Taree Easter Powerboat Classic

by Marshall Loadsman on 10 Apr 2007 Tamworth's Brian McCosker and Newcastle's Allan Newton shared the honours at the Taree Easter Powerboat Classic.

McCosker in Liberty dominated most of Saturday's major races including the Stuart Doyle Cup and the Eastway Shield.

His win in the Doyle was an emphatic victory beating home Dean Barry in She's the Culprit and Colin Johns in Coldys.

But it was McCosker's win in the Eastway Shield which had the entire crowd buzzing.

Coming from an outside pole position, he settled the boat in third place behind She's the Culprit and Truly Wicked which were both setting a blistering pace out the front.

Liberty took three laps to round up Truly Wicked before having to go around the outside of She's the Culprit on the second last turn to secure victory. It was truly one of the great drives on the Taree course.

She's the Culprit powered on for a strong second while Newton in Truly Wicked backed off to conserve the boat to finish a comfortable third.

Newton, however, gained some revenge later in the day when he won the first heat of the Errol Jay Trophy for the Australian Unlimited Displacement Championship.

The format was a cumulative pointscore over two heats.

Truly Wicked and She's the Culprit set the course alight with speeds estimated to be in excess of 225mph to stay in front of Liberty which eventually retired with engine problems.

IF Saturday belonged to Brian McCosker and Liberty, Sunday belonged to Allan Newton in the twin turbo charged Truly Wicked at the Taree Easter Powerboat Classic.

His first assignment was to secure the Errol Jay Trophy, which he did with a win in the second heat, beating home She's the Culprit.

The only female driver competing at the weekend, Kate Davidson, gained enough points to grab overall third place in Diversion.

The Geoff Stephenson Memorial had to be re-run after officials red flagged the first race.

McCosker bounced back from the setback to capture the King of the River, the traditional last race on the program, beating home the unlimited outboards, Byron Bay Premium Ale driven by Rhys Coles and Taree's Warren Wright in Manning River Hotel.

The Allan Smythe Memorial for the six litre inboards was taken out by Greg Lewis in Hi-Flya from Stairway to Heaven and Freedom while the five litre Hilton Everson Memorial was a victory for Troy Marland in Madness.

Queensland's Mal McColl drove The Chase to a popular win in the Commodore's Cup with Hostage winning the highly competitive 5.2 litre carby displacement race.

Read the full story at http://taree.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=sport&subclass=general&story_id=573796&category=General