Suffolk rookie hydroplanes to world racing title

Talk about taking your world by storm.

Scott Liddycoat of Suffolk did just that in his rookie season in the H1 Unlimited hydroplane racing series.

Liddycoat last weekend returned from Doha, Qatar, where he won the series' Oryx Cup World Championship.

It was his first victory in a finals this year.

"The way the series is set up, they make the Doha event for the world championship. We were able to pull it off," Liddycoat said.

The win, however, wasn't without controversy.

At the end of the race - in which Liddycoat finished second behind Steve David, according to published results - three drivers were disqualified for jumping the gun on the start after officials reviewed video.

"They called it a clean start at first," Liddycoat said. "They were ahead of me at the start, and when they called it clean I figured I was just late. But I'd been hitting my marks all season and couldn't figure it out."

Season points leader Dave Villwock, J. Michael Kelly and David were disqualified. Reports published several days after the race said the three started 20 seconds ahead of the time line.

Liddycoat, 39, had finished third in three of the series' five previous events and was fourth in another. He entered the Oryx Cup in second place in driver points and should finish there when final standings are announced.

He figures his success on the U-7 Valken.com boat should earn him a second season with the boat owned by Precision Performance.

"I don't even know yet what the prize money for the world championships will be," Liddycoat said. "But it was a great experience going over there. We were all treated like royalty."

OH, DEER

Virginia Beach sixth-grader Ben Warren recently took an 8-point white-tailed deer while hunting with his father Brian in Accomack County.

An avid bow hunter, the Great Neck Middle School 12-year-old scored with his Savage smokeless muzzleloader gun from 102 yards.

RESULTS

-- From the second regatta of the 2011 Fall Frostbite Series sailing competition held last weekend out of the Old Dominion University sailing center: 1. Neil Ford, 10 points (finished first in four of the five races and sixth in the fifth); 2. Andrew Newbold, 13; 3. Robert Suhay, 19; 4. Peter Longhini, 20; 5. Charlie Knape, 21.

-- From the Goody's Big Bass largemouth bass fishing tournament held last weekend out of West Landing Marine on the North Landing River: 1. Steve Bailey of Virginia Beach, 2.49 pounds; 2. John Goodman of Virginia Beach, 2.22; 3. Ronnie and Chandler McLaughlin, both of Chesapeake, 1.58.

UPCOMING

-- Eighth annual IBEW Local 50 Charity Rockfish Tournament to benefit the United Way on Friday and Saturday out of Cobb's Marina in Norfolk. Lines are in at 6 p.m. Friday, with the weigh-in at 4 p.m. Saturday. Registration is $25 an angler; cash awards total $500. For information, call Ray Cassidy at (757) 438-7980 or Doug Williams at (757) 438-0233.

-- A fly fishing clinic will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Northwest River Park in Chesapeake. The clinics, which are held the first Saturday of every month through March, are free and open to the public. For information, call Bill Campbell at (757) 635-6522 or the park office at (757) 421-7151.

-- Toby's Dream Foundation's second Rockfish Tournament will be held Dec. 10 out of Marina Shores in Virginia Beach's Lynnhaven Inlet. A registration and captains' meeting will begin at 5 p.m. Fishing is from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Registration is $500 a team. For information and registration, visit: www.tobysdream.org/Tobys Dream/Events.html