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Bridge to Bridge
UHPBC - Hawkesbury
River
May 2008
Congratulations to Rick Howard and the Hyper Active team for winning the 2008 Bridge to Bridge in a time of 29min 47sec
The Hyper Active team have done what seems to be unthinkable. Get a boat up the full 112km length of the Hawkesbury River in under 30mins. An absolutely remarkable feat by any means, but it was not without its own dramas. Water condition problems early on in the race, and then drive train problems later caused the team to consider plan B.
The new record race time sees an average race speed of around 137mph / 221kph!
Over 80 gluttons for punishment were all planning to once again battle the Hawkesbury River to see who’s boss. This the 72nd running of the legendary event.
But as you can imagine, an assault on a long distance river race, the preparation for such a race begins months beforehand, not only for the competitors, but the organisers as well. The Upper Hawkesbury Power Boat Club did an excellent job this year in regard to the promotion of the event. The first big promo was at the Hawkesbury Show, where the club won ‘Best Car Display’. Next stop on the promotion train, was to display a range of ski and race boats in the local Windsor shopping centre.
Finally, the weekend before the race was a big race boat display in the Windsor Mall. Miss September and Loose Unit were up one end of the mall, with Hyper Active, towards the other end.
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Paul Vella’s Impatient looked awesome all polished up in front of Coles. |
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The NSWHC’c club colours were on proud display, amongst a total of 30 over boats. |
We could probably take up a whole edition of the newsletter to detail all of the stories around each of the hydro competitors’ preparation of the Bridge, but we simply don’t have the room. Saying that, one of the hard luck stories is Gary Howard’s lead up with Paul Vella’s old Impatient. While testing during the week beforehand the race, a thrown prop blade saw the remaining counterweight shake the transom apart, causing a major damage to the back end of the boat. It was a 50/50 chance of getting the boat back in race order for Sunday morning, but the proverbial plug was pulled soon after. Short term sacrifice was made to make sure the boat was repaired properly for the future.
Even with long term preparation plans, there is always still the traditional last minute dash on Saturday at the Windsor ramp to get things in order for many entrants. Even at least one Superclass boat was also there doing some last minute dialling in.
Sunday morning arrived and it was time for the annual crack-o-dawn trek to Brooklyn. Down at the start, was final preparations, the traditional pre-race briefing and many, many trips to the bathroom for a ‘nervous one’.
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Three of the Div2 Hydro competitors at Brooklyn - l to r; Dave Pagano, Atomic; Andrew Petty, The Bug; Scott Hermann, The Baron |
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While the race entrants were getting ready at Brooklyn, the NSWHC members were getting the static display in order. Terry Paull once again did a great job in having the merchandise and promotion materials on display. And the only suitable background was two or three big hydros on trailers. |
Back to the race action - The river and overall weather conditions were quite good, with the fog lifting in time for an on time 9am start. The small town of Brooklyn was awaken to the sweet sound of the first wave heading out to the race start, the hydros all in the first wave, along with the accompanying gaggle of chase helicopters.
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The final list of Superclass entries were:
1. XLR8 Home Loans - Craig Trustlove
Defending race winner, Outboard tunnel.
2. Impatient 2 - Gary Howard
Paul Vella’s old boat, with 4.6l V8. DNS
3. Impatient 1 - Paul Vella
Paul’s new 5l Chev boat, first ever race
4. Hyper Active - Rick Howard
510ci Chev V8
5. The Holy Grail - Steve Maybury
Big Block Chev, boat owned by Matt Ferris
6. Spare number (first start wave above)
7. Bloody Mary - Peter Corrick
Twin Turbo BBC 21ft Everingham (NSWHC member)
8. Tons of Fire - ??
Ski race boat BBC
9. Handful - Darren Greentree
6litre Chev V8
10. Anarchy - Simon ??
Twin Turbo ski race boat
11. Beasley Racing - Rob Beasley
Outboard Tunnel (DNS) |
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The other hydro entries were all in the Division 2 Class:
60. The Bug - Andrew Petty
202ci Holden straight six. 14’6” Classic hydro
61. Miss September - Nathan Mills
3.0l Nissan V6 - 15’6” Classic Hydro
62. The Baron - Scott Hermann
350 Chev V8 - 17’6” Classic Hydro
63. Get Roughed - Warren ??
4.2litre Holden V8 - Ron Jones Cabover Hydro
64. Atomic - Dave Pagano
350 Chev V8 - 17’6” Classic Hydro |
The Superclass all headed off up the river close to bang on 9:00am with the whole class showing a cracking pace. While the water conditions were good, an unwanted surprise greeted the hydros as one of the large Coastal Patrol course boats, was making a last minute dash to get into position. This sending out huge rollers along the river. Luckily for a few of the drivers, they had spotters linked up via radio in the helicopters above, warning the drivers of the impending danger. Even with the pre-warning, the impact of the rollers were underestimated, causing XLR8 Home Loans to sail over top of the waves, this being visible out of the corner of Rick’s eye, when he was battling to keep the ‘big orange’ level. At one point, the tip of one sponson goes under water, throwing spray every which way.
Things settled down a few corners into the race, but Rick Howard radioed to his crew above that the race record was now out of reach, but to soldier on for a hopeful outright win. XLR8 Home Loans only made it as far as Spencer before expiring. Upper Hawkesbury stalwart, Steve Maybury had the big blue hydro on fire (luckily only figuratively speaking this year!), keeping good pace up the river, the only problem was that he ventured out too far into the shallow at Lower Portland. The turn fin scraping mud, before more steering lock guiding him free.
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With the troubled water at the start behind him, Rick knuckled down into a race groove. The boat got to about Cattai when slight vibration came into the cockpit again this year (a cracked prop blade forcing him out of last year’s race, was again the same issue). Rick hesitated for a moment, but took the ballsy choice of simply tightening his harness belts and holding on. You certainly wouldn’t know there was any problems in the boat when you see the below photos taken at Pitt Town, just a few kilometres short of the finish line. The hydro magically sailing in the air, just inches above the water level.
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Just two corners later saw Rick straighten up for the final time and take line honours. While the time was going to good, the team had to wait a log wait until the officials could finalise the race times. |
Steve Maybury in Holy Grail held on to 2nd across the line, this year remaining in one piece. This result being only one of a few Bridge finishes in approximately 20 starts. |
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Paul Vella brought home the brand new Howard Hydro in a very light ride height. The boat showing awesome pace and reliability in its first race outing. |
The next boats across the line were the displacement waves of Superclass. A few of these boats also showed strong promise in the final race times. The wait was on to see the final race times and places.
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Ricky Howard being interviewed while being towed to the ramp |
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2nd place The Holy Grail in the foreground, with Paul Vella’s Impatient being towed past |
Back at the start, it was about time for the Division 2 Hydroplane class to hit the water. Due to congestion in the pits and on the ramp, all of Div2 boats were running late to meet their scheduled start time. While getting ready on the ramp, the unthinkable happened on the ramp for Dave Pagano in Atomic. The rubber belt that drives the dry sump oil pump snapped when Dave hit the starter button. After a dash around the pits looking for a
replacement, Atomic headed back the Windsor via the road.
The remaining four boats headed out towards the start line. When lining up for the start, all boats had to move over to the left hand side of the river. The three Classic Hydros started to slide left, but Get Roughed wasn’t moving. This caused The Baron to have to back out of the line up for fear of getting a rooster tail hose down. But it was too late, The Baron had its fire put out by the lone front seater hydro in Div2. The race began for the final three, with Miss September and The Bug getting the early jump. It was only about a kilometre into the race when Get Roughed came tearing back into the lead, with a clear 10 or 15mph advantage.
Back at the start, The Baron was able to get running again after a frustrating couple of minutes on the starter motor. Scott heading up the river, only seconds before the start wave behind.
After taking the first two bends in the river very wide, Get Roughed soon left the Classic hydros in its wake, literally, venturing out of sight around the twisty river. The second placed Miss September sat comfortably at approx 75 - 80mph for the earlier stages of the river, with The Bug following the path up river, just behind the roostertail.
The first right hand bend in the river past the boat ramp at Spencer, Miss September was greeted with Get Roughed, floating to a stop in the middle of the river. A puff of flame out of the pipes showed that Warren hadn’t given up yet. But the boat was to be towed back to the ramp, at broken distributer rotor button the culprit. Unfortunately, this ramp was to also be the final destination for The Bug. A total engine failure ending, this the third attempt at as successful Bridge for Andrew. The Baron was making good pace up the river, gaining on the little red rocket of Nathan Mills.
Miss September began to develop an overheating problem, after a potential too fine of a race line through one right hand bend, with the needle of the temp gauge completely off the dial! A sandy beach on the bank was sought to pull up and check a few hose lines, but the bank was lined with mangroves. The temperature began to drop again slightly, so the decision was made to try and go flat out for a couple of kilometres to try and blow the obstruction out of the water line. The temp did come back down to approx 200 degrees, so the race was on again.
Miss September made it through the two ferries at Wisemans Ferry without needing to stop, but it was in the following straight that The Baron was to take the class lead. After a few kilometres almost out of sight of the 2nd place Miss September, the two boats ended up side by side for the second half of the race. The two Classic Hydros creating quite a spectacle, heading up river
gunnel to gunnel.
The straight dash form the Butterfly Farm to the finish straight saw the two boats go side by side into final right hander. The Baron on the outside and Miss September on tighter inside line. The tighter line causing Miss September to drop down off the propellor and bogging down in the exit of the corner. The Baron winning the final drag to the finish, with Miss September approx 10 seconds later.
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The Div2 Hydro boats of The Baron…
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and Miss September crossing the finish line
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Along with the senior class of Bridge to Bridge boats, there was again the Junior boats that leave from Pitt Town to the finish bridge (approx 5kms). The Junior class was won by Jessica Connolly, a second generation racer, whose Dad, Dave, actually used to race a Yamato at the NSWHC events at Lake Lyle.
A series of Ski Race classes were part of the day’s program, with the one-up skiers racing for bragging rights. There was a hold up at the start of the ski classes due to a fall in the ski Superclass. Later that day, the boat’s telemetry recalling that the team were doing 118mph when the skier went in the drink.
While all of the anxious boat race drivers and crew awaited the final race times to be posted, the 2nd half of the day’s racing action kicked off. A series of circuit racing and grudge match drag races were held in front of the large crowd. Dave Pagano had swung by his shed on his way back from Brooklyn to collect a replacement oil pump belt and was ready to run. The Baron was keen to back up after a successful long distance run. Miss September electing to sit it out due to the high temperatures in the big race. Corey Whittaker brought the big Longshot Jones hydro up from Albury to take to the circuit in both a drag race and some circuit laps.
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Bob Miller had the driving duties of the big blue and white hydro for the drag race, being matched up against the 6litre displacement of Sensational. As the previous photos shows, the hydro won hands down. |
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Circuit racing duties were back in the hands of Corey for the remainder of the day. Longshot pitched against The Baron and Atomic. While Longshot dominated, it was potentially a case of what could have been for Dave Pagano in regard to the Bridge, as the boat showed good speed in the circuit races.
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The final outright race placings and times for the hydros were:
1st - Hyper Active - 29m 47s
2nd - The Holy Grail - 33m 58s
3rd - Anarchy (displacement) - 35m 55s
4th - Bloody Mary (log boat, but NSWHC member) - 39m 40s
6th - Impatient 1 - 41m 05s
25th - The Baron - 48m 58s
38th - Miss September - 52m 28s
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Congratulations to all race finishers. And I think I can safely collectively say for all entrants - thanks to our crews. For those that didn’t make it, there is always next year. Well done to the Upper Hawkesbury club and all of the volunteers and officials.
Long live the Bridge to Bridge!
Most photos courtesy of Terry Paull and Samantha Tuckwell. |
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