We saw a really impressive turnout at Elmbridge for round 1 of the 2018 MPBA Circuit National Drivers Championship, including 5 junior entries. This was the first race booked in with the new MPBA designed forms, making the race organisers job a lot easier and the response was very positive. We also had enough entries to run a separate 3.5cc Offshore race numbering more than the 7.5cc for the first time.

7.5cc Hydro – Derek Owen took the win with Armen Boldy 2nd and Chas Tedder 3rd. Chas had a Specsavers moment in the final heat, hitting the transponder line float at full bore! Martin Fields brought along a new 3.5cc Hydro but could not get it going right. We’re sure he’ll have it perfect at the next race.
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15cc / Gas Hydro – Dave Marles takes the win with his 27cc rigger powered by a Tiger King motor. Dave was flying, literally. In the final heat, the boat took off at the end of the pit straight and seemed to spend an eternity in the air before eventually hitting the left bank. Miraculously, there was no damage. Unfortunately we didn’t have the camera out for this as it had started raining. Armen Boldy took 2nd with his 15cc StingR hydro, setting the fastest lap of the day at 11.254 seconds. Phill Fields took 3rd.
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3.5cc Offshore – A brilliant one-two by Team Folkson, with Miha beating his World Champion dad Ian. Ably pitted by Andrew Buonaiuto, Miha nailed the starts and took the win. This duo is looking strong in the juniors for the 2018 iMBRA World Championships in August. Luke grabbed 3rd spot in his first race! Top showing from all the juniors today. The futures looking bright!
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7.5cc Offshore – A great first outing for Dave Marles’ new 7.5 Kraken 42, a scaled-down version of his 15cc/Gas boat. Mick Fields took 2nd with his tight driving and Julian Waumsley 3rd
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15cc Offshore – Les Wall takes the win. Nice to see Steve Whenham back racing again.
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35cc Offshore – Neil Ward takes the win
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Sport 60 – Adrian Marshall from Les Wall and Thomas Clements
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Reigning iMBRA 3.5cc European Champion Zack continued his great form from 2017 and took 2nd place, just losing out to reigning iMBRA 3.5cc and 7.5cc World Champion Andras Berta who also won the 7.5cc class. A good start for Zack in this World Championship year.
Zack was unfortunately not able to repeat this success in the 15cc class which was marred by excessive wind across the lake, turning the race into a lottery. Zack was however, pleased with his new Prestwich Models Tornado T7, and said “We are getting there, still some way to go but the speed is good.”

Ian continued his great 2017 form which saw him gain a wildcard qualification for the 2018 iMBRA World Championships by taking 3rd in the 27cc class. The 27cc final was also significantly affected by the wind and Ian grabbed the podium place by anticipating the efect of the water conditions with good strategy. Ian said “Very windy. I decided to down prop and make sure I finished the race. Once I could see it was going to be windy I ran my oldest 2016 motor on a long pipe.”

Miha was competing in his 4th International, gaining valuable experience for the World Championships in August and holding his own against several older racers.

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.

The picture on the left is the finished boat in action in Oudenaarde 2017.

The boat is an Ikarus 2.3 by Prestwich Models.

It has a custom deck designed by Ian. The engine is a CMB 21 Beta Evo, CMB tuned pipe, receiver and servos are from Futaba. All other parts including custom 3 part tanks and float chamber by Ian’s Boats.

Click on a picture for description.