Official VDBC Race Report
February 17th 2008 - NWSC

Sunday February 17th 2008, NWSC - It’s been a long time between drinks for the weather and track conditions to finally all come together in one place, but finally that’s what happened for the Victorian Drag Boat Club on February 17th as their Summer Drag Boat Nationals proved to be just that. Water conditions were the best they had been for a long time and the drivers enjoyed some great racing as the day produced temperatures in the high 30’s (around 96 degrees). The crowd came out to play and enjoyed a fast action packed day. The highlight of the day was Chris Buhagiar, debuting his new Pro-Mod Hydro, ‘Trippa’, which was imported from the USA from Todd Ellingson (formerly ‘Under Pressure'). The new boat performed very well with young Chris behind the wheel, and has set a new benchmark for other owners and drivers to source the USA looking for similar boats to buy and ship down under.

The racing was fast and furious with boats filling the holding rope all day. At last we saw some new boats, and some old ones come back out to play. Tony Williams with his capsule hydro, ‘Reflections’, won the long distance award, towing all the way from New South Wales. Tony made 3 passes all in the 150mph range, his quickest being 154.67mph. Justin Foote was back with ‘Dog Style’, an open blown hydro and gave Tony some real good competition for a change. Unfortunately, Gary James’ new Pro Mod hydro ‘Distant Thunder’ didn’t make the day as the boat was not completed in time. Although Tony Williams won every race, the crowd favourite was obviously Buhagiar as most were hoping for a big upset that didn’t eventuate. Russell Palmer with his boat ‘Stone Cold’ was the only entry in the BAD class and race officials, with Russell’s blessing, entered with the hydro class. Although outpaced by the hydros, the crowd loved it and so did Russell! Although, in the pits was Dale Bramhall and the ‘Altered Image’ injected hydro, the boat refused to play after a new magneto was installed and had problems, so didn’t take any part in the on water action.

Stock Eliminator class saw a couple of new drivers, one being VDBC committee member, Caroline Colgan, or Caz as she likes to be called. After one race last month, where she entered the family jet boat in Social Stock, Caz got the bug and went out and bought her own drag boat called, ‘Comited’. Caz’s husband Paul now has two boats to prepare as he races his own boat in Mod.Stock class. To make matters worse for Paul, he now has to put up with Caz’s bragging rights as she demolished the opposition winning 7 races out 7 passes. Shannon Crundwell was another new driver with his boat ‘Noizworks’, and gave the regulars something to worry about. Melissa Foot tried hard all day in ‘The Dog Trainer’, Andrew Cooke had problems with ‘Cut the Mustard’ and ‘XL-Erator’ Troy and Jamie Hurst also had a few engine gremlins. Flash’s Toy’ driven by Trent Donovan faced the starter for the first time in his nice looking rig, but had a few problems and missed 3 rounds of the round robin racing. ‘Running on Empty’ with Andrew Burn at the wheel put up a great show in only his second outing on the liquid quarter mile, and will be a player real soon. Both Caz and Shannon raced off for the final with Caz taking home the trophy in the new boat ‘Comited’, with a speed of 74.751 mph, with ‘Noizworks’ runner up. About time we saw this class reach the levels of what we have been used to with some excellent drag racing from all the boats.

Modified Stock was a tough class all day with ‘White Heat’, Rowan White, ‘Outkast’ Paul Colgan, the big outboard ‘Troycraft’, of Matt Smith, and Robert Oliver in ‘Chase the Ace’. New boat and driver on the day was ‘Strap-on’ driven by Matt Sader, another outboard machine. At the days end though, the final was decided between an inboard and an outboard. As the crowd got involved with the inboard versus outboard duel, stirred up by commentator Alan Joy, the two boats that made the final were ‘White Heat’ and ‘Troycraft’. Rowan White pulled a hole shot on Matt and was never headed and won by about 3 boat lengths with a speed of 82.042 mph. Well done to all competitors in the class in what was some real good solid drag boat racing.

Super Stock class saw some of the toughest boats in the class fight it out. Dave Peters surprised all when he rolled into the pits with a brand new outfit, this time the old boat name ‘Bad to the Bone’ was missing and now the new rig is called ‘Assassin’. The new boat is blown and carburetted and looks like once Dave gets a handle on it will be tough to beat. Doug Kennedy in ‘Infinity’ is super quick and on paper looked hard to beat. Steve Northey towed from Albury, New South Wales with ‘Bender’, and was sure to keep them honest. Tony Foley in ‘Supa Nova’ has spent time on his handling issues and looks to have sorted out his problems, the boat looking so much nicer on the water now. Missing was class bully Esmond Muller, also from Albury with his boat ‘Merlin’, who didn’t make the tow. Doug Kennedy is an amazing driver, his boat ‘Infinity’, is a work of art and never misses a beat. Winning all the rounds, Doug met Steve Northey in the final and as luck would have it, got beat by a boat length by ‘Bender’ with a speed of 89.641 mph. Steve drove a great race, with nothing in it at the finish line. This is a tough class to compete in as all the boats are so evenly matched.

‘Confederate’ driven by first time racer Mark Brennan and third time out driver Mick Trewin in the ‘Moisture Missile’ were the only two competitors in Pro Competition class. With the absence of many top line competitors in the Pro Comp. class so far this season, it has allowed new driver Trewin in his flatbottom ‘Moisture Missile’ to gain some valuable seat time before the Australian National Drag Boat Titles in March. With assistance from Ron Braaksma in dialling in the new boat, Mick has finally settled into the boat, and now some new gears are on the way to give the boat more pull all through the track. The boat has been running out of puff at half track, and RB reckons to up the gearbox ratio so Mick should be a real contender next month. ‘Confederate’ is an awesome looking outboard tunnel hull and when Mark gets a handle on the start light system, will surely give all in the class a run for their money. Hopefully the return of ‘Armegeddon’, ‘She’s Mad’, ‘Fordmidable’ and ‘Flamed & Flat’ will boost the class numbers significantly, before the end of the season.

A couple of the junior drivers put a show on with brothers Ryan and Zac Robertson squared off against each other. Ryan was at the wheel of Craig Farrar’s ‘Maniac’ and Zac was driving his boat ‘Chopper’. The boys put a great show on for the crown in a couple of 3 lap circle race events and showed the public how young kids can get into powerboat racing and have some safe fun.

So the stage is set now for the 2008 Australian National Drag Boat Championships, to be held on March 30th. With Top Fuel once again the main attraction, ‘Nitro Thunder’ is booked to run, attention is sure to given to the new hydros, ‘Distant Thunder’, on track for its debut now, the new ‘Trippa’, ‘Dog Style’ and ‘Altered Image’ are sure to be all starters, to keep the crowds coming in the gate.

A great day and a dress rehearsal for next month’s big event, the 2008 Australian National Drag Boat Championships. With many boats now coming out to play, the VDBC can look forward to an even bigger event in March. Let’s hope the weather god can get together with the water god and produce another sensational day like we had in February. Please……

SEE COMPLETE PHOTO SLIDESHOW HERE