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Team Blue continue their stellar form
7th December 2009
It was a case of 'catch him if you can' during yesterday's HI POINTS round 2 action as Dave Clark took care of business at Martin's Bend.
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| HI POINTS championship leader Dave Clark is looking good in 'Tuff'E'Nuff' |
'Tuff'e'Nuff' was simply untouchable taking 3 wins from 3 races in the Premier Division. Clark managed to keep hot favorite Trevor Stanley at bay who had his hands full in the other 21 foot Evercraft 'Agent Orange'.
Early Summer in the Riverland treated us with absolutely perfect weather conditions as race 1 got underway in the hands of John Mander in the Riverland Engine Reconditioners big block powered start boat.
Meanwhile a below average day for the Stanley boys kicked off with a bad start - or should I say non start -their battery unable to turn the motor fast enough to fire. All this despite running all day Saturday and even on the trailer before the race. Stanley had to watch on from the boat ramp.
If 90MPH before the flag dropped wasn't enough to get the heart pumping then 130MPH on the front straight surely was as Clark had the butterflies held wide open past the crowds.
Closely followed by a flying Brian Jeffreys in 'Bondage', Clark took the win while Ken Arnott completed his first race in nearly 3 years behind the wheel of a somewhat timid looking 'Insanity'. Bob Swinburne began his run of bad luck while an intercooler pipe became loose on board 'Totally X-Static' leaving him without any boost.
Race 2 of the Premier Division saw Stanley as an eager starter and he was the first to hit the water for the 5 boat race. Maybe a little too eager to get on the inside of Clark who was in pole 1, Stanley failed to spot Brian Jeffreys during a switch back move on turn 1. Jeffreys was forced to spin his Everingham 'Bondage' to avoid a collision.
Again Swinburne had trouble on board his Evercraft capsule boat, this time losing fuel pressure resulting in the computer shutting his 2JZ Toyota motor down. With 'Totally X-Static' left stranded on the course, officials called a stop to the race on lap 1.
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| Untidy: Agent Orange had some handling problems at speed. |
A quick fuel top up and the race was under way again- this time without the turbo boat. In a drag race to the first turn it was blue and orange side by side until the 'Agent Orange' boat reached the point where it begins to handle erratically. Stanley was thrown to and fro in his seat but managed to keep a hold of the wildly behaving BAD boat.
BJ made the podium once more while Arnott looked much more comfortable in his second race for the day, closely following for fourth position.
In the last of the Premier races the confidence among the 'Tuff'e'Nuff' camp was running high. A quick check over some Motec data pre-race by mechanic 'Mouse' indicated that the engine was running perfectly with power to spare. Other information of interest was a reading of 79 miles per hour mid-corner indicating that Clark is certainly on the top of his game at the moment.
In another attempt to tame the blue team, 'Agent Orange' was closely behind 'Tuff'E'Nuff' for the first lap and despite some magnificent prop walks and acceleration out of the corners, Stanley again had to settle for second place while Clark completed another perfect run.
BJ again took third not too far behind Stanley while Arnott followed ever so closely in his best run for the day.
The third win from 3 races cements Tuff'E'Nuff on the top of the points table (30 points) while 'Insanity' scored enough points to remain in second position (total 15 points) ahead of 'Agent Orange' (8 points) and 'Bondage' (10 points).
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