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Bridge to Bridge
UHPBC - Hawkesbury
River
6th May 2007
Outright results
1st XLR8 Homeloans - Craig Truslove - 32m 27s
2nd Impatient - Paul Vella - 36m 06s
3rd Handfull - Darren Greentree - 40m 59s
Congratulations to Craig Truslove in his Unlimited
Outboard / F1 Tunnel boat. The team came down from the Gold Coast to take part in big race.
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Superclass hydros
 Impatient - Paul Vella
While the above paragraph indicates a successful result for the team, the weekend didn’t start out that way. After a late week test run, water was discovered in the oil. So the job ahead for Bridge race just had a dirty big
obstacle in way. A few phone calls were made to call in some favours in regards to some late night assistance in pulling the engine out and fixing the problem. A 2am
finish saw Impatient back in one piece and ready for
scrutineering. The results above showed that the late night mechanical team got the job done right. Well done Paul.
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 Hyper Active - Rick Howard
You wouldn’t read about it would you. It was a case of deja vu for Rick and the team when they discovered a leak in the fuel tanks. A last minute tank removal, tank repair and deck replacement was required - just like last year! The boat back in one piece got to the start line OK and took full advantage of pole position one. Rick had ‘the big orange’ on song and was clearly out in front as the Superclass boats headed up the river. A vibration
appeared in the drive train, so Rick decided to take the tough decision to pull up and check out the source. A crack had opened up at the base of a blade on the prop, down near the hub. Frustratingly Rick had to sit on the bank to watch the XLR8 tunnel boat take the lead and eventual win. |
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 Holy Grail - Steve Maybury
Steve had the blue carby big block hydro back to tackle the Hawkesbury. Unfortunately the boat had a water line come off the engine. The engine ended up getting so hot that alloy rocker covers melted, which caused some oil to leak out into the boat. Some of the oil ended up
dripping on the extractors and caught fire. Steve only made it to Wisemans Ferry. So this year’s race turned out very eventful for all the wrong reasons for the Upper Hawkesbury member. |
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Division 2 Hydro
 The Baron - Scott Hermann
The first ever boat race for Scott turned out to be a ripper. As it turned out, The Baron was the only hydro, other than Impatient, to make it home to Windsor. Before the race, the calculations were flying to work out exactly how much fuel will be needed to get to the end. Just in case, a small jerry can of fuel was strapped into the boat. This turned out to be a smart move, as the boat started to cough and splutter when flying through Pitt Town. Just as the boat pulled up, a back fire caused a bit of a fireball cough out of the air scoop. One of the course boats came to Scott’s assistance, just as Scott began to pour in the spare fuel. The Baron roared back into life and streaked across the finish line in a time of 1hr 04min 36s. The heroic story getting around the park was that the boat had caught fire, scott had managed to put it out and start the boat again to finish the race - Now this is pretty hard to beat for a first time Bridge to Bridge experience. |
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 Miss September - Nathan Mills
“Welcome to the Bridge” was just one of the comments given to help keep the enthusiasm up for the week long job of replacing an engine. A lean out in the fuel system caused some piston melting in the original engine. An
untested spare engine was finally finished being bolted into the boat on the Saturday morning before
scrutineering. A final testing session was conducted in the afternoon to make sure everything was in order. Sunday morning came and the race started out very positive where Miss September stayed in the lead pack as the class split into two, as they headed up into the river. At about a quarter of the way up the river, Miss September took the class lead as they started to reel in a few of the slower boats from the earlier start waves. Miss September was the first boat past the Howard’s place and a radar result of 86mph showed the untested spare engine was holding up strong. But unfortunately, the dream run for another Bridge first timer wasn’t to last. A few bends in the river past the two car ferries at Wisemans saw the untimely end of the run. An engine free rev and loss of forward drive pointed to a drive train problem. The first job to do when the boat pulled in to Walkers Beach ski park, was to check that the prop was still in place. The
then suspected gearbox problem turned out to be a broken drive shaft bolted to the crank that feeds the gearbox. 2008 Bridege to Bridge - here we come.
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 The Bug - Andrew Petty
Another candidate in the Saturday afternoon testing basket, The Bug had a suspect oil pressure problem that needed mechanical duties into the wee small hours. Even a last minute oild pump swap was conducted in the car park at Parsley Bay, Booklyn before the race. This
appeared to have sorted out the issue. Since Andrew was the only driver in this class to have run The Bridge before, all eyes were on him as to where the boats travel when lining up for the start bridge. Ands the experienced showed. with The Bug taking the holeshot, leading the class up into the river proper. The Bug continued out in front for the first 10-15minutes. The Bug developed an erratic oil pressure gauge, with the needle dancing wildly. Miss September slipped by as the oil pressure hadn’t returned to normal. Just one or two bends short of the ferry at Wisemans, Andrew had to pull in to a ski park with 0 oil pressure. It turned out to be the same ski park where Steve Mabury in Holy Grail had his melt down. The final result was that one of the bolts that hold on the in/out dog clutch had started to undo, while the other bolt was already on the floor. At the presentation night, Andrew brought along his ‘offering to the gods of speed’. One of the destroyed pistons the resulted from the low pressure problems. |
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Longshot - Corey Whittaker
Bob Miller’s old 6litre hydro had ventured on up the Hume from Albury to take part in this years race. It was planned that Bob was to have a drive of his old boat in the circuit racing after the Bridge. But, it wasn’t to be. In Saturday afternoon testing, the boat had a near miss with another boat on the river. A violent turn to the right saw Cory get thrown through the side of the cockpit and the loss of the rear cowling. While Cory was OK, a late night repair job of 100mph tape and an impromptu rear splash guard made out of a VB carton was needed to get to the race start. The bad luck was to continue after the race start as well, with the big Jones hydro only getting a few kilometres up the river before requiring the trailer. |
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Atomic - Dave Pagano
Also part of the Saturday evening practise club, Dave tested out the recently re-powered Atomic. The boat was reportedly “an absolute weapon” in regards to outright speed. But unfortunately it wasn’t to last, as a kink in a water line caused some overheating problems, which in turn blew a head gasket. Burning the midnight oil tried to fix the problem, but it wasn’t to be a successful Bridge race this year. The proverbial plug was pulled and Atomic didn’t make the start of the race. |
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