A decent turnout for the second Circuit race of the 2019 season – 8 boats in 7.5 Hydro promised some exciting racing. The day was dry with the sun threatening to make an appearance in the afternoon. We kicked off as usual with the hot breakfast rolls supplied by the Elmbridge crew and the free practice to iron out any last minute issues. Today we welcomed a guest from OMRA – Clive Whitbread who was competing in the 15cc and 35cc Offshore classes with his Phantom boats.

3.5cc Hydro – Just 2 boats contested this class – Keith Burgess was having problems with his 3.5cc hydro and unfortunately only finished round 1, but took the fastest lap of the day in all classes of 11.08 seconds. This left Phill Fields to take the win with a maximum 1,600 and the lead in the Drivers Championship.

3.5cc Hydro Podium – click to enlarge

7.5cc Hydro – Gary Wraight take a bow! Gary’s Boldy Design StingR was flying today and he took the win despite a DNF in round 3 where an overly aggressive move in an attempt to get the start resulted in him running up the wash of Dereks boat and flipping over. Gary lost his shaft and prop, but after some repairs with a kind loan from Derek, he was back with a maximum in round 4 to seal the win. Armen may have been regretting selling Gary the rigger after coming 2nd to Gary in the heat and 3rd overall, but he retains a slender 300 point lead over Gary in the Championship. Steve Clements took 2nd after finishing each round and getting a maximum in round 3.

7.5cc Hydro Podium – click to enlarge
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15cc Hydro – Derek took the win today with 2 maximums and 2 DNFs – Reliability plagued the 15cc Hydro class today with 2nd placed Armen only making one start and 3rd placed Tony failing to score.

15cc Hydro Podium – click to enlarge

3.5cc Offshore – Dave Clay needs to get his 3.5cc Offshore performing like his Multi boat as he was comprehensively beaten into 4th by 3 Juniors! Miha dominated this class, taking the win by 8 laps from Thomas. Brother Rok took 3rd place. Luke was quick as usual, but reliability let him down today. Dave retains his lead in the Championship as Miha, Rok and Thomas all missed round 1.

3.5cc Offshore Podium – click to enlarge

7.5cc Offshore – It’s been a while coming, but Vince finally returned to the podium with a solid 3rd place after some judicious tweaking by son James found some reliability. Julian took the win by just one lap from Mick Buonaiuto who retains his lead in the Drivers Championship by 25 points over Chas who had a lot of reliability issues today.

7.5cc Offshore Podium – click to enlarge

15cc Offshore – Mick Buonaiuto also tops the 15cc Offshore Championship with an easy win today finishing 7 laps clear of 2nd placed Clive Whitbread and 17 laps in front of Les Wall Mick tried to hide this crash under the trees, but there’s no getting away from Mr Canon.

15cc Offshore Podium – click to enlarge

35cc Offshore – James Taylor had sorted the ride on his Kraken after Round 1 and cruised to victory and the Championship lead 56 laps clear of 2nd placed Grahame Morgan. OMRA guest racer Clive Whitbread must have been pleased to get a double podium in his first MPBA event. Not such a good weekend for Mark Wraight as the bearing cage on his Tiger King melted so he couldn’t race at his normal level.

35cc Offshore Podium – click to enlarge

Sport 60 – Adrian Marshall takes the overall win and retains top spot in the table. Thomas grabbed 2nd and Les in 3rd.

Sport 60 Podium – click to enlarge

Apologies for the lateness and brevity of this report – Work commitments and all that.
An excellent turnout for the first Circuit race of the 2019 season – 9 boats in 7.5 offshore and 35 Offshore promised some exciting racing. In fact only the 3.5 Offshore looked a bit light compared to last year. A lot to get through, and this resulted in a slightly later than usual finish.
The day was thankfully dry, if a bit cold in the morning. It was great to see the new Elmbridge clubhouse up and running after the senseless arson attack of last year and we took advantage of the hot breakfast rolls supplied by the Elmbridge crew. Compliments to all involved in the clubhouse restoration – A superb job.

3.5cc Hydro – A good turnout in 3.5 hydro, with Dave Pillman looking to fill the void left by Leon Morgan taking a break from boating. Now he’s got the bug, might we see Gary Wraight with a 35 hydro in future? Keiths hydro was looking mighty fast today but in the end Phill Fields took the win and the fastest lap of the day in all classes of 10.82 seconds. Keith took 2nd and Dave Marles 3rd.

3.5cc Hydro Podium – click to enlarge

7.5cc Hydro – Armen narrowly took the overall win from Derek with 2 maximums in the first 2 rounds and a 3rd in round 3. Returning racer Tony Jarvis had a decent run in the first round, but didn’t capitalise on this in subsequent rounds. Chas will be disappointed with a low 25 points today as his main rivals get a head start on him in the championship. Gary Wraight was an astonishing overall 3rd with 600 points in his first ever hydro race with an Armen Boldy StingR despite missing the first 2 rounds due to radio issues.

7.5cc Hydro Podium – click to enlarge

15cc Hydro – 2016 iMBRA 15cc Hydro World Champion Phill Fields dominated the 15cc Hydro class with 3 out of 4 maximums, giving him a healthy 1,200 point early lead in the championship. All the other competitors failed to finish due to various reliability issues.

15cc Hydro Podium – click to enlarge

3.5cc Offshore – MPBA Chairman Mick Fields dominated the class with an 80 lap total, 35 laps clear of 2nd placed Dave Clay. Luke grabbed 3rd.

3.5cc Offshore Podium – click to enlarge

7.5cc Offshore – Mick Buonaiuto is a different character altogether in circuit, driving far more aggressively than he does with his multi! Mick takes the overall win from Chas and Mick Fields

7.5cc Offshore Podium – click to enlarge

15cc Offshore – Rob Daniel takes the overall win from Mick Buonaiuto and Les Wall.

15cc Offshore Podium – click to enlarge

35cc Offshore – To be honest, this was the one we were waiting for! With 9 boats competing, we were in for a wild time and generally were not disappointed! The internet was buzzing ahead of this race with the main protagonists not wasting any opportunity to have a pop at their rivals. A surprise late entry from silent assassin James Taylor must have got the rest of the field worrying given his domination in 27cc multi. James reputation is well deserved and he ended up with an incredible 2nd place by the narrowest of margins to 2018 Nationals winner Mark Wraight. Pretty remarkable given James was running a brand new untrimmed boat! Grahame Morgan also surprised everyone with the fastest overall lap with his new Kraken / Tiger King

Plenty of drama in this class with some spectacular crashes. Here’s one of the highlights – Dave Pillman and Neil Ward Clash:

35cc Offshore Podium – click to enlarge

Sport 60 – Sport 60 King Les takes the overall win from Adrian and Chas. We thought Vince had brought a shotgun when his engine in the Jaguar backfired!

Sport 60 Podium – click to enlarge