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
>

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

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.

As we enter mid-season, every class is wide open with the only significant gap of 12 points being held by new 3.5cc leader Mark Wraight. As usual, full heat and lap breakdown available. Additional photos in our Google Gallery

3.5cc – The airwaves of the internet were chocka with friendly (And not so friendly) banter durng the week and ‘DNF’ Dave Pillman overcame his usual reliability problems to take the win. No TowRope or GPS required. Mr #boughtnotbuilt Mark Wraight was hot on his heels in 2nd and Colin Croxford (No nickname as far as we know) took 3rd.

Click on a boat for fullsize image:

7.5cc – A superb maiden win with his #boughtnotbuilt 8 Ball for Gary Wraight sees him climb the table after his 3rd in the first outing at the Masters. Steve Clements took a solid 2nd and Martin Fields came in 3rd after only fuelling for 18 minutes instead of 20!

15cc – 2 in a row for Dave Marles following his victory at the Masters in June. Dave has his Tornado T7 really flying and reliable. Terry Holmes grabbed 2nd, sending him to the top of the 15cc table, replacing previous joint leaders Mark Wraight and Mike Holiday who took 3rd.

27cc – James Taylor took the win, making it 2 in a row and is in great form in this World Championship eliminator year. Steve Baxter took second, underlining his consistency with his new boat. Another good performance from Terry Holmes, taking 3rd spot means he’s overall top in the 27cc, replacing Mick Pain who has now missed a few races after a strong start.

Juniors – Thomas and Miha both put on good performances and are now tied for the Championship lead. They’ll soon be beating the seniors!

Our thanks go to the Elmbridge Club for hosting this event and to the many people involved in its running. The racing program alternating between a ‘M’ course and an ‘Oval’ meant the course had to be re-deployed twice over the 2-day event.