Season Opener Warms Up Chilly Geelong

by Dave Conole on 28 Apr 2008 There’s nothing like red hot racing to warm up a cold weather city and Geelong was hit with ice cold wind and the heat from the Australian F1 Superboats.

In front of a sizeable and welcoming crowd, race 2 for the F2000 category resulted in a deflated corner buoy, a win for Grant Trask and a scare for Michael Page with a resurgent Darren Simmons. Gremlins had attacked Simmons earlier, however the good luck magic wand was waved, with Simmons showing what the 222 boat was capable of, coming in fourth. Don McClymont was the repeat second place gatherer.

Race 2 in the F1’s went to a dominant Rhys Coles. Determined to get his year off to a flying start, he kept at bay a dogged Shane Vella, who at one stage looked as if he was about to round up the former champ.
Damine McKenzie showed class to keep third and the pace of the top three was such that the rest of the field was lapped with around three quarters race distance completed.

The penultimate mono race showed the knife edge that these boats walk on, with the four entrants all having control issues. Greg Adams came closest to disaster, starting on the outside and midrace appeared to have the boat all ends up. Gavin Simmons and Ben Anderson fared only slightly better and given the relatively smooth conditions it indicates the closeness of the competition as to how the boats looked so close to crashing. A disappointing day got worse for David Ainley with another apparent mechanical failure affecting his race towards the end.

The final race for the F2000’s saw drama with a hard charging Darren Simmons having a serious moment; the rear cowling was dislodged and allowed water in very quickly. The recovery crews of Brian and John were on the scene in rapid time and retrieved Darren successfully.

Steven Gilligan was unable to take to the water due to hull damage. The bridesmaid from races one and two, Don McClymont, jumped Grant Trask at the start and wasn’t headed, coming home to record his first win for the year. Michael Page and Tim Smith rounded out the field to successfully conclude the first race series for the F2000’s 2008 season.

Round one went to the 2006 champion, Rhys Coles, after the former champ drove his heart out to win race 3 and the weekend. Shane Vella did all he could but second place was his. McKenzie showed a good turn of speed to come home in third and a hard fought fourth place went to Craig truslove.

A huge thanks to the City of Geelong for being a part of history. Come and see us at Toukley in late May!




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