We enjoyed good weather yet again, cloudy chilly start but it did warm up a bit later. Due to no entries in the 3.5 hydro class we had a forshortened race card,.This was cut again when someone managed to right off 2 boats on the same buoy, thus eliminating the 15 hydro class, there only being 2 boats entered.
The 7.5 offshore class enjoyed some good close racing and was one of the highlight races of the day. The open offshore class continues to be the dominant class with 9 entries. With so many boats & with the speed of these, driving needs to be improved. When racing it is imperative that lines are held. I would suggest that all take time to review the race rules both MPBA & IMBRA, as one refers to the other.
Let’s all hope that next year we all enjoy better reliability have our boats sorted properly & have fuller heats.
Again, it is thanks to the Elbridge guys for manning the catering side of things. Brilliant job yet again
The unadopted minutes from the AGM held on Sunday have been sent out in a separate email. Please have a read & if you have any queries or additions let me know.
That’s all for now, hope you all enjoyed the racing this year & looking forward to next year.
Regards to all.
Grahame

A final word

I wasn’t able to attend the second day, so thanks again to Grahame for the write up.

3.5cc

Only 3 out of the 9 starters managed a full run. Dave Hole continued his good form from Putten with a top score of 52 in the first round. Hot on his heels though were the 2 juniors. Only Daves driving beat Jackson, but Thomas will need a faster boat to trouble the seniors although he did win the second heat outright! The second round was littered with stoppages so nobody improved their placings. Dave puts some daylight between himself and Iain Pickersgill with this win. Only one of these 2 can win the title this year now and it’s likely to hinge on the last race.

3.5cc Podium – Seniors

3.5cc – The REAL Podium

7.5cc

Only 4 boats in 7.5 and 3 in 15 so we combined them into one race. Surprisingly, the top 3 were all 7.5s. Mike Gelson was uncharacteristically having bogging issues all day with his 15cc boat although he did enough laps to win that class. Andrew Aykroyd takes the win and it’s now between Andrew and Robert Daniel for the 2022 7.5cc drivers title.
Geoff Parmenters trusty Pegasus unfortunately took a near fatal blow after a freak accident with Andrew Aykroyd:

Geoffs Damage

7.5cc Podium

15cc

Only 3 entrants in the 15cc which is really poor. Is the writing on the wall for 15cc? Or will the noise issues associated with the 27cc class keep the 15cc in business for some time yet? At Internationals, there are still plenty of 15cc entries.
Everyone seemed to have issues today and nobody did a full run. They all got beat by 7.5s. Not great.
Mike Gelson has the 2022 drivers title in the bag – A long time since his last win in 2009!

15cc Podium

27cc

We saw some of the best racing of the day between Andrew Aykroyd and James Taylor before James broke his engine. Oddly none of the 27 scores beat the top 3 of the 7.5s which is very unusual. Andrew edged Dave Marles to take the win. Andrew has the drivers championship wrapped up on 182 points.

27cc Podium

A final word

The low number of entries is again disappointing, particularly in the 7.5 and 15cc classes. Look at how many we had back in 2009

With 3 World Champions and a Silver Medalist in 3.5cc Hydro, this class provided the best racing of the day. Work pressures again means the following report is again courtesy Grahame Morgan

Podiums

The meeting was pretty well attended, which was great to see. Most classes managed to have at least 3 entries, which at least meant a chance of having a meaningful race. The one downside was the sport 60, just a single entrant. Another issue is people not turning up when booked in. This means more work to rearrange heats and can lead to people missing out on racing due to low numbers. We will always try to give everyone a chance to run, this is especially important as they may have traveled a long way.
If you book in for an event and subsequently find you cannot make it, please let us know. This can be done via the MPBA website or by email to Keith or myself.
Anyway we got the meeting off very early, which was great as weather was hot and sunny and helped those travelling get away at a reasonable time for journey home.
Weh ope you all enjoyed the day and had safe trips home. Thanks for your support. Thanks also to the Elmbridge guys who slaved away in the heat cooking a endless supply of food for both breakfast and lunch. Well done chaps much appreciated.
There is no event in August, this is planned so you can all enjoy a month off for the IMBRA World Championships, holidays or to get your boats properly sorted for reliability, which some suffer from more than others.
So the next meeting will be the charity event on September 17/18. This was run for the first time last year and proved very successful, raising more than £1,000 for Cancer Research charity. The format will be the same with multi racing on Saturday 17th and circuit on Sunday 18th. Camping onsite is available if needed and food will available both days. Please bring your own mugs for tea/coffee at reduced rate.
If you have any bits and pieces you would like to donate for sale or sell (with a donation to charity funds) please bring along.
Finally all boats must meet the MPBA noise limit requirements. This applies to multi boats as well. It would be good if someone in the multi section could highlight this to those racers.
One final point – There are updated circuit section rules. these will shortly be added to the MPBA website but here’s a heads up on them. Changes are paras 1.7 & 5.1.
Enjoy the good weather, stay safe and look forward to seeing you all in September.
Regards
Grahame

A final word

Elmbridge is under an hour’s travelling for me and it’s just nice day out by a lake. It’s the exception rather than the rule for more than 2 boats to finish any race these days. That’s really not what you expect for a National Competition.

As usual, the organisers would appreciate it if people booked in as soon as they know they are coming. I could not stay for the whole day on Sunday, so the following report is from Grahame Morgan.

Podiums

Having just held our annual Circuit Section Nationals I thought I would write a short report of the event.

Having had the Multi section Masters event on the Saturday 11th, the Circuit event was on the Sunday 12th. With good weather we were set for a good day of racing. Numbers were very much down this year. This resulted in there not being a 3.5 hydro race. The 15 hydro, 7.5 & 15 offshore classes only had 3 competitors each. Luckily the 35 offshore had a good entry of 10 racers. This is turning into a very popular class.

Racing got under way at at around 10.30am, which is early for us but bode well for an early finish. However, throughout the day we had delays, this was mainly down to low numbers, having to wait while boat issues were sorted to enable the maximum number to race. It’s always disappointing to see so few boats start a race but worse still that none finish. Then as the day went on attrition took it’s toll & numbers dropped again. Luckily the 35 offshore class put on a reasonable show. With some new competitors entering, this class is looking up. During the heats there were some fallers, I think more from water conditions than anything mechanical, as with 10 boats the water did get a bit choppy.

By the time of the prize giving it was quite late on & some who had long journeys home had departed, we still have your trophies.

I hope you all had a good day & got home safely, Thanks to all who turned up & to those who helped out during the day to enable racing to go ahead.

Thanks also to the members of the host club, Elmbridge for supporting the event & catering for the masses, much appreciated.

One last thing, the section on your behalf spent £495 on trophies (everything has gone up in price) for this event. Entry fees did not come anywhere near covering the cost even before we had paid Elmbridge for use of lake. A vote was taken at the prize giving where it was agreed that this sort of money, given the low turnout was too much. So for next time there will be some prizes that will be of the consumable type, drinkable & edible.

Well that’s it, hope you can all make the next meeting which is on the 10th July.
Grahame

A final word

As Graham said, a little less attrition would improve the racing.

3.5cc

Originally we had 13 entrants, but with a late withdrawal and a simply rude no-show, we combined the split into a single 11 boat race. This didn’t make a lot of difference as the usual mechanical unreliability or bad driving soon whittled this down into fairly pedestrian rounds. Very unusual not to see Zack on the podium but experimenting with new settings today meant no full runs.
Dave Hole took the overall win by 1 lap from Ian Pickersgill with Grahame Morgan completing the podium. Good to see another driver getting some consistency in finishing.
Dave extends his lead in the 3.5 Drivers Championship with Iain 12 points adrift in 2nd. These 2 are now more than a whole race win in front of 3rd placed Robert Daniel
Thomas made his first Multi start of the year and edged Jackson for top junior but having missed 4 races is still way behind in the Junior Championship

3.5cc Podium

Top Junior – Thomas

7.5cc

A 6 boat entry, but again marred by unreliability with only 3 of the drivers scoring more than single figures.
Mick Szebeko took the overall win from Steve Clements and Dave Humphries. Dave H was unable to recapture the speed and reliability he showed last weekend in Therdonne, France where he placed 5th in the 7.5 A final alongside some top class competition.
Andrew Aykroyd takes the lead in the 7.5 Drivers Championship, leapfrogging Robert Daniel.

7.5cc Podium

15cc

Some decent racing in the 15cc class, with good battles between James, Mike and Terry. Vlad found some extra performance in his boat and can expect to compete for more podiums with a further few minor adjustments to both the boat and strategy!
James extends his lead in the 15 Drivers Championship. Terry gains ground (water) on Vlad

15cc Podium

27cc

Best racing of the day saw James Taylor take the overall win from Dave Marles and Mick Pain.
Andrew Aykroyd retains his lead in the 27 Drivers Championship. Despite only a 4th place today, the new T8 ran very well for its 1st outing and Andrew has now been able to sell the 7.4 knowing he has a great replacement.
On a personal note, this crash between Dave Pillman and Dave Marles is one of the best action sequences I’ve ever captured. The 6th photo, and the one featured at the top of this page is as good as any professional could achieve 😉

27cc Podium

A final word

Sorry for the short report, not enough time with work commitments.
I’m still in 2 minds whether the Saturday Multi / Sunday Circuit is a better format, but I was going to both days regardless as it’s not too far for me to travel.
Endurance (Multi) racing in the UK continues to be plagued by mechanical failures or poor driving. The default tendency to use the right-stick to swerve instead of the left (throttle) by several competitors causes crashes and DNFs. All the time. Whilst that might be good for me as a photographer, it does little for the quality of competition when 3 boats out of 11 are left running after the first 5 minutes. To parrot an old cliche – To Finish first, first you have to finish.

Statics

Static shots of most of the competitors boats

Podiums

Podium Pics

3.5 Hydro

Dave Marles takes the win with a maximum in round 1 and 2 starts. Not a good day for Keith and Martin with no finishes. Dave leads the 2022 Drivers Championship on 450

7.5 Hydro

Long time absentee Steve Clements has kept his form, finishes every round and just pips Martin Fields’ 2 maximums and a start. Del Owen takes 3rd with a consistent 3 finishes. No so good for Tony Jarvis today with just one start in the final round. Derek still leads the Championship by 475 points as Steve missed round 1

15 Hydro

Derek Owen took a comfortable win with 2 maximums. Tony Jarvis managed just one start and Dave Marles didn’t get off the bank due to engine troubles. Del leads the 15h Championship

3.5 Offshore

It was great to see MPBA Chairmain Mick Fields out and about again. Mick drives his offshore like a multi – buoy to buoy so there’s no chance of overtaking him on the inside. Mick took a comfortable win with a total of 69 laps. Another long-time-no-see competitor, Thomas took 2nd place with 44. Dean had suffered all day with water ingress and could only manage 3 laps in the final round. Mick jumps to the top of the O3.5 Championship.

7.5 Offshore

Les and Mick enjoyed a good battle in the 7.5O class. Les emerges victorious by 9 laps. Les sits atop the O7.5 Championship with maximum points from 2 races.

15 Offshore

Mick B beats Mark Rice by just 4 laps but Mark still leads the O15 Championship by a slim 3 point margin from Les

35 Offshore

Dave Marles won this class after battling through some demolition derby style heats. Here’s a couple of crash sequences from the many. Jonathan Wilkins showed everyone how to drive with his electric powered boat and giant cells. James Taylor still leads the O35 Championship by 9 points despite todays engine troubles.

Sport 60

Adrian Marshall just pipped Les Wall for the win scoring 1,100 to Les’ 1,000. The Sport 60 Championship will likely be contested by these 2 with nothing really separating them in terms of speed.

A final word

A great day out, lovely weather, some spectacular crashes captured, some new faces and the return of some old ones. Looking forward to the 2 day Masters / Nationals on the 11/12 June.

Commentary

The rust had really set in over the winter and the day was littered with a series of crashes, with one unfortunately causing a huge amount of damage:

All the competitors

A final word

It’s always good to be at Elmbridge as it’s not far from home for me and the great weather meant a nice Sunday by the lake. On the other hand, this is national competition and the standard of driving at certain times was truly shocking. Some blame must also lie with the mechanics for failing to warn of dead boats.

3.5cc
Not the best day for the usual suspects in 3.5cc. Erstwhile Championship leader Keith Burgess was away on holiday, and 2018 3.5cc Drivers Champion Dave Hole leapfrogs Keith and tops the 3.5cc Drivers Championship with 2 races to go. Thanks Dave for pointing out my error in the points allocated!
But congratulations to stalwart Grahame Morgan, a 3-time 3.5cc National Drivers Champion, who returned to the top step of the podium after what seems like a long wait! Colin Croxford has a lot of speed (And revs!) with his Nova Mephisto and grabbed 2nd place
Recent double International podium placer Phill Fields was minding his own business running an engine in when someone ran over the top of him, putting a hole in his radio bay which pretty much ended his day.
The top 6 places were all separated by 1 lap respectively – A better rate of full-runs than we usually get. It makes sense to have a full race rather than split, the racing is better and we’ll only do this when it’s really necessary in future. Our thanks to Tony Ball, who flew in from Portugal to support his Club’s race. Best Lap – Colin Croxford – 17.674

All the 3.5cc boats – Click and scroll

Andrew Aykroyd and Grahame Morgan

3.5cc Podium

7.5cc
I can’t recall seeing this in recent years – The top 5 all finishing within 2 laps. The racing in the UK is often characterised by attrition and ‘racing incidents’, the latter no doubt a consequence of the small-ish lakes we have to run on over here. But today we saw some of the best racing of the year. More of this please! Andrew Aykyoyd tells it like this “I put on a masterclass show of driving in the 7.5 with amazing overtaking manoeuvres”. Do any of the rest of you remember this? Please reply in the comments section.
Dave Marles brought his latest 7.5cc design called “Drakkon” to the race. This boat was so new, the paint was still wet! It looks like the must-have 7.5 boat for 2020, being fast and stable and a step up from the Pegasus Evo. Dave might have had the win today were it not for a fuelling miscalculation causing him to stop with over 40 seconds remaining. At an average lap time of 15 seconds, this would have given him close to 3 extra laps and may have topped Drew. Not bad for the first time on the water!
The race for the GB Team qualifying spot is hotting up, with Julian Waumsley moving ominously close to Robert Daniel after today. An unfortunate coming together of these 2 protagonists allowed Julian to close on Robert by 13 points. Julian admitted it was his fault, and with no judgement given on time-penalties or even disqualification, Julian took 2nd place and 35 points. With 80 available in the last 2 races, Julian could theoretically finish on 190 points with 2 wins and Robert a max theoretical 185. Don’t count out Dave Pillman (Well maybe count him out) or Andrew Aykroyd though. Dave and Andrew have said they are not going to Italy, but a couple of wins for either of them will give them 200+ points and force Robert and Julian to eliminate. Best Lap – Drew – 14.687

Julian and Robert clash – Full sequence

All the 7.5cc boats – Click and scroll

7.5cc Podium

15cc
A tale of 2 Mikes. One last minute drop-out still left us with a reasonable 7 boat race, at least in the first round. Damage or electing not to race meant the 2nd round was contested by just 4 boats. In the end Mikey Hillstead just edged it by 1 lap from Mike Lawson, with Sam Lincoln taking 3rd. It’s great fun to watch Mikey’s Potenza – It’s right on the edge and he drives it super-aggressively. Ross doesn’t hold much back either and we could have done with Mark Wraight and James Taylor to spice it up even further. Both Mark and James’ boats are currently down for maintenance. Best Lap – Mikey – 14.528

Sam goes a bit tight trying to catch Mikey

All the 15cc boats

Mikey and Mike battle

15cc Podium

27cc
Well would you believe it, after an absence of a few years, Steve Whenham storms to a win with his brand new Torando 7.4 / Tiger King combination. It looked a completely different boat to its first outing at Elmbridge 2 weeks ago. Fast and stable. Mick Pain was hot on Steve’s heels in 2nd, but characteristically backed out of any potential crash situations and ended up 3 laps down.
James Taylor was trying out a new carburettor and not having much luck, so he switched to the old one for the second round but was still having issues. James thinks he may have bent a rod and the squish had changed. His 4 wins so far make him untouchable and assured of the GB Team spot. Best lap and fastest of the day – Dave Marles 14.127

All the 27cc boats

27cc Podium

3.5cc
Due to the lack of numbers available for pitting / rescue duties, we had to split the 3.5cc into 2 heats of 5. Not ideal, but with only 18 racers in total, we were left with no choice. Obviously this resulted in less exciting races as the usual attrition meant we were often left with just a couple of boats on the water.
Keith Burgess put in another full run, a remarkable turnaround in reliability from recent seasons and he leapfrogs 2018 3.5cc Drivers Champion Dave Hole to take top spot in the Championship and pole position for the iMBRA 2020 qualifying spot. However, he was not quite quick enough to beat Julian Waumsley who has stepped up a gear since buying Leon Morgan’s Falcon 1. Geoff took 3rd place, but what has happened to Dave Clay who was tied for 1st place in the championship with Andrew Aykroyd after round 3? 2 7th place finishes in a row has put Dave on the back foot. Best Lap – Zack – 18.365

All the 3.5cc boats – Click and scroll

3.5cc Podium

7.5cc
A single 7-boat 7.5cc heat produced some of the best racing of the day, with Julian Waumsley, Martin Fields and Ross Waumsley neck and neck at one point. It was good to see Martin finally get a full run in with his Jeykll and this shows perseverance pays off! Martin also set all 20 of the fastest laps!
Martins Story
Not quite enough to topple Julian though, who is in great form following his podium in Oudenaarde. No change at the top of the 7.5cc Drivers Championship with Robert Daniel still the clear leader and in pole position for the iMBRA 2020 spot. Best Lap – Martin – 16.872

All the 7.5cc boats – Click and scroll

7.5cc Podium

15cc
Only 2 15cc boats turned up so we combined them with the 27cc. Zack and Ross were just here with their 15cc boats to tick off one of the 2 domestic races required for GB Team qualification. Ross beat Zack. Best Lap – Zack – 16.145

Both 15cc boats

15cc Podium

27cc
A welcome win for perennial bridesmaid Mick Pain! James Taylor, had an interesting day with the tube inside his fuel tank disintegrating, prompting an unorthodox repair involving a metal tent peg! James was also struggling with engine setup due to water temperature and a couple of stops in each heat meant he could only get to within 4 laps of Mick. Mike Broad took 3rd place, well adrift of Mick and James after several stops. Steve Whenham’s new 27cc has some pace, but he’ll need to spend a bit more time on setup and trimming before it’s fully race-ready. Best lap and fastest of the day – James 16.12

All the 27cc boats

27cc Podium

3.5cc
The first heat did not require a single rescue boat intervention. This is very unusual and no doubt contributed to the best 3 lap scores being set in Round 1. Nobody was able to improve or beat these scores in Round 2, which was interrupted by a rescue boat failure. The race was stopped and restarted, but several people pointed out that there is a possible flaw in the rules in these circumstances – A boat which has nearly completed a lap when the race is stopped will lose that lap, then has to complete another full lap on the restart. This can result in a competitor losing nearly 2 laps compared to a stoppage-free heat. Would this have changed the result today? Probably yes. Andrew Aykroyd would have had at least one more lap and this would have put him on the podium and most likely given him the win. He didn’t do himself any favours though as he missed a buoy near the end resulting in a further 1 lap penalty. Unlike International events, UK rules do not allow circling of missed buoys, a rule brought in as the UK lakes are generally smaller than continental ones, and circling boats would potentially cause an unnecessary hazard.
With the top 4 boats all with 1 lap of each other, Leon Morgan took the win in the 2nd outing of his new Falcon. Leon said this was mainly a fuel endurance test for him before the World Champs and he was much less aggressive than at the Masters last month. He did turn on the afterburners towards the end of the race though and showed the boat has the speed necessary to do well in France. Nigel Smith grabbed 2nd place, his Ikarus 2 / Nova Keep proving fast and reliable. Mark Wraight took 3rd place, having reverted to the CMB pipe on his Falcon and regained his old speed.
Dave Clay had a tough weekend, breaking his Nova and stripping a gear, allowing Dave Hole to extend his lead at the top of the 3.5cc table, although the gap is only 8 points in reality after deduction of the worst score (8 out of 9 count, but with Maidstone cancelled, this season will be best 7 out of 8)

7.5cc
Could this be Dave Pillmans first title year? He certainly has the boat to do it and with others saving their boats for the World Championships, now is his chance. However, Dave himself thinks a bit differently and is all about trying to be the fastest. What we saw in Round 1 was some incredible racing between Dave and Andrew Aykroyd with their boats inches apart. This was only ever going to end up one way and it wasn’t that long until we were treated to a spectacular crash. Dave almost made up for this by winning Round 2, but in typical fashion snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by stopping one minute from the end!

15cc
A surprisingly decent turn out in the 15cc class which has somewhat declined in popularity due to the extremely high cost of a competitive engine and the amount of fuel they consume. From the 4 GB Team qualifiers for France, only Sam Lincoln entered this event for the purposes of running in and testing engines. Both Sam and Gary Wraight tried as hard as they could to give James Taylor a run for his money, but another top drive from James claimed an emphatic win by 6 laps over 2nd place Gary. Can anyone stop James claiming a 9th Drivers title this year? We don’t think so, but with 120 points still to fight for in the last 3 races, anything can happen. Terry Holmes grabbed 3rd spot, but ended up with a [sg_popup id=”36″ event=”click”]broken crankcase[/sg_popup] on his CMB91.

27cc
Another walk in the park for James Taylor, finishing 9 laps up on 2nd placed Paul Adams. Realistically, only Ian Folkson can consistently compete with James in the 27cc and he was unable to attend this weekend. Steve Baxter was testing a new build for the World Championships, but this didn’t go well after the boat turned over, lost the aerial cap and flooded the radio box. Some repairs and more testing required. No Dave Marles today after a scuba dive by Dean Lord to retrieve a boat from the bottom of a lake. Terry Holmes finished 3rd, a double-podium today to maybe cheer him up for the broken 91 engine.