3.5cc

The first 3.5cc round was split into 2 heats. With the low attendance, this meant one heat of just 4 boats which promised a complete bore-fest and that is exactly what happened. We really have to do everything we can to avoid this as the bad driving and poor mechanical reliability invariably ends up with hardly anyone on the water.
Just one point separates Dave Hole and Iain Pickersgill now at the top of the 3.5 Drivers Championship with Iains win today gaining him 13 points over Dave.

3.5cc Podium

7.5cc

With Andrew Aykroyd leaving his 7.5 at home, Robert Daniel was able to gain back 35 points and jump 25 points clear at the top of the table. Nigel took the win today, 2 laps clear of Robert. Low numbers again meant the racing wasn’t that exciting

7.5cc Podium

15cc

It’s been a long time in the making, but Sam Lincoln finally rocked up with his Boudicca 2 after 3 years and promptly proceeded to win the 15cc class, beating Mike Gelson by 2 laps. With this weekend being the last chance to test the new boat in an actual race before the 2022 iMBRA World Championships, Sam was especially pleased that the boat worked well.

Some big crashes in the 15cc races. Certain people need to take a hard look at themselves and completely change their approach. Staying flat out and swerving all over the place instead of throttling is not the right way. I think we should start handing out red cards to repeat offenders. Nobody will want to race with you and that means ultimately you will have nobody to race against.

15cc Podium

27cc

Andrew Aykroyd crushed the opposition to take the win 12 laps clear of 2nd. James uncharacteristically was having mechanical issues and could only manage 4th today. The 2nd heat was ruined by both Andrew and James being disqualified for noise. There was unfortunately no choice in this as any more noise complaints could spell the end for racing at Peterborough.
Andrew sits 10 points clear at the top of the drivers championship.

27cc Podium

A final word

Some shocking standards of driving today resulting in several spectacular crashes. I even saw a couple of drivers racing without their thumb on the throttle, just flat out and swerving all over the place to avoid the rescue and other boats. There are no beginners here. Everyone has been at this for a few seasons and this is simply not acceptable. There are reasons our top racers are attending UK events less and less and the appalling driving is the main one. This, along with the time and cost of sustaining major damage to a £1000+ boat is stopping new entrants to the hobby. Come on people. Calm yourselves and use the left stick. There will always be accidents by the very nature of this hobby but we have to improve the basic driving.

The other thing is noise. There are always busybodies around who will complain about something. Noise is one of them. I don’t care how loud something is and I wouldn’t care even if a race was held next door to my house as long as it wasn’t every weekend. Nothing else to say really. You can read This

3.5cc

A decent 6 boat entry, with the top 3 all scoring in the 60’s. A few coming-togethers and some tight racing saw Iain Pickersgill take his first win. Iain has bought a great boat in Phills International podium-placing Falcon and we expect many more podiums to come. Dean Lord had a new Ikarus after his old one sank to the depths at Peterborough and just managed to edge Jackson for 2nd place, both finishing on exactly 60 laps apiece.
All change in the 3.5 Drivers Championship with Iains win catapulting him to the top of the table. Jackson keeps his 3rd place spot against all the seniors. Not much luck for Dave Hole today, a 1st lap crash took out his coupling in the 1st heat and a DNF in heat 2 puts a dent in his NDC lead. (DH still leads the NDC when you exclude junior results)

This!

The 3.5s

3.5cc Podium

7.5cc

Just 3 boats in the 7.5cc class this week so we combined the 7.5c and 15cc heats. This worked really well, with plenty of dramatic racing which you don’t see so much on bigger lakes with bigger runoffs. Dave Marles 1st round score of 83 with his Drakkon was 10 more than the best 15cc boat! Andrew Aykroyd’s 2nd place finish cuts Robert’s lead in the drivers championship to 5 points. Not such a good day for Robert but 3rd place is still a decent points haul. It’s quite often the way when you’re trying to do the organising and racing at the same time.

This!
All the 7.5s

7.5cc Podium

15cc

Now some people might complain about the ‘compact’ nature of Bridlington lake, using it as an excuse for not coming, but they have probably never been here in the first place. It makes for properly intense racing. James’ hard-charging driving is really spectacular to watch and is a days entertainment all on it’s own. Mike Gelson took the overall 15cc win, keeping himself out of trouble and staying on the water for a total of 73 in the combined 7.5+15 class. James jumps to the top of the NDC with both Mike and Vlad also displacing Terry who slips to 4th having missed this event.

This!
All the 15s

15cc Podium

27cc

Some really close high speed dicing between James Taylor and Andrew Aykroyd was great to watch. I can honestly say I enjoyed watching todays racing more than any recent UK event. You will often hear me lamenting the attrition in UK races where a starting field of 8 or more is reduced to 3 boats after the 1st 5 minutes. Well here, that’s not a problem. No sooner than one boat has passed another, they are back on their tail after 2 or 3 laps! Andrew took the overall win today with an outstanding 100 laps in the 20 minutes, which left both a big dent in his throttle thumb and the hopes of his rivals – That’s maximum points from 2 races!. Mick Pain took 2nd, 18 laps adrift.

This!
All the 27s

27cc Podium

A final word

I live in North London. yes it’s a long way to Bridlington. I have been as guilty as any of using the distance as an excuse not to attend this event in the past. That has been a mistake. And you know what, it’s not really a long way at all when there’s more than one of you in the car.
Get in your cars, book a b&b and get up here. The smallish lake is actually just as good if not better than other venues as even with the usual attrition, the racing is still intense with fewer boats going round. And you never know, it may teach you to drive better.
On top of that, you won’t find much better facilities anywhere in the country.
We had a great time, but it was a last minute decision to go for us. Wish we had gone up earlier and made a proper weekend of it.
Do yourself a favour, plan ahead and make sure you get to the next race at this venue.
I’m still hoping one day James will smile in a podium photo 😉

James Taylor had built a new 27cc Tornado 7.4 in a record 2 days and was racing it for the first time with limited testing. Surely this was not going to work was it? Wrong. You don’t win the first 3 rounds with maximum points if you don’t know what you’re doing! James’ build album on Facebook

3.5cc
Dave Marles wins today, ending a string of poor results in the first 3 rounds. Both Dave Clay and Dave Hole now sit 1-2 in the table having leapfrogged previous championship leader Keith Burgess who did not attend today.
Andrew Aykroyds assessment of his own performance: “Me in 3.5 found more speed than last time out, but that meant more boat out of the water and with the back wash from the tyre bank came unstuck a few times. Dave Marles in 3.5 drove a good race. So much so that when I came to pass him, he moved over uncharacteristically and let me past. He must have wanted to get his hands on a trophy again”

3.5cc Podium

7.5cc
Robert Daniel tops the table with a strong 2nd place today to 2018 7.5cc Champion Andrew Aykroyd. Robert is looking a decent bet for the 1st qualification spot in 7.5cc with the total from the best 5 results during the season determining the place. Gary Wraight will however want a say in this and grabs 3rd place today, 1 lap behind Robert with the 1st run of his newly #dptuned CMB 45.
Andrew Aykroyd’s factual assessment of Gary’s race weekend: “Gary spun numerous times in 7.5. Taking Nigel out and spinning again almost taking Robert out, his snail speed in the second heat was 10 laps slower. Gary’s first heat was hampered by bogging, lap after lap it continued.”

7.5cc Podium

15cc
It’s 4 out of 4 for James Taylor and a shoe-in for the first GB Team spot for the 2020 World Championships. James’ points haul of 160 is now nearly 3 times Mike Gelson in 2nd place!
Andrew Aykroyd’s factual assessment of Dave’s race weekend: “Dave in 15 was balls out as usual. Not throttling at Brid with a fast 15 is suicide and he came unstuck a few times”

15cc Podium

27cc
James Taylor builds a new 27 from scratch in 2 days, then wins with it first time out. Ok, the numbers were a bit on the low side, but James’ total of 93 laps would unlikely to have been equalled even with full heats.
Maximum points from the first 4 races and another shoe-in for the first qualification spot.
Andrew Aykroyd’s comments “Mike Lawson in 27 sheared off the end of his shaft for no reason at all while trying to keep up with James”

27cc Podium

A trip up North for the return of the Bridlington event was rewarding for several of the multi boys today in terms of the National Drivers Championship. With many of the usual suspects absent, it was a good chance to steal a march on their rivals. Only the best 8 out of 9 races count in the Championship, so a good haul of points could prove invaluable in the final reckoning!

Thanks to Robert Daniel and BMBS for putting on this event and for the Podium photos.

Bridlington lake can be described as ‘compact’ in Multi Racing terms. One of the Southern lads said “One mistake and you’re up the bank” and indeed we did see a few unfortunate incidents of boats high and dry!

3.5cc – Dave Marles takes the win by 2 seconds after Andrew Aykroyd blew a plug whilst leading with a single minute to go. This was the first outing of Andrews new lightweight Ikarus 2.3 and he was more than pleased with its performance. Andrew said “It’s awesome. A lot quicker, just needs a bit of trimming as it’s to far out of the water but even in the first race with the less powerful engine in, I was on full down tab and it was still pushing really good speed”. Dave Clay takes 3rd place and this puts him 17 points clear at the top of the Drivers Championship from Dave Hole.

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7.5cc – A maiden win for Andrew Aykroyd with his Pegasus 2. The win lifts him to within 4 points of Championship leader Dave Pillman who could only manage 4th today. Dave Clay took 2nd place, just 1 lap behind Andrew which puts him in joint 4th in the Championship albeit nearly a whole race win behind the leader. Host Robert Daniel takes 3rd lifting him to 3rd in the table.

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15cc – An untouchable performance from James Taylor with his new T7 seals the win with a 25 lap margin over surprise 15cc entrant Gary Wraight, who in turn, had a 23 lap margin over 3rd place Robert Daniel. Gary tiptoed his 90 round the course in more of an oval than M! This was a good banker for James in the Championship after a disappointing first round at Peterborough. James now tops the 15cc Championship, with an advantage of 20 points over 2017 Champion Terry Holmes who did not race today.

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27cc – James Taylor completes a 15cc/27cc double and puts himself into 2nd place in the Championship, 8 points behind leader Mick Pain who took 2nd today. Mike Lawson takes 3rd and 27 points, putting him 4th in the table..

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3.5cc – 2017 champion Mark Wraight

In the 3.5cc class, 2017 iMBRA European Champion Zack Humphries is untouchable, but the NDC is not his priority – He has eyes on bigger prizes at international level. 2017 3.5 NDC winner Mark Wraight is both fast and reliable, but he is also in the world championships team which may open the door for others if he doesn’t attend all the races. Alongside Mark, we would consider Dave Hole, Geoff Parmenter and Andrew Aykroyd in with a shout and we haven’t yet seen the best of Ian Folksons Ikarus. We’d probably make Dave the favourite but Andrew can win it if he goes to most of the meetings. Battle for the King of Speed will probably be fought out between Dave Marles and Dave Pillman, but we suspect neither of them will do enough events to win the title and those last few km/h of speed usually come at the expense of occasional reliability issues. Keith Burgess also has great speed but has been thwarted by reliability in recent seasons.

7.5cc – 2017 champion Mick Szebeko

The 7.5 should be interesting this season as we have another top racer in Andrew Aykroyd joining the class. Gary Wraight will be looking to return to the podium with his 8 Ball after extensive modifications. Gary will be determined to make 2018 a success after scuppering his chances of the 2017 title by attempting major changes mid-season only for it to backfire spectacularly. Everyone is looking forward to the first glimpse of 2014 World Champion Martin Fields new self-designed 7.5. Martin will be hoping the new boat is as good or better than his superb Pegasus Evo that he sold after the GB International win. Martin will no doubt putting most effort into the internationals so he’s not really a UK title contender. In no particular order, we would say that Mick Szebeko, Gary Wraight and Andrew Aykroyd are the front runners. Julian and Ross Waumsley are also strong in 7.5 and Julian’s average of 26 points per race would have been enough to take the title last year had he competed in every event. Ross may be looking for some wins to make up for the disappointment of missing the eliminators having contracted a serious infection in 2017 which almost cost him his leg.Dave Pillmans new Pegasus Evo may give everyone a fright (Video), but will he do enough races?

15cc – 2017 champion Terry Holmes

The best 15cc boat in the UK is Phill Fields Tornado T7, but like other top racers he will be considering potential damage in a world championship year so Mark Wraight will be looking to put right the disappointment of missing out on an 8th title in 2017. Facebook users will have seen the progress of his all-new Seljak design 15cc boat. We will shortly bring you a build masterclass of this boat. However, we hear he may have to contend with James Taylor who is rumoured to be returning to the 15cc class with a new Tornado T7. James is arguably (With Zack) the best driver in the UK, so Mark will have his hands full if James gets his boat built. James/Mark 2017 champion Terry Holmes will also be a strong contender as he only had one DNF all season last year on his way to the title. 2015/2016 champion Sam Lincoln would normally be considered one of the favourites, but is almost certainly focused on the world championships. We would also back Mikey Hillstead if he can keep the consistency he showed in the latter part of 2017.

27cc – 2017 champion James Taylor

27cc is a straight fight between Ian Folkson and James Taylor in our eyes. Or CMB vs Tiger King! James average 35 points per race in last years championship was simply phenomenal and if he carries that form into 2018 he will be unstoppable. The other contenders would be Steve Baxter and Mick Pain who is ultra reliable, but not on the pace of Ian, James and Steve. All 4 are qualified for the world championships, so this may let in Terry Holmes.