Easter Regatta, Porirua Harbour

Easter Weekend 2006

The Porirua Harbour was the place to be for Powerboating this Easter as the Wellington Club held its major regatta for the season hosting 5 North Island Championships as well as the New Zealand Unlimited Unrestricted Racing Runabout Championship "The Matt Morrison Memorial Trophy" which saw a great field of V8 runabouts attend including Chris Palmer from Australia here to drive Ian Ferguson's "Krazy Kiwi".
Saturday the conditions were near perfect and all of the programmed titles were run except the North Island Procom which was programmed for Sunday as it was a late addition to the regatta as it had been moved to Wellington after the postponement from the Wanganui regatta a fortnight earlier.

North Island Modified Hydroplane Championship
Brendon Hall in "Armageddon" won the first heat ahead of Brody Mathieson in "Meridian" and Colin Gapper in "Tempo Too". Tracy Gapper drove "Miss Riff Raff" but lost a prop which would see him parked for the rest of the weekend. Tony Hall in "Tempest" had problems in the first heat but was sorted for Heat 2 and blitzed the field for the win with "Armageddon" finishing 2nd and "Meridian" 3rd.

North Island Mod H Final Result
1st Brendon Hall Armageddon
2nd Tony Hall Tempest
3rd Brody Mathieson Meridian

North Island Grand National Championship
Selwyn Coker was behind the wheel of son Scott's "Fair Warning" and won both heats, racing was close as he had to battle with both Daryl Friend in "Terminator" who in turn had Rod Wood in "Scorpion" right in the mix as well.

North Island Grand National Final Result
1st Selwyn Coker Fair Warning
2nd Darryl Friend Terminator
3rd Rodney Wood Scorpion

North Island Grand Prix and North Island Unlimited Unrestricted Championships

With no GP hydros these races looked like they would be a battle between the Grand National Hydros of Selwyn Coker "Fair Warning" and Darryl Friend "Terminator" and the Formula 1 tunnel boats. Steve Hughes in "Total Lubricants", Peter Thomas in "The Advocate" and Allan Dennis in "California Girls" in their F1's took the podium spots in all four heats comfortably keeping the big Hydros at bay.

North Island Grand Prix Championship Final Result

1st Steve Hughes Total Lubricants
2nd Peter Thomas The Advocate
3rd Allan Dennis California Girls

North Island Unlimited Unrestricted Championship Final Result

1st Steve Hughes Total Lubricants
2nd Allan Dennis California Girls
3rd Peter Thomas The Advocate

Matt Morrison Memorial, NZ Unlimited Unrestricted Racing Runabout Challenge
Trophy

Top Australian B.A.D boat driver Chris Palmer came over from Tasmania to drive Ian Ferguson's awesome "Krazy Kiwi" to represent the Wellington club in the hope that they could retain this challenge trophy. Ben Ryan came up from the South Island with some heavy hardware in the hope of taking the cup to the South Island for the first time, "Dancing Bear" now wearing a supercharger on top of the Big Block Chev engine.
Unfortunately Ryan had oil pressure problems in "Dancing Bear" during a NI GP heat and had to watch from the bank as Palmer in "Krazy Kiwi" and Mike Denham in "Captain Manta" led the field to the first turn. As they exited the turn "Captain Manta" pulled ahead of "Krazy Kiwi" and led the way to the finish line. A lap or so into the race "Krazy Kiwi" started to miss and Palmer parked up and watched as Terry McKinstry in "First Offence" moved into 2nd place and Malcolm Packer in "Miss Weta" moved up to 3rd. Heat 2 was almost a repeat of the first as the same miss returned to the "Krazy Kiwi" engine and would haunt the team for all of the weekend. Congratulations must go to Mike Denham on winning his first ever major championship in only his second outing in his new boat.

Matt Morrison Memorial Final Results

1st Mike Denham Captain Manta
2nd Terry McKinstry First Offence
3rd Malcolm Packer Miss Weta

More about this event later, so check back soon, also check our photo
gallery for pics of this event

EC GRIFFITHS CUP

The 3 Annihilator GP Hydroplanes are currently in transit to Australia to contest the 93rd running of the EC Griffiths Cup to be held at Lake Mulwala, Yarrawonga, Victoria on the 29-30th of April '06. The Australasian Unlimited Unrestricted Inboard Championship is one of the most sought after trophies on the seasons calendar and is a challenge trophy, meaning the winner gets to host the event the following season. To Warwick, David and Ken, from all your supporters here in NZ, we would like to wish you a safe trip and the best of luck in bringing the cup back to NZ.

GP World Champs on TV
TV3 will screen the 2006 GP World Championships on Sunday 7th of May on their Arena Sports Programme. Sky TV will also televise the same show on their Sports channels during the couple of weeks following the 7th of May.

Prostock & K Boat records.
USA driver Duff Daily set two new world kilo records this past weekend. The first record he set Thursday was in Terry Bilbrey's K-Racing Runabout (K-23), blistering the course at 147.264 mph, just slicing the old record of Gordy Jennings (Freedom K-69) 146.649 mph.

The second record Daily set was in John Brinton's Pro Stock (PS-997), screaming at 137.586 mph; blowing away the old record of 130.412 mph.

Wanganui Motor Boat Club Regatta
April 1st and 2nd 2006

A good field of boats arrived at the Wanganui Motor Boat Club for their major regatta. The weather and water conditions started out perfectly but as the tide came in, it lifted a lot of driftwood off the banks and onto the course. Race control met with the drivers and it was decided to wait for the tide to turn, and relook at the course suitability then. Thankfully the track was clear of debris by mid afternoon and racing got under way with one of Wanganui's feature events the Rivercity 3000 first on the program. This sought after trophy saw a great field of Series 3000 racing runabouts line up with the start boat.

Paul Robertson in "Going,Going,Gone" comfortably beat the rest of the field home ahead of Jeff Robinson in "Star Trax" in 2nd and Malcolm Packer in "Miss Weta" 3rd.

Next on the program was the first heat of the North Island Procom championship and five V8 boats lined up along with the quicker Series 3000 boats. Mike Denham in is first race in "Captain Manta" led the field with Gary Gregory in "Cut Loose" not far behind in 2nd place. Coming down the front straight for the second time "Cut Loose" got a little out of shape, and then a lot out of shape with the boat landing on its nose at close to full speed, blowing the deck open and pitching Gary into the steering column. Gary was taken to Wanganui hospital by ambulance for x-rays on his ribs, neck and back and although was very sore was thankfully found to have nothing broken and given the all clear to leave hospital and return to the venue to check out his boat. Sadly the boat is not in as good a shape as its driver with extensive damage to the hull, and will most likely not be seen back on the racing circuit. By the time the boat was recovered, the wind had got up and the racing abandoned for the day, with an early start planned for Sunday to get thru two days of racing in the one day.

Unfortunately the track was again littered with driftwood and the decision to can Sundays racing was made early in the afternoon.

Dont forget to check our Photo Gallery for a few pics of the weekend.

Kiwi’s set down challenge to Aussies

Kiwi and 2006 World Grand Prix Hydroplane Champion Warwick Lupton has confirmed that the Annihilator Team comprising of Annihilator 1, 2 and 3 will be shipped to compete in the 2006 Lake Mulwala Ski Club E.C Griffith Cup.

The team which featured heavily in last years event which Annihilator (Warwick Lupton) lead the final until a blower belt failure, Annihilator 3 (Ken Lupton) ran second and Annihilator 2 (David Alexander) third. This year the team will be looking to not only take the EC Griffith Cup back across the Tasman, but take the first three positions.

The teams lead up to the event could not be better with the Kiwi’s conquering the Aussies in New Zealand only in February 2006 winning both the World Championship and A.E Baker Australasian Hydroplane Championship from a field of four strong Aussie contenders. In addition the team has dominated the local New Zealand circuit with all three boats posting major championship wins including the prestigious Masport Cup.

Aussie favourite Warlord owned and driven by Paul Burton , who missed competition in New Zealand this year has also confirmed their entry and will be seeking to bring in the form that gave the team the fastest lap and race time in the 2005 event, which saw the team controversially disqualified for undertaking an extra race lap during the qualifying heats.
 

The confirmation will mean a massive financial boost to the Yarrawonga / Mulwala region with an expected 25 crew members and up to 250 New Zealand supporters to make their way to cheer on their powerboat hero’s.

With four of the biggest names on the World Grand Prix Circuit confirmed the vent is shaping up to be the best Griffith cup staged in Australasia.

Wairarapa power Boat Clubs Bryan Denham Tribute Regatta

11/12 March 2006

The major regatta on the Wairarapa calender was run this year in memory of Bryan Denham, the clubs commodore and our national vice president, who passed away only five weeks earlier. On the program were the clubs feature races the Barney Rhodes Memorial for the 6 fastest, the Santano Paints Cup for the second 6 fastest and the Flamecrusher Cup for hydroplanes, along with the North Island Championships for both Series 3000 and ProStock classes.

Both days were relaxed on the Ruamahunga River track and the North Island Championships were run on the Saturday, as well as heats for the Mod-H hydroplane Top Gun drivers series, and races for supporting classes. Good numbers in the Series 3000 class fronted up for their North Island championship. First heat saw Paul Robertsons "Going Going Gone" and John Hallett in "Buckshot" led them to the first turn with Mike Wotton in "Madison Blues" within striking distance. Close racing amongst the rest of the field was also very entertaining.
The second heat was more of the same except with "Madison Blues" out, Jason Buttimore in "Megabucks" took up the third spot. "Buckshot" stopped at the top turn and "Going Going Gone" was soon slowing with ignition woes, and "Megabucks" would catch and spectacularly attempt to pass in the corners. Paul Robertson in "Going Going Gone" managed to sneak home in front at the chequered flag and ultimately win the North Island Series 3000 title.
Six boats met the starter for the ProStock North Island championship. Both heats were comfortably won by Gary Gregory in "Cut Loose". The Series 3000 boats "Buckshot", "Megabucks", and Jeff Robinson in "Star Trax" all raced close with Terry McKinstry in "First Offence" for the 2nd and 3rd places.

Other highlights on Saturday saw close race in the F3's with Geoff Morrish in "Sinista" and Mark Patching in "Instigator" racing close with Phil Stilwell in "DuPont" running better than he has all season right there too.

John Jorowicz from Texas, USA was here to drive his old Formula 1 boat "MIFFCO", recently imported to NZ by Tony Latimer. John had a few runs in the boat, and will race at Auckland this coming weekend.

Steve Denham suffered a steering failure in "Venom3", which saw him parked in the soft mud in front of race control. Ian Ferguson had the ex "Rat Attack" out for its first run as "Roxanne", but had a few problems with the new engine.

Sunday the wind came in from the South and made the track rough at times and only the few earlier mentioned feature races were run along with one handicap race to end the weekend. The features all ran without incident but in the last race of the day coming up to the start Philip Stilwell in "DuPont" got caught on a gust of wind and blew the F3 boat over in spectacular fashion in front of the crowd. Check out the NZGP hydroplane website for the awesome action sequence of the crash taken by the GP webmaster Philip Hoskyn. Thankfully Philip emerged uninjured, other than the boat missing its rear cowl, damage to the boat itself was minor. Check our gallery for pics of the action.