Southland Twin Rivers 23 & 24 August 2008

RESULTS

			Mataura		Oreti		Oreti
			Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 4	Total	HC placing

1	B	Garth McMaster	0:25:35	0:23:20	0:20:03	0:18:36	0:20:52	0:20:36	2:09:02	1
2	B	Daniel Anderson	0:30:43	0:23:43	0:20:45	0:21:39	0:20:36	0:18:44	2:16:10	2
3	C	Kruse Davidson	0:29:56	0:27:00	0:24:01	0:22:44	0:24:55	0:20:51	2:29:27	3
4	B	Jonnie Sutherland	0:33:47	0:26:07	0:22:49	0:30:19	0:29:13	0:26:14	2:48:29	5
5	U	Roger Preston	0:26:13	0:27:04	0:36:57	0:32:29	0:36:17	0:29:45	3:08:45	10
6	R	Craig Robertson	0:35:25	0:33:43	0:26:45	0:26:34	0:46:29	0:25:01	3:13:57	4
7	U	Paul Collings	0:40:21	0:34:06	0:32:01	0:30:10	0:31:52	0:26:11	3:14:41	11
8	A	Neil Ross	0:23:54	0:22:23	0:19:47	0:18:46	1:08:15	0:41:39	3:14:44	12
9	C	Bruce Gorton	0:32:56	0:37:48	0:33:37	0:31:50	0:34:53	0:29:11	3:20:15	9
10	R	Hamish Booth	0:43:46	0:35:51	0:33:16	0:28:50	0:33:12	0:26:55	3:21:50	6
11	U	Regan Williamson	0:28:34	0:25:00	0:40:12	0:20:53	1:02:03	0:29:05	3:25:47	13
12	R	Tony O'Loughlin	0:40:13	0:34:19	0:32:04	0:28:13	0:31:55	0:40:43	3:27:27	7
13	R	Brian Direen	0:37:14	0:34:00	0:26:38	0:26:11	0:46:29	0:44:47	3:35:19	8

	Class Placings

1	U	Roger Preston	0:26:13	0:27:04	0:36:57	0:32:29	0:36:17	0:29:45	3:08:45
2	U	Paul Collings	0:40:21	0:34:06	0:32:01	0:30:10	0:31:52	0:26:11	3:14:41
3	A	Neil Ross	0:23:54	0:22:23	0:19:47	0:18:46	1:08:15	0:41:39	3:14:44
4	U	Regan Williamson	0:28:34	0:25:00	0:40:12	0:20:53	1:02:03	0:29:05	3:25:47

1	B	Garth McMaster	0:25:35	0:23:20	0:20:03	0:18:36	0:20:52	0:20:36	2:09:02
2	B	Daniel Anderson	0:30:43	0:23:43	0:20:45	0:21:39	0:20:36	0:18:44	2:16:10
3	B	Jonnie Sutherland	0:33:47	0:26:07	0:22:49	0:30:19	0:29:13	0:26:14	2:48:29

1	C	Kruse Davidson	0:29:56	0:27:00	0:24:01	0:22:44	0:24:55	0:20:51	2:29:27
2	C	Bruce Gorton	0:32:56	0:37:48	0:33:37	0:31:50	0:34:53	0:29:11	3:20:15

6	R	Craig Robertson	0:35:25	0:33:43	0:26:45	0:26:34	0:46:29	0:25:01	3:13:57
10	R	Hamish Booth	0:43:46	0:35:51	0:33:16	0:28:50	0:33:12	0:26:55	3:21:50
12	R	Tony O'Loughlin	0:40:13	0:34:19	0:32:04	0:28:13	0:31:55	0:40:43	3:27:27
13	R	Brian Direen	0:37:14	0:34:00	0:26:38	0:26:11	0:46:29	0:44:47	3:35:19

Southland Twin Rivers 23 & 24 August 2008

Heavy rain in the catchment areas of the Mataura and Oreti rivers during the few days prior to scheduled racing on Saturday 23 caused some concern for the Southland Branch organizing committee as river levels rose markedly and peaked the night before racing was due to commence on the Mataura river.

Fortunately river flows dropped quickly and although the Mataura was heavily discoloured with just a small quantity of debris being swept downstream, organizers were satisfied that conditions were reasonably safe for racing as long as competitors exercised common sense and boatmanship. The forecast rain failed to eventuate and although the wind chill factor was significant in the earlier hours of the morning during tech inspection, the sun shone from a clear blue sky promising a great day of racing.

As in previous events this year, the entry list was a little disappointing with just fourteen boats fronting up for Tech Inspection on the grassy banks of the Mataura river just below the main township bridge. Local racers Neil Ross and Garth McMaster had been enticed to compete even though this would be their only race for the season. Daniel Anderson from Te Anau and Jonnie Sutherland from Christchurch were the only competitors still in contention for the South island Inter Provincial Series overall going into this event and both compete in B class.

Almost half of the field was comprised of recreational style boats – four in R class, and two Unlimited/A class drivers, Paul Colling and Roger Preston, who used their recreational boats as their race boats had either sustained mechanical problems or were in the process of being prepared for the forthcoming marathon.

Day One, Leg 1: Mataura River – Upstream – approx. 60km

The race boats were flagged away at one minute intervals on the approximately 60km upstream leg while the recreational boats had a mass start that provided excitement for the spectators and close racing for the drivers.

Neil Ross scorched up his home river in a time of 23:54 to set the fastest upstream time in his 458ci small block Chev powered Keelow Craft Challenger GTL tunnel. Garth McMaster of Winton also had a clean run lodging a time of 25:35 in his turbocharged 3 litre Toyota Supra engined tunnel. Series leader, Daniel Anderson was the first boat away but an annoying engine problem slowed his progress somewhat but he completed the leg in a time of 30:43. Roger Preston started the event in his 572ci Chev powered tunnel and set a good time on the first leg of 26:13.

Jonnie Sutherland’s 360ci Chev powered tunnel got a good start but after just a few kilometers started taking on water. After determining that the bilge pumps could not keep up with the ingress of water, Jonnie exited the leg and beached the boat incurring a penalty time for failing to complete the leg.

Continuing on the ‘bugger!’ theme, first time racer Bruce Gorton had the rotten luck of having his engine fail catastrophically on the first leg of his first jet boat race. Hopefully, he will bounce back undeterred. In the R class, Craig Robertson had stepped up into a Canadian built Eagle step-tech hull powered by a ZZ4 350 HO Chev and A/T pump that allowed him to be more competitive than his 240HP Sportjet powered boat campaigned up until now. He set the fastest upstream time for the leg of 35:25 to keep him ahead of arch R class rival Brian Direen’s LS2 powered Hamilton 152 who completed the leg in a time of 37:14. Tony O’Laughlin brought his Sportjet powered boat across the finish line in a time of 40:13 while Hamish Booth recorded 43:46 for the leg in his Toyota 4 litre V8 powered R class boat.

Day One, Leg 2: Mataura River – Downstream- approx. 60km

Launching and retrieval at the top of the Mataura proved demanding and the assistance offered by local divers in full wetsuits proved invaluable – although Daniel Anderson’s pristine Dodge Ram truck suffered a bad case of indigestion when river water flowed into the fuel tank where the breather hoses were supposed to be.

Neil Ross was first away on the down leg and shaved a minute and a half off his upstream time to record a time of 22:23. Garth McMaster kept the boost on the Toyota and completed the leg in a time of 23:20 while Dan Anderson recovered from his mechanical problems to record a time of 23:43. Jonnie and Dave Sutherland seemed to keep on top of their leaking boat syndrome to power down the Mataura in 26:07 while Kruse Davidson took exactly 27 minutes to complete the leg in his 302 Chev powered Challenger tunnel.

The R class boats along with the other recreational style boats in the field again enjoyed a mass start at the top. There was close racing between Craig Robertson and Brian Direen with Robertson consolidating his lead with a narrow stage win of 33:43 against Direen at 34:00. Tony O’Laughlin finished just 19 seconds behind Direen while Hamish Booth recorded a time of 35:51 for the leg.

Day Two, Leg 1: Oreti River – Upstream – approx. 42km

Like the Mataura river the previous day, the flow of the Oreti was coming down from a good flood. Originally, the organizers had planned for an upstream run of some 90 km but the high river flow and a low span bridge half way up the river meant the organizers had to rearrange the schedule so that a shortened course was raced twice. Again, just like the previous day, the weather was brilliantly fine although the first leg into the sun made for some challenging navigation.

Neil Ross was first boat away and he had a clean run to the top recording a time of 19:47. He was followed away one minute later by Garth McMaster who also had a clean run to the top of the course recording a competitive 20:03 for the leg. Daniel Anderson had sorted the intermittent misfire in his engine that had slowed him up the previous day, and he also had a clean upstream run in a time of 20:45. Jonnie and Dave Sutherland had another good start but again fell foul of the leaking boat syndrome despite a thorough search for leaks the night before. They again pulled out after the distributor got wet causing the engine to misfire and lose power. Roger Preston had been unable to remedy mechanical issues experienced on the Mataura with his race boat so he elected to run his pleasure boat on the Oreti.

The R class boats now had their ranks swelled by Preston’s pleasure boat and again provided spectator interest with a mass start. Brian Direen managed to get his 152A out in front and he set the fastest upstream time for the class in 26:38. He was closely followed in by Craig Robertson who recorded a time of 26:45 and this made for some really tight racing. Paul Collings raced his 151A in U/A class as far as the results were concerned, but on the water he diced with the R class and set a time of 32:01 for the leg just three seconds separating him from Tony O’Loughlin, 32:04 and Hamish Booth, 33:16.

The downstream leg saw a change in the leader board when Garth McMaster really powered up the Supra and set a blistering time for the leg of 18:36 to pip Neil Ross by 10 seconds. Daniel Anderson’s B class tunnel remained consistently in touch with the leaders setting a time of 21:39 while Kruse Davidson did well to get his C class tunnel down the river in a time of 22:44.

Interestingly, the two top R class boats recorded very similar times both upstream and downstream which indicates that both boats were able to maintain speeds close to the class maximum in both directions. Direen completed the downstream leg in a time of 26:11 some 27 seconds faster than his upstream time, while Robertson logged a time of 26:34 just 11 seconds faster than his upstream time.

The lower powered boats of Tony O’Loughlin (Sportjet) and Hamish Booth (Toyota/Lexus) recorded downstream times of 28:13 and 28:50 respectively but these times were each 4 to 5 minutes faster than their upstream times which suggests their boats lacked the power to maintain the class maximum speed (105km/hr) against the flow.

After the lunch break, boats were again launched for a repeat of the morning’s activities. It did not take long before the attrition rate began to soar. Neil Ross pulled in to the bank a short time after his start after his ring gear parted company from the flywheel on his 458 Chev. This gave Garth McMaster a clear run to the top and his time of 20:52 was some 49 seconds slower than his morning run. Daniel Anderson could sense trouble at the top of the leader board and put in a superb performance to complete the leg in a time of 20:36. Kruse Davidson also had another clean run to the top in a time of 24:55 again some 53 seconds or so slower than his morning time.

Regan Williamson had recovered from some earlier mechanical problems with his 502 Chev powered tunnel and had set some pretty quick times on previous legs. However, water spraying up on to his distributor caused the engine to die and the boat completed a spectacular spin out of the river and up the bank just short of the finish line. It took the crew some time to get the back into the water and across the finish line so he recorded a slow time of 1:02:03 for the leg that put him out of contention.

Back in the R class, the wheels began to fall off the leader’s campaigns with both drivers receiving maximum penalty times for exceeding the 105km/hr speed restriction. All R class boats had been issued with GPS receivers that were sealed, and as promised by the organizers before the race started, the speed restriction was enforced (as it should be).

No such issues for the lower powered boats of Tony O. and Hamish B. They each recorded clear runs and times of 31:55 and 33:12 respectively.

The final leg looked like a shoe-in for Garth McMaster and his turbocharged Toyota – as an aside, the turbo and exhaust pipe look as though they have been lifted straight from a Mack truck! – but as they say in racing, “it aint over ‘til it’s over”. Shortly after the start of the last leg McMaster’s turbo beast blew a water hose – not once, but twice on the way down. He managed to get it fixed but recorded a penalty time equivalent to the slowest class time + 10%.

Meanwhile Daniel Anderson had another clean run down the Oreti and recorded a time of 19:44. Kruse Davidson also had a clean run down and posted a time of 20:51. Elsewhere in the field however, dramas unfolded.

Brian Direen’s 152A had a failure in its Scott Jet unit and had to be salvaged from the river. Fellow R class racer Tony O. had gearbox problems with his Sportjet that caused him a lot of time and he eventually limped home across the finish line. Craig Robertson had a clean run down keeping his speed within the class limits and recorded a time of 25:01 and Hamish Booth set a good time of 27:55.

So, overall winner was Garth McMaster who, despite incurring a penalty time on the last leg, still posted the fastest overall time of 2:09:02. Daniel Anderson was second in a total time of 2:16:10 and Kruse Davidson rounded out the top three with a time of 2:29:27.

All eyes now turn to the NZ Marathon that commences on the 20 September on the Waimakariri.

ARCHIVE FILE

Southland Twin Rivers 23 & 24 August 2008

RESULTS

Southland Twin Rivers 23 & 24 August 2008