Cockman can clinch title at Isle of Man grand prixTaken from Exeter press Thursday, September 04, 2008
EXMOUTH'S Jak Cockman is on course to complete a remarkable season with victory in powerboating's Formula 4-Stroke Championship.
Last year's 'rookie-of-the-year' has put his foot on the throttle this season and taken four wins out of four in the 150hp class to top the leaderboard in his boat Drainstore.com. If Cockman and navigator Andy Phipps can take just 15 points from a possible 50 in the Isle of Man Grand Prix on the weekend of Spetember 13, they will wrap up the title for the five-race season.
They currently enjoy the enviable position of being 45 points clear of the field and the chasing pack will need something to go drastically wrong with the Drainstore team's boat in the Grand Prix to have any chance of catching Cockman and co. And the incentive for victory should be enough for a Drainstore victory, with the winners claiming an all expenses paid trip to New Zealand — and the chance to compete in the antipodean equivalent of the Formula 4-Stroke Championship —— and a £4,000 watch.
"It's all gone better than I could have planned," said Cockman. "I've got more and more confident with each race and that's enabled me to win even more. "To go from getting the rookie-of-the-year at last year's awards ceremony to being in this kind of position going into the last race has been a pretty ideal progression for me."
Cockman's rise has been helped by dad Dave — a keen powerboater himself — and older brother Mark, who is currently sixth in the more powerful 225hp class in his Buildbase sponsored craft. And if Jak wins in the Isle of Man, Dave Cockman insists the whole family will be there to congratulate him.
"It's been a really, really good season all round," Dave Cockman said. "We can't wait for the grand prix in Douglas (Isle of Man) now because it will be a proud moment if Jak ends up on that final podium. "If he wins the trip to New Zealand as well, we'll be going along to support him in the race out there."
With both the Cockman brothers' boats being offered a place in the Earls Court-hosted Boat Show, and a lucrative sponsorship deal in the pipeline, dad Dave is delighted that Jak and Mark have each enjoyed such success this season. "To have Jak leading the way and Mark to be doing so well as well, it's been great to see," he added. "Mark has been offered a new boat by his sponsor Buildbase if he can finish in the top six so he's on course for a fantastic season as well. "The best his team have finished before is in 12th so for him to pull them up to sixth in his first season is wonderful."
And Jak Cockman is under no illusions what his ambitions are. "I want to beat my brother," he said. "If I can tie up the win in the Isle of Man that would be great and I think I'd do one more year in the 150hp class after that. But after that I would love to move up that level (to 225hp) and race against Mark. "I wouldn't say it's my ultimate ambition but it would feel pretty good beating him!"
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