New year, new era of boat racing underway at Adelaide

18th January 2011

Former J1 Champ David Lawson dominated 6 litre. Pic: All The Torque

At last the weather gods have been kind to the Adelaide Speedboat Club and a full days racing with plenty of boats was the best meeting seen at the North Arm in quite some time.

Along with the sunny weather came a larger than average crowd which was a very welcome sight at the club.

The new year has brought big changes to boat racing and the pro-cell advocates have finally got it their way with reinforced cockpits now mandatory on all B.A.D boats. It was disappointing to notice the absence of all but one of the boats that are compliant while others that are willing & ready to race were forced to leave their outlawed equipment in the shed.

In the absence of blown alcohol displacements it was left to the 6 litre competitors to put on a show. Rolling up for the day was:

In Excess - Jeff Stunell and his team have installed a new whirl away gearbox and were happy with the outcome. These guys now look towards the major meeting at Melton to be held next month.

Side by side action: Smith vs Stunell. Pic: Michael Behrndt

Alcatraz - Terry Smith was happy to have a blast in his boat sporting a fresh engine, having returned the Stanley Mopar power plant since his last outing. Smith showed plenty of speed and good form behind the wheel and he too will be traveling to Melton for some interstate competition.

Balls'n'All - great to see John Warren back on the water and in good form. A consistent days racing from one of our more reliable competitors kept the crowd entertained.

JAC Racing - Chris Wellington was once again forced to step up into the 6 litre class. He ran clean & consistent all day and never put a leg out of bed and I'm sure onlookers wouldn't have known this boat was only a 5 litre.

Bite Me Too - Tom Barnhard looked to have stepped up a notch and the black Evercraft certainly looked quick. A slight jump on one of the starts saw Barnhard with an early lead and he raced closely with John Warren throughout the day.

Also competing in the 6 litre class was Skeet Lawson and his boat Cause 4 Concern was a stand out for the day. A new engine recently dyno tuned at 700+ horsepower had his 17 foot Everingham singing along the straights and his driving efforts were a credit to him. Lawson received the customary dunking after taking his first win which was followed by several more throughout the day.

Concerning moment- Lawson takes to the air. Pic: All The Torque

Of the other classes:

Ryan Stunell was a busy man driving his F2 'Smokin' while also competing in the 25/550 class. Having had more seat time than any other driver on the day it can be said that Ryan has taken another step towards being one of the top drivers in the near future.

Geoff Cutler with Shortcut was again the man to beat in the 25hp class and he was up against some tough competition from Lauren Jackson who has really found her feet in the light green tunnel boat Skedaddle.

Aaron Dennis had a few hairy moments down the back straight on board Kaos and the highlight for him would have to be the last race of the day which was on the short course. His boat appears to handle the turns quite well and he had the rest of the field on the back foot.

Mike Smith was back at it aboard Paul Rundle's boat Spitfire but once again was plagued by engine troubles. To Mike's credit he did manage to stay dry this time around and would have shaken off any nerves about getting back on the water after his incident at the last race meeting at North Arm.

Two nipper boats ran the short course on a number of occasions and I am sorry to report that I do not have the driver's names.

Last but not least, Totally X-Static driven by Bob Swinburne was the only blown alcohol cell boat to roll up for the day and was undoubtedly the quickest boat in a straight line. A problem with the heat exchange did however result in overheating that was picked up by the Motec EMS and so Swinburne was sidelined early in the day. With all the open B.A.D boats away in their sheds plus all the cell B.A.D boats apparently out of action, the crowd unfortunately missed out on the much loved blown alcohol racing and we can only hope that there will be a better representation of this class at our next meeting.

New boat on the block: Garry Wilson's blown alcohol hydro 'Vicious Rumors'

Despite recent rule changes excluding some of our racers from competition, it was a very enjoyable day had by all in attendance. Sensible efforts from all of our drivers complimented an efficiently run meeting with minimal delays. Well done to all the volunteers who made the event possible- from the people in the canteen & bar, to the tractor drivers, duty boats, the Don P. Farrell crew, everyone in the tower and of course our officer of the day. Hopefully these same faces will be supporting the club once again at the next meeting.