After the crowd witnessed enough racing to satisfy any major day program it was on for young and old all over again, this time with the inclusion of the outboards in the Riverside Trophy.
Full noise. Go Crossy.
Heat 1 saw a new driver/boat combination with extremist John Cross taking the reigns of Tuff'e'Nuff and as expected he pushed it to the limit. Dean Gleeson was back again also pushing his Childsplay 21 footer to the limit in an attempt to rattle Cross' cage, but in the end the veteran was too good for the rest of the field and made it look easy for 1st place. True Blue came in for third place while Sportsfilm ran a respectful fourth after recovering from his incident involving a run up the river bank.
Catch him if you can
Heat 2 saw the return of Australias top formula 1 outfit Craig Bailey after having his hole in the left sponson patched up. The crowd anticipated a head to head run with the latest Australian Champion Trevor Stanley, however Agent Orange was forced to retire after it was washed out on the start by an untidy looking Rythum driven by newcomer Wayne Hodgson. A bent rudder on Rod Cooney's boat obviously causing some problems there. Stepping up a notch was the 6 litre carby entry Sacrifice which performed solidly for second place behind a charging Don Morton Marine.
Tasmanian B.A.D team Outlaw returned once again for heat 3 after replacing an engine overnight, however the bad luck for Chris Palmer continued with a second fire in as many days on board his Childsplay capsule boat resulting in a red flag. Bad luck to Chris and the boys who never seem to give up no matter what problems come their way. Some compensation for the Tasmanians involved the ever reliable Lunatic which would again qualify for the final race.
So the stage was set for yet another battle between Cross and Bailey, this time with 'Hotcross' pedalling a South Australian boat. Bailey had a much better start to the race than in 2008 and had the pressure on early.
Neck and neck on lap 1
Bailey makes his move
Cross pushed the tunnel boat wide on turn 2 and looked to be holding the lead, but after attempting to do the same on turn 3 Bailey's experience saw him switch back to the inside (narrowly missing Cross) and taking the lead. From there on it was all Don Morton Marine and Craig Bailey on his way to back to back Riverside Trophies. Chris Walan in Sacrifice came in for a very respectful fourth place behind bronze trophy winners Lunatic.
A very happy Craig Bailey & team
Yet again formula 1 reigns supreme, and after over a dozen B.A.D entries only 2 remained for the final race. Looks as though reliability has become more of an issue than most would think, and as the old saying goes to finish first, first you must finish.
Congratulations to all competitors for putting on a fantastic show on a rather difficult course. No injuries despite several hair raising incidents- a credit to all concerned.
See you all at the B.A.D BOAT SHOWDOWN in August!!!
