|
              |
February 2007 News Copies
of Current and past New Zealand Hydroplane Drivers Club Newsletters can
be found at the bottom of this page. The Major News from Each News Letter
will be Posted here as well as any relevant News Story you care to Submit
to Denise
Moughan
for posting on the Site.
Check for past News Stories on our News Archive pages using the Links at the bottom of the Page. 27th February - Wellington Power Boat Club  Look what they caught in front of the clubrooms Makes you want to drive the Boat just a little bit more carefully at Easter eh!  Photos courtesy of Emma Coker  Good to get something Official on the Cup Event and with an entire Months notice too! Here is the Draft Only Programme subject to change no doubt regarding weather, entries usual Stuff.   Lady driver Beck Jones has one race to go to complete her drivers licence. Beck will be the first women Formula One driver we have seen for many years She hopes to compete at Rotoiti this coming weekend  Beck Jones at Karapiro  Apologies to Julian Stilwell who was 3rd in the Formula One New Zealand Championships Its seems someone at the top of tree couldn't add up and the results were corrected but I was still working on information given. Luke Sharps moment on the podium page is short lived and the Result is now corrected.  Wanganui Chronicle Article 19/02/07  The 2007 Eaton NZ Grand Prix Series held over 3 Venues Wanganui / Karapiro / Twizel
Canadian
Trophy won by Rotoiti Club
David Alexander wins the Masport Cup David Alexander has shown his Boat and his Team have the reliability to Win the big races as he took out the Masport Cup Today at Twizel. In heat one there was a huge battle between the the 3 Annihilator Boats with all 3 taking the lead during the race and running side by side right to the finish in very good conditions. Warwick took the win from David and Ken in 3rd. The rest of the results were a lost in the phone call(drag racing is not the best place to receive calls), but I will get them later on. News on the second race is that Warwick did not start after Oil was found in the bottom of the Boat. Ken chased David but broke down on during the race leaving David to take the Win. Final Results of the Masport Cup
 Brodie Mathieson "Meridian" 1nz Modified Hydroplanes 2007 Brodie Mathieson has made the Trip south well worth it by Winning The NZ Title for Modified Hydroplanes Today from "Don't Know" Alan Ballantyne and Colin Gapper in "Tempo Too". This is Brodie's First NZ Title in his short career and he is said to be pretty pleased with the result Due to a technical hitch there wont be any good quality photos from Twizel until mid week, but we will make do with a couple of Phone Images Tomorrow night  Warwick Lupton King of the Nationals 2007 Warwick Lupton won a hard fought King of the Nationals beating home David Alexander in a very close Race. Ken Lupton had to retire from this Race when he lost Power at the start and brought the Boat in rather than risk racing it.  Sadly "Don't Know" has suffered a Fire and has Burnt to the Waterline during one of the Races. A sad end to an interesting Boat. Unsure whether or not Alan Ballantyne would rebuild or not. Alan suffered Minor Burns to his arms but is otherwise Ok.  Racing is finished for the Day hopefully i will get some good Photos emailed to me tonight and some Results and i will post these first thing in the Morning. I am attending the Wanganui Street Drags Tomorrow which should be all over by about 3 - 4pm then I will be able to update with some information on the Masport Cup.  David Alexander New Zealand Grand Prix Hydroplane Champion 2007 2nd heat of the Day David lead Home Ken Lupton. Ken was able to compete In the race thanks to some quick repairs by the KRB team. coming home third was Jeff Price in Thirsty with Total 4th and Renegade 5th. Warwick Lupton did not start the race. Annihilator GP008 David Alexander 1st 1400 points Annihilator GP009 Ken Lupton 2nd 925 points Annihilator GP007 Warwick Lupton 3rd 925 points Unsure of the rest of the points I suspect Steve Hughes in Total picked up enough points for 4th place despite having big electrical problems all day. Malcolm Jamieson completed a clean sweep of the Formula One Championship with Anthony Robertson coming home 2nd In the Grand National Hydroplane Race "Mainland Miss" driven by Jamie Seaton rolled on the turn and had to be towed back upside down to be turned over by the Crane   Mainland Miss gets turned back over.  Warwick Lupton Wins 1st Heat Race 7 of the day was the first heat of the Grand Prix Hydroplane Championships and the race was by Warwick Lupton from David Alexander with Steve Hughes in 3rd and Jeff Price in Thirsty 4th, Sierra Luke Sharp did not finish. Ken Lupton came to a halt on the last Lap with damage to the Hull near the front of the cockpit. This will be repaired by Malcolm Jamieson and the KRB Crew over night so Ken can compete in the Masport Cup.  Picture of the Hole. In other news Sinista and Vindicator continue to run 1st and 2nd in there F3 races with Outlaw coming home in third. Steve Hughes took out a Buoy(again) in an F1 race where the two KRB boats of Malcolm Jamieson and Anthony Robertson dominated from Jeff Price. The weather is outstanding and the water is good for racing the next GP Heat will be Race 15 and I will post an Update as i receive information.  The Annihilator Team have started the long Journey to Twizel for the Masport Cup and 2nd Round of the National Championships. The Team stopped off at Grant Rivers Rivers Speed and Spares Workshop where he adjusted the Timing on David's spare Engine and Checked over Warwick's Motor. Grant finished Kens Motor last night so the Team are all set to Go and traveled over on the Bluebridge Ferry this afternoon. The Team will be with out Grant Rivers for this weekend as Grant is running the Wanganui Street Drags on Sunday 18th February. The NZGP Downtown Wanganui Regatta will be screened on TV3 on the first Sunday in March and the NZGP Karapiro Regatta will be screened the following weekend. Sky will also show these Regattas at various times throughout the Month of April I will let you know when closer to the Time of screening.  Tom Heffernan has been up at the Waverly Workshops working on the Annihilator Boats. Grant Rivers has prepped all the Motors and the Team are looking good for the trip to the South Island. David is all looking forward to the challenge with the Team looking at 5 races over the weekend.  Kevin Thorburn was there promoting the Manukau Auckland Regatta on the 3rd & 4th of March at Mangere Bridge Boats he had on display were "Tom Foolery" and "Sinista" and the Wanganui Power Boat Club had "Jam" up there as well  Offshore use Marine Medics for there emergency Rescue these guys are all Paramedics and Divers and most of them are based on the Helicopters and have to jump into the Water to get to the Injured or trapped Boaties. I will start putting up some images now that I took at Offshore 
 Jo Lomax ran a good Third in Class. I flew to Auckland this morning and purchased a new Death Machine for me to try and destroy, while there I went to the Offshore race to get some pictures of Jo Lomax in "Chindit". Warwick Lupton and David Alexander will be crewing for Jo when the Offshore "Circus" hits Wellington on March 10th. Placemakers cleaned up in the Superboat Class with Most Boats Breaking Down. Perry Morris finished 2nd in his class beaten home by Kelly Smith in Rayglass.  Kevin Ireland & Liz McDonald had a plug lead fall off at the start and ran the hour long race on only 5 cylinders and came home 5th. Kevin's new 3lt Hydroplane is nearly ready just waiting on Grant Rivers to finish the Engine. The boat will also be known as "ISS Challenger" I will put up some Offshore Images on Monday Night on my Gallery
 Team 13 are a huge clan as seen above but what is Steve doing? There was an article in the Wanganui Paper today.  My Mate Brett was running around with a Camera I will start posting some of his shots on the gallery tonight and tomorrow.
 Peter Thomas had a good consistent weekends Racing There will be some clips of the Boat racing from the weekend in the Weekend wrap up part of Pitlane on Sky Sport 2 at 8.30pm Tonight. Newspaper Articles Boat Racing Made the Front Page of the Waikato Times with this Article about Steve Pope. Put some more images up on my Gallery
 Malcolm Jamieson held off the GP Boats for the first Lap Put some more images up on my Gallery
 Malcolm Wotton had the best seat in the house for 3 laps in the 1st AE Baker Race The NZGP will have most of its Members racing in Twizel on the 17th & 18th of February as they Compete for the 2nd round of the NZ Nationals and the Masport Cup. Put some more images up on my Gallery
 Warwick snapped trying The Patriot F1 Boat on for Size Warwick was unable to make the Final of the AE Baker when the Team noticed that one of the Nylon Bushes on the Prop Shaft had Spun and had Damage and there wasn't enough time to replace it. Ken Lost the Oil Filter at the start of his race but shut the Boat down in plenty of time so there was no Damage. There was however an awful lot of Oil to Clean Up inside the Boat. Will start adding the pictures during the Night and Tomorrow got quite a few to do this time, also check out www.shot360.co.nz for more shots from Jermy Ward  David Alexander Annihilator GP008 had his Fan Club in Attendance. Dave thought it would be a good Idea to Start the Des Geddes Memorial Race which is a Beech start after giving Steve Hughes a Half lap lead by the First Turn it was going to take a Hard Drive to win and it looked like dave was going to do it until he put yet another Hole in the Boat and very nearly Sank It(again) Wouldn't be a regatta without putting a hole in the Boat though.  Wont be any more updates until tomorrow Night. Holiday on Tuesday so might get to catch up with a lot of pictures then. Cheers  AE Baker Winner David Alexander Annihilator GP008 Warwick Lupton didn't even start this race I am not sure why will have to out why. so it was just 4 Boats to start this race but that was soon down to 3 as Ken Lupton broke just as he put the Power down. The rest of the race was procession with David winning from Terminator and Aquanaut AE Baker First Heat(unofficial)
 Race two has just been Run with David Alexander destroying the competition with a Dominant Display of Driving. In the first race he lost the Tips of two of the blades on his Prop which allowed Ken to beat him Home. Warwick just pipped Ken for 2nd place and It was a good race between KRB and Total with Steve Hughes liking the rougher water a bit better than the KRB Boat. Remember there is still two more races in this championship to come at Twizel in two weeks The AE Baker final round is due up shortly NZGP 1st Heat
 1st round of the NZGP Nationals was held with Ken sneaking up the inside of David on lap 3 and holding on for the Win Warwick managed to hold of Malcom Jamieson for 3rd but only just. Steve Hughes finished in 5th next came Sierra and Kiwi F1 Racing with Thirsty bringing up the Rear. NZGP 1st Heat
 Warwick Ken & David on Lap 2 3 Wide Racing for the first 3 laps! A Cracking Race with the 3 big boats storming into turn one evenly with Warwick on the Inside and Ken outside him with David running out wide. the rest of the field were left to cope with rough water . Aquanaut was left stranded at the top of the course and didn't Start. the three Annihilator boats raced together for the first three laps with David having an edge on Ken and Warwick just holding the advantage of the pole line. Fair Warning was a little way back with Terminator following on with Midnight Behind. Renegade broke on the 2nd lap right on the Turn and must have had an awesome view of the action. I should give the man a camera next race? David's Motor started to miss and he dropped back on the Last Lap and Warwick lead home Ken by just a few Feet. AE Baker First Heat
Put some images up on my Gallery
 Southern Storm & Live Bait who both gave me Races Yesterday which was awesome have to say though that the Dave Delaney in Live Bait is a much wilder and lot more hands on type of Ride, better than a Jetsprint Boat ride too! I will Post Grand Prix Hydroplane Results From there Championship and the AE Baker as they come to hand Connection willing touch wood Results from the current rounds of the NZ Champs to be completed in two weeks time in Twizel. Formula One
Pro Com
Formula 3
Mod VP
Formula V
Grand National Hydroplane
Modified Hydroplane
Put some images up on my Gallery  Steve Pope in XFactor gets launched over Galbraith while Luke Sharp avoids the collision. Its been put down in the book as a racing incident but crikey it wasn't looking good. The above shot was taken by Jeremy Ward from www.shot360.co.nz This shot has been cropped a bit and there a plenty more of this crash and all the action from the boats this weekend so check out Jeremy's Gallery. Jeremy has just started in the professional side of Photography after doing his time as an Amateur so his hoping to make a success by selling his Prints 
Put some images up on my Gallery  Warwick Lupton got sick of waiting for his boat to be ready so took Ken's boat out for a blast Internet connection is really bad out at the lake it seems to come and go . The go part happens just as you are ready to update. Any update will be few and far between at this rate  Aquanaught running ok but not in the top 3 in Grand National Races are well behind schedule and it looks like some will be held over until tomorrow.  Allan Wells in Endorphin Rush trails Helter Skelter in Race 1 Racing is going slowly to be honest and things will have to improve to finish on time. Due to a Shortage of Mad Buggers I will be Co Driver in a Mod VP race Boat "Southern Storm" later in the Day so Updates will be few and far between until after Race Day  X Factor and Galbraith Formula One Boats have Collided in a Race Both Drivers are Ok but the Boats have serious Damage Testing for the GP Boats has been sporadic to say the least and it has not been going well Warwick put his boat in the water to test the new Engine but the Boat didn't want to go at all. Warwick's crew have also had to remount the Turn Fin which had Cracked the Hull during Downtown Racing. I managed a 4th place in the Mod VP race but we will put a bigger prop on for the next race and look out for Southern Storm then lookout its chequered Flag time for us. Allan Wells in Endorphin Rush trails Helter Skelter in Race 1 Racing is going slowly to be honest and things will have to improve to finish on time. Due to a Shortage of Mad Buggers I will be Co Driver in a Mod VP race Boat "Southern Storm" later in the Day so Updates will be few and far between until after Race Day  Helter Skelter & Instigator in Practice Beautiful Day today it will be a real Scorcher as Practice continues. in about half an hour the first of the championship races it will be a very busy day of racing.  The Boats are arriving and setting up some people are still running around in Dressing Gowns Jamie Knight in The Phantom will not be racing as they have not solved the Oil Pressure problems yet. There is not the best of Service at Karapiro the mobile connection is cutting in and out. Seems to work best at the top of the Tower which frankly sounds like a lot of exercise to me. So may only do a couple of Updates Today. Almost all the News Stories and Pictures are to be found somewhere in the Archives Just try and remember when the event occurred and pick the page that matches those Dates |
|||
|
© New Zealand Grand Prix Hydroplane Drivers Club 1984 - 2009 All
pictures in these Gallery's are either the Property of the New Zealand
Grand Prix Hydroplane Drivers Club or have been Loaned to the New Zealand
Grand Prix Hydroplane Drivers Club for use in the Gallery and for Promotions.
Any Image or Text can not be reproduced for commercial use without the
express permission of New Zealand Grand Prix Hydroplane Drivers Club
|
