Going fast on the water is especially accurate when it comes to H1 Unlimited drivers. Champions such as Dave Villwock and Steve David cross the 200-mph barrier frequently in their lightweight turbine-powered boats.

H1 Unlimited rookie driver Scott Liddycoat will be honored at the UIM Award Giving Gala in Monaco this weekend.Between their finely crafted boats and a solid support crew and sponsor, the two drivers seem to have battled every year for the past couple of decades for the series championship. Yet it’s not Villwock or David representing the H1 Unlimited Air National Guard Hydroplane Series for the first time at this weekend’s Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) Awards Giving Gala in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Rookie driver Scott Liddycoat will be honored at the Feb. 11 event for his victory at the 2011 Oryx Cup UIM World Championship in Qatar. Liddycoat, a 19-year inboard-racing driver from Norfolk, Va., finished third in the 2011 National High Points Championship behind Villwock and David, respectively. In addition to winning the season-ending Oryx Cup, he finished second twice and third once.

“I can’t wait to represent the sport at this prestigious event in Monte Carlo,” said Liddycoat, who drives the Valken.com boat. “Anyone I talk to, I want to share with them how great the sport is.”

More than 80 world champions representing 25 countries are expected to attend the third annual UIM Awards Giving Gala at the Salle des Etoiles in Monaco.

“After attending the UIM meetings in Abu Dhabi and seeing firsthand the structure and importance of this worldwide organization, I feel it is important that H1 be represented and our UIM world champion be recognized along with the other champions who will be in attendance,” said Sam Cole, chairman of H1 Unlimited. “We do, after all, race some of the biggest, fastest boats in the organization.”