| First Race | |
 | Being an International race Cristan Keller took pole
position with the UK mob taking the grid on a first
come first served basis (none of us had any
International points). This had me 3rd on the front
row. Stephen Scotney headed for the inside place
on row 2. For once I beat him to the first corner, for which
he simply "nerfed" me BIG TIME. Having been
spun round I then collected air from Christan who
was in front which got me thoroughly airborne and
off the racing line.
|
 | J5, Sir Harry Smith team, and I were racing close
all weekend with nose to tail racing throughout -
although he pulled away at one point because our
engine was not on form. Woody's craft has the
same engine but runs with less lift and more thrust
than me hence him being able to pull away on the
straight. Once he had pulled away it was very
difficult to catch up. |
 | At the beginning of the races, with my large duct, I
pulled away from Woody and Stephen Scotney,
No 2, thrust hit me and my nose was blown up in
the air and I almost fell out of the side of the craft. During this race, I managed to keep ahead of
Woody by positioning my craft's thrust into
Woody's craft which slowed him down. The
commentary on this race seemed to focus on the
two of us fighting for second place, very closely.
In the third lap from the end Woody got past me
and was starting to make progress. Unfortunately
he lost concentration and spun into the bales on
the transition from the water to the start finish line.
I streaked ahead noticing that his engine was still
running and there was no noticeable damage to
either Woody or the craft. When I approached
Bedsteads I came across a back marker whose
manoevering caused me to spin to avoid a very
large tree!
|
 | By the time I had recovered and had come round
the weir turn Woody was on my tail again! We had
two laps remaining and I was determined to keep
him behind. I managed this by legally taking his
racing line and aiming thrust at him. By the time we
had come round the weir turn for the last time we
were almost side by side and it was a race to the
finish. The finish was quite spectacular and had the
commentator yelling at the marshalls who were
getting a back marker running again not to send
him out onto the racing line at the finish as there
were "two fast craft on the water straight and this
was the last chance for the flag" as Woody and I
went over the line nobody, including the
commentator or drivers knew for sure who had
won. It was later decided that J7 had won
(marginally!!) see photo left. It was certainly one of my most memorable and
enjoyable races in my racing career so far.
|
| The photo is taken from the Weir turn looking
back to Bedsteads. One of the famous trees is
visible next to the race marshall which has a
protective bale of hay in front of it. Sadly Luke was still in the "T" craft and not fully
competitive. He says that the Python Kawasaki will
be in action for the next round at Gang Warily. In
the meantime this shot sums up the finishing order
of the national result for the weekend. The Three
Musketeers will resume the battle in 3 weeks!
|  |
 | The photo is of me accelerating away from
Bedsteads for the last time. The course is now
closed (after 26 years of racing) as property
development is now taking place near the famous
hovercrafting corner. Incidentally the corner was
named after the mattresses that were wrapped
around the trees that line the transition (and later
substituted by hay bales). Shortly after this
photograph was taken my engine "popped" which
normally indicates a blown piston. Sadly I was
unable to finish the last race but, luckily, had just
completed my third lap which meant that I would
get points for that race, all be it last position which
kept me at third overall for the weekend in the
Nationals.
|
| Internationals 1st. J2 Stephen Scotney (UK)
2nd J7 Edward Hurn (UK)
3rd J5 Jonathan (Woody) Hallet (UK)
4th J4 Luke Sedzikowski (UK)
5th 363 Christan Keller (Germany)
| Nationals 1st Stephen Scotney
2nd Jonathan (Woody) Hallet
3rd Edward Hurn
4th Luke Sedzikowski
5th Bridgwater Team A
|
