2005 Victorian Drag Boat Titles Report

2005.05.06 NWSC Carrum Victoria - The second last race weekend for season 2004-2005, saw the Victorian Drag Boat Club host the Annual Victorian State Titles, a race that usually brings them out of the woodwork. Typically, the weather this season has certainly seen the end of the drought in most places around Australia, and, if you want to bring rain and some other bad weather to a drought affected area, just schedule a drag boat race at a lake near you! For some unknown reason, the week days for a couple of weeks prior to a race day, sees sunshine most days, little wind and perfect conditions for racing. But, come race weekend, the rain comes, the wind howls, and the temperature drops to near blizzard conditions. The Victorian State Titles was no exception. Saturday was cool and windy, and overnight heavy rain turned the pro boat pit area on Sunday, into a quagmire, which saw a lot of boats seeking alternative pit space in front of the large rowing shed where the shelter from the wind and the mud, bought some relief for the boat crews. Although the rain was done for the day, the cool temperature was perfect for the blown boats, but the wind was not. The race course was affected by a southerly wind, blowing right down the middle of the National Water Sports Centre, and this delayed the TAH boats, for 3 hours.

The conditions started to improve after the drivers meeting, held at 9.30am, and with boats filling the holding rope for a warm up session, the crowd started to fill the bank, the breakfast bar was working overtime and the clouds gave way to sunshine, which stayed with us for the remainder of the day. Still, with a wind that was easing off a little, the bracket boats hit the water for round 1, in what was to become a very good race day in the end. Boat numbers were down this year, perhaps the cooler weather now and the start of the football season, maybe owners and drivers doing other things than wanting to race boats. With the Signature Spas High Points Championship points on the line, those that entered secured much needed points, in the battle to be Number 1 for their respective class.

Some noticeable boats not present were Craig Cook’s TAH ‘Thunder from Down Under’ as well the new TFH ‘Nitro Thunder’, Tony Williams with ‘Reflections’ TAH , Malcolm Forsythe with ‘Thunderbolt’ TAH, Dave Armitage in ‘Clean Flow’ BHL, Dale Bramhall with ‘Altered Image’ LHU (overseas), Gary James in ‘Dad’s Toy’, BAF and Marty Lynch with the ‘Flamed & Flat’ machine, SC, which is still being repaired, Shane Quinn with ‘Cocaine’ PC, and ‘ Sensation’, Nicky Ellis, just to name a few.

But, you have to be thankful for those that did turn up and one of those was the Top Alcohol Hydro, ‘The Piece’ and popular driver, Rocky Princi. who came out for his first runs of the season. The Kurtis 501 Hydro has had a complete ‘makeover’, with a brand new paint job, and it looked awesome. The ‘Silver Bullet’ TAH of Alan Muir joined Rocky in the muddy pit area, along with the Blown Hydro Under (BHL), ‘Annihilation’ of Alan Butcher. As mentioned, the race officials made a call to wait until the water was a little better to race on, before sending the boats to the holding rope.

Stock Eliminator (66-75mph) saw only 3 entries, ‘Deceptive’, Matt Smith, ‘Show no Mercy’, Ben Coughlin, and ‘Robbie Marine Products’, David Kula. With such a low number of boats, this opened the door to the drivers in the class, the opportunity to take the title. Water conditions were suiting the bracket boats, and the racing was excellent. The battle for the points however, was between, ‘Deceptive’ and ‘Show no Mercy’, for the Victorian Title. David Kula, in ‘Robbie Marine Products’, although competitive, was having propeller problems and experimenting with a couple of props, trying to gain some upper hand. The ‘Deceptive’ machine was as quick off the line as we had seen all season, and this was going to be a tough day for Ben, when the trophy dash came around. With ‘Robbie Marine Products’ a little off the pace this day, the final round was going to decide once and for all, who will be the Victorian Champion. ‘Deceptive’ had lane 1 and ‘Show no Mercy’ drew lane 2, in what would become the closest final for the day. When the dust settled, it was ‘Show no Mercy’ who took the line call, to become the Stock Eliminator, Victorian Champion for 2005, with the ‘Deceptive’ machine of Matt and Dean Smith relegated to runner up spot. It’s the second time in two races that ‘Deceptive’ has been ‘pipped at the post’. Ben now holds both the Australian and Victorian Titles to his name.

The Modified Stock class (76-85 mph) saw only 4 entries as well, those being ‘Outkast’, Karl Fitzsimons in the small block powered Stephens hull, ‘Merlin’, Esmund Muller in his new Thurgar hull (ex ‘Alien’), The Warrior’, Paul Scott and ‘Flat Broke’, Rob Alexander in what was another titanic battle for supremacy for these guys. The flatbottom of Rob Alexander was really off the pace, suffering from a lack of horsepower, however the handling problems that the boat had shown recently had been dramatically improved, as the boat sat nice and flat on the water. The ‘Warrior’ and ‘Flat Broke’ were having a great race on their own, leaving the two class leaders, ‘Outkast’ and ‘Merlin’ battle it out on their own. When the final round came around, these two battled it for the trophy and the title. At the finish line, ‘Outkast’ and Merlin’ both crossed the line together and could not be separated. In fairness to both boats, the starter recalled them to the holding rope. It was as this time, that the ‘Merlin’ machine could not make the rerun. With a flat battery in ‘Merlin’, and passing the allocated time, the race secretary called for the break boat rule, and uploaded the ‘Warrior’ into the rerun final. Having too much power on the ever improving ‘Warrior’, the ‘Outkast’ machine of Karl and Tammy Fitzsimons, took another Victorian Title back home, and well deserved.

In the Super Stock class (86-95mph) again another disappointing field of 3 boats took to the rope. With regular boats like ‘Arrogant’, ‘Missile’, ‘Wizard’ and ‘Outcast’ all absent on the day, the three entries all had the chance to become the Victorian Champion of the class. ‘Rattler 11’, Les Tomada, ‘Trippa’, Chris Buhagiar and the toughest to beat in the class this season, ‘Energy’, David Howie, it was going to go down to who could handle the pressure better at the lights. Les Tomada in ‘Rattler 11’, gave it his all this day, finishing with equal points at the end of the day with Chris Buhagiar driving the quick ‘Trippa’ machine, the outright leader being the ‘Energy’ boat. When the points are tied up, the computer calculates the fastest speed between the two tied boats, and then the quickest ET. ‘Trippa’ was the lucky or unlucky boat, going into the final to meet the class ‘scrooge’, David Howie, in ‘Energy’, because he gives no quarter to any one!  Lights flash, solid green, both boats launch, the race was close, and the winner was ‘Trippa’, by a margin that saw the timing beams break nearly simultaneously. The line judge called it a whisker, so the trophy went to David Buhagiar in ‘Trippa’, and his elated crew, who have battled hard to knock off the all the conquering ‘Energy’ machine this season. The ‘Energy’ boat has been one of the most consistent boats on the liquid quarter mile, but drag boat racing is like that. The ‘Trippa’ team have been snapping at the heals of David Howie all season, so it looks like the final round at the NWSC on May 29^th, will see these two giants battle it out for the High Points Championships.

With no entries in the Super Comp bracket, (96-105mph), usual SC driver Graham Mott, “the excitement machine” as he’s called, driving ‘She’s Mad’, elected to go up to the new Pro Comp (106-115mph) bracket, to take on old foe, Tony Tippelt driving ‘Armageddon’, who stepped up this season. With Marty Lynch’s ‘Flamed & Flat’ still at the repair shop, Graham made the move up a class, to really stretch out the boat, and to test the new boys in PC. The Shane Quinn driven ‘Cocaine’ flatbottom, didn’t make it to the race track, although his crew did, and they spent the day on the phone wondering what happened to boat and driver. Seems a problem arose, and Shane reluctantly decided to ‘pull the pin’ on the race day. The John Bynon owned, Mark Potter driven Big Block Ford powered machine ‘Fordmidable’ has been giving both John and Mark, some anxious moments this season with the way the boat has been handling, the boat making some weird moves down the track, even crossing the centre line at one race meeting a while back. With some changes to the boat, the ‘Fordmidable’ machine looked a lot different, and meant business. The ‘Ford’ versus ‘Chev’ rivalry has really gained some popularity with race fans, all cheering for one or the other, with the drivers giving it their all for the brands. The ‘She’s Mad’ boat opened everyone’s eyes at one stage, with a single pass recorded at 107.17 mph, as having run most of its life around the 102-103mph mark. We think even Graham was surprised to hear the speed, denying he had leant on the engine a little to frighten the regulars. ‘Fordmidable’ and ‘Armageddon’ were again the two standouts in the bracket, going at each other like a couple of prize fighters in the ring, giving each other a nice workout. When the bell sounded for the last round, it was again, the ‘Armageddon’ machine that took the points result. A much happier Mark Potter was pleased with the handling of the ‘Fordmidable’ boat, and was disappointed not to get the Victorian Title for owner, “Big” John Bynon.

The Blown Alcohol Displacements gave everyone their monies worth, with some terrific close passes, that bought the race fans to their feet. Again, only three made the call, ‘Fierce’ driven by Phil Russi, Russell Palmer at the wheel of his ‘Stone Cold’ machine and ‘Unleashed’ driven by Brett Sheppard, who was lucky to make the call, due to a circuit race mishap the weekend prior. The ‘Unleashed’ boat arrived at the Victorian Titles with race tape holding the side of the boat on, after a coming together with a Formula 1 outboard at a circuit race in Adelaide, but came to the NWSC ready to take the prize home. Missing on the day was the ‘Rhythm’ machine of Rod Cooney and also ‘Rival’, John Bakker. Phil Russi had his heart set on the Victorian title from the start, as a great gesture for his son Mark, who was injured in a motor vehicle accident last year. It was a tough day for Phil, the big blown boat launching hard off the line, quite a few times, and once set, was hard to beat. Brett Sheppard was giving Phil a run for his money, the ‘Fierce’ machine giving its best with a pass of 122.33 mph. Brett ran a 119.01mph pass, and looked clean from start to finish. Russell Palmer in the blown small block was giving the others a good race, but in the end succumbed to bigger cubes, but not without making both Phil and Brett work hard for the final. When the final race was done, it was an emotional winner, Phil Russi, who, with tears in his eyes, thanked his son Mark, for the strength to keep going, when it was easy to quit. This Victorian Title was dedicated to Mark, and Phil received the biggest applause from all who remained for the trophy presentations.

The Hydros ran a couple of passes through the day, the ‘Silver Bullet’ doing some engine damage on it’s first run along side Rocky Princi in ‘The Piece’. ‘Silver Bullet’ crew chief Steve Baird could not repair the boat in time, and the engine was already being prepared to be removed by the crew and taken back to the workshop. Alan Butcher in ‘Annihilation’ keeps getting better and better each time the boat runs, and engine tuner Bob Fisher, has plenty left in the tune up to show us all, once driver Alan has a handle on the machine. The ‘Annihilation’ machine is still turning numbers around the 170 mph mark, not bad for a blown small block Chev! But it was crowd favourite Rocky Princi who thrilled the crowd with the boat getting a couple of real nice runs in, the quickest being a 189.39mph pass, that looked as good as any pass he has run. Obviously, the lay off has not affected Rocky’s ability as a driver, and the boat looked a million dollars with the new paint job. Unfortunately, the boat threw a blower belt late in the afternoon, and put paid to another good pass.

So, on a chilly Autumn Sunday, the Victorian Drag Boat Club conducted a pretty sharply run 2005 Victorian State Title event. Even though many drivers and boat owners chose to sit it out, those that did race, enjoyed an action packed day of close racing, and no one went home the worse for wear. With one race meeting to go, to decide the 2004-2005 Signature Spas High Points Championships for all classes, you think, just think, that the missing boats will reappear on May 29th at the NWSC to put the icing on the cake, for a very successful season of quality drag boat racing. Don’t miss it!

Contributed by Gary James