2010 UIM UNLIMITED DISPLACEMENT WORLD POWERBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP
Sponsored by Hungry Jacks
WORLD CHAMPION : TROY MARLAND (Pilot of Madness)
RUNNER UP: TIM MAY (Pilot of The Boss)
3RD PLACE : DEAN BORG (Pilot of Proformance)
6.0 LITRE FASTWATER CUP sponsored by Seidler Aviation
1st Place : Ryan Hall (Pilot of Solace)
2nd Place : Chris Pugsley (Pilot of Oxygen Thief)
3rd Place : Craig Lewis (Pilot of Image)
JUNIOR TEAMS
1st Place : Briney Rigby (Pilot of Cheap Trick)
2nd Place : Ryan Thomson (Pilot of Love to be Blown, which was proudly on loan from Nick Borg)
3rd Place : James Clark (Pilot of Tuff e Nuff)
Fastwater are proud to announce the 2010 UIM Hungry Jacks Unlimited Displacement World Champion to the Madness Team from Australia piloted by Troy Marland and owned by Derek Marland.
With a weekend of thrills and spills, torrential rain, sunshine and some very hard working teams, it was a credit to all involved. Without a doubt the Madness Team has set a huge bench mark for the rest of the teams to step up to, and it will prove to everyone whom wants to be the best, this is who you have to beat.
Saturday morning was a catch up from the cancellation of practice on Friday due to the rain, with most boat taking to the water to do some laps on the new Gol Gol course, which proved to be a very fast and safe course and offered the boats are good fast start close to all the spectators.
Racing on Saturday brought some hiccups for teams. Typhoon piloted by Nigel Agnew, only managed a couple of laps before suffering fatal engine problems and whilst they managed to get back out again, they only managed a couple of laps before retiring. K-69 faced their first start in Australia but when the cav plate got jammed it came down to a massive effort from the team to leave the circuit and repair the drive shaft for the oil pump which works the foot override system (Cavitation Plates) and racing was delayed to assist them to face their next heat. Congratulations to the K-69 team for getting Tony Scalarta back on the water. Unfortunately in the late race of the day (and the first between the two big contenders Madness and K-69) Tony Scalarta tripped on wave coming down the back straight and overturned his boat in a massive crash. Thankfully the rescue team was with him in lightening time and dived in to rescue him from a trapped position behind the steering wheel. The screen on the safety cock pit had shattered which caused many difficulties, but Tony was taken to hospital and is currently recovering very well.
Madness started to show their intent from Race One that they were here to do business and layed down to the rest of the teams to catch us if you can winning their first heat with Dean Borg in Proformance second and Alf from the Airbourne Race team coming in third. Decision proved that basic reliability can overcome everything by finishing every race they competed in and making some good times in all heats and qualifying for the final on Sunday.
Tim May in The Boss showed amazing driver ability by getting to race his cell boat for the first time and the boats handling with the new cell sparked many comments on whether the boat actually manages better with the Reinforced Cock Pit installed. Tim is very happy with the boat and commented that he should have done it years ago. “It actually looks like a race boat now”. New sponsor Rob Stephens from Caltex Buronga for The Boss team was wrapped with the result as The Boss came in second for the World Title on Sunday. The Airbourne Team piloted by Alf without a doubt showed massive progress over the two days with the turbo powered engine and held his own very well after overcoming difficulties in his past few race meetings. The crowd was cheering as both Airbourne and Totally X Static drove their turbo boats around the circuit, both swapping the lead many times. Unfortunately Airbourne was 1st Reserve for the final and he was sitting on the ramp ready to go just in case. However all boats faced the final start much to Alf’s disappointment.
Dean Borg in Proformance proved the impossible after their massive crash at Berri in January, by going back to the drawing board to build a new boat ready for the world titles. He made the promise that he would be there and stick to his word he did. It is unfortunate for the sport that there are a teams that just because they are happy to submit an entry does not mean they will compete, which is very hard for the other teams as everyone relies on each other to make the event happen. Dean Borg successful completed every heat and slowly creeped up in the timing results. The result sheet was deeply studied by each team over the weekend as they planned to make sure they each made the final.
The 6.0 litre racing once again proved to be one of the highlights which they are at most race meetings and always provide very fast and close racing. Ryan Hall in Solace was the stand out for the weekend and proved this when he took out the 6 litre Fastwater Cup which was kindly sponsored by Seidler Aviation. He always needed to be on the ball with Chris Pugsley in Oxygen Thief closely biting at this heals along with Craig Lewis in Image. There is no doubt about the Australian 6.0 litre Class, they are all there competing until the end. Jeff Stunnell in In Excess managed to make the meeting after an engine loan from Brian Jeffries from the Riverland Power Boat Club and like always drove every race well. Unfortunately the team from True Blue did not make the start but worked tirelessly in the pits all weekend trying just like Immortal whom was on the water to face the starts but only managed to fire of times and then unfortunately got hosed in on another race. The Junior teams were managed by Lindsay Johnson and with a few from each class they had the opportunity to all run together under several race formats. Brock and Damon Cohen from Cohen racing, along with Briney Rigbey, James Clark, Michael Johnson and Ryan Thomson may be the young ones of the sport but were all very professional in their appearance and competitiveness and as the future of our sport, we are always proud to have them at our meeting.
To all the helpers, Ricky and Paul on the commentary, you did an awesome job as I kept saying over the weekend. Not everyone can do it, but you were great. The presentation on the Main Stage went really well, and Ricky you were thrown into the deep end and pulled it off without a hitch. Well done. To Neville and his son on the ramp, thankyou also. You are definately the right people for the job. Brett Howard in the tower helping Gayle McNally, thankyou to you both and I believe assisted in managing many of the on water operations, you worked thanklessy. Jeff Thomson from Thomson Linen, and a local Mildura Businessman, proved a massive support for anything that was needed. Thanks Jeff. Troy Jenner sat out in his duty boat for hours and these types of people you cannot thank enough. Greg from Hungry Jacks worked there from 7.00am every day, and from a Major Sponsor to put in the hard yards like that was totally unexpected but greatly appreciated. Of course there were many other people whom have volunteered their time and on behalf of ourselves and the teams , THANKYOU!
The TV Crew and Media team had at least 10-12 on board cameras going at any time and we cannot wait to see the end result. A DVD is to be produced and will be released on the website and also into a 1 hour High Definition TV Show.
