of the P1 Superstock class.
The driver was accompanied by his navigator, Dan Whapples. Whapples also suffered severe injuries, but he is now recovering in hospital, and although he is not out of the woods yet, his condition appears stable, the Daily Mail reports.
This powerboat race got extremely bloody when the vessel capsized after being caught in the wash for other participant's boats. The incident happened during the second lap of the race.
After the boat was thrown upside down, it didn't stop; it started barrel-rolling, causing massive damage to the two men trapped inside it, who were eventually crushed. The boat was a massive P1 Panther with an Evinrude 250HO ETEC engine.
“Unfortunately the boat just got caught up in the wash of the other boats, that’s what happens with powerboat racing, and it barrel-rolled,” the former powerboating world champion explained.
The men's position in the race was critical, as they were stuck between other speedboats.
“The boat was in the middle of the pack and then it seemed to hit the wash of another one and it just went onto its side,” spectator Jane Evans, from Cornwall described.
The RNLI stepped in immediately and sent a lifeboat to rescue the two players. The coastguard sent a helicopter to fly them to Southampton General Hospital, but only Whapples could be saved. Lovell passed away during the night, after an incident that had reportedly left “blood everywhere.”
Bystanders compared the boating accident to a Formula One race gone wrong, where cars spin and fly off the tracks.
“The drivers got thrown clear of the boat. It’s like a Formula 1 car spinning off,” one witness said.
The race was stopped immediately after the accident.
“Our thoughts are with the whole powerboat community and particularly with Mike and Dan’s family and friends,” P1 Superstock race organizers said.