‘Stinga’ defies its age to claim Super Class in ‘the Bridge’

by Bob Wonders on 26 Nov 2009 Veteran ski racer Greg Houston has piloted his 23-year-old Connelly Craft to a tough outright and Super Class victory in the 48th running of the famous ski race classic, the Feros Hotels Bridge to Bridge.

With another veteran, Kevin Boylan, observing, ‘Stinga’ carried Daniel Campbell and Grant Patterson to an almost two-minute win over Grant Turner and Chris Stout, up behind Noel Griffin’s ‘Blazen’, Bernie Simpson observing.

Mark Cranny (driver) and Damien Matthews (observer), aboard ‘Hellrazor’ towed the experienced pairing of Paul Robertson and Peter Proctor into third place.

As usual, the 112 kilometre (72 mile) classic along the winding Hawkesbury River course, was a race of attrition, with 29 of the more than 200 starters failing to make it to the finish line at the Windsor Marine Stadium.

Another 11 attracted attention from the judges for all the wrong reasons and were disqualified for various rule breaches.

‘Stinga’ driver Greg Houston, now with six Bridge to Bridge victories to his name, described the 2009 event as 'definitely among the toughest.'

'It became very rough at the bottom end, a strong nor’ easter gave us plenty of problems and to top it off it was very, very hot,' he said, 'in fact I heard 40 deg C-plus on the day.

'I wouldn’t mind betting that in my 28 starts in the Bridge to Bridge, this one might well have been the hardest.'

Two Super Class boats that had been strongly fancied failed to finish; the Queensland entry ‘Merc Force’, crewed by the Gulley family, with Don driving, Gerry observing and Ben and Luke skiing, failed to see out the race.

Likewise another pre-race favourite, ‘Burnin’, with Gary Holzwart (driver) and Mark Weaver (observer) aboard and Tom Smith and Michael Kelly skiing, also fell to the ‘gremlins’ to record a DNF.

Another veteran racer, Pat Cole, was at the wheel of Bernico Racing, the Belgian-built boat in which top ski racer (and good friend) Peter Eagle lost his life last year in a tragic Sydney Harbour accident.

Prior to the race, Cole had his doubts about repairing and entering the boat because of its sad past, but he was encouraged by fellow competitors, and friends of Peter Eagle, to consign the memory to the history books and get the boat back into action.

Cole ran Formula 2, with his son Brad joining American Kurt Schoen out the back and good mate Rory Brown observing.

'The first four over the line in Formula 2 broke the old race record for the class and we were fourth, so we’re ecstatic,’ Cole said.

'My son, Brad, had not skied a Bridge for 14-years, but he and Kurt skied brilliantly and we experienced a great run.

'The boat now has the hoax off it and I’m certain Peter would have been proud of our effort,' he added.

Needless to say, with rough conditions many competitors were ‘introduced’ to the Hawkesbury River by way of falls, but the only injury of note we have heard of (unconfirmed) was a suspected broken shoulder for international racer Kylie Jones.

Let’s hope it’s not as bad as first feared.

The day featured plenty of close and highly competitive racing to maintain the interest of the many hundreds of spectators along the river and at the Windsor Marine Stadium.

Reigning Men’s Open World champion, Queensland’s Wayne Mawer teamed up with Jason Walmsley behind ‘Juggernaut’, Anthony Capitano driving, Tony Crooks observing, to win Unlimited Inboard.

The ‘Juggernaut’ team finished fifth outright, downing many of the Super Class entries.

It was Robertson all the way for second place, with ‘Firebird’, John and Barry aboard towing Steven and Stephen, while ‘Hazy’ (Garry Hayes and Shane Deering) towed Trent Eastgate and Luke Keys into third.

The sport’s #1 glamour girl, Lauryn Eagle teamed up with Australian team colleague Bethany Pledger to win Women behind ‘Mobile’, Matthew Buxton driving, Keith Buxton observing.

Chelsea Blight and Emma Jezewski, behind ‘Heat’ skied into second with Tania Teelow and Leanne Hickey taking third spot behind ‘2 Fast 3’.

Junior Boys proved predictable; World champion Jack Houston and Aussie team mate Ben Hackett not only won their class behind ‘Tuff E Nuff’ (Brett Wisemantel and Andrew Fyfe), but finished a highly creditable 13th outright.

Kenny Weckx and Steve Berry (‘Still Sparken’) were next home from Laine Cox and Travis Oliver (‘Smoken Mirrors’).

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Other class results were:

Stock 6.0-litre: ‘Tantrum’, towing Boyd Bateup and Darren Howley, 1, ‘Brute Force’, Grant and Brett Whitelaw, 2, ‘Gro-Up’, Adrian Nix and Matthew Rowe, 3.

Under 16 Boys: ‘Precision’, Jamie Moret and Jake Freeman, 1, ‘Pop and Me’, Mathew Robertson and Jayden Sheath, 2, ‘4 the Boys’, Jack and Joel Whitton, 3.

SMOC: ‘Vicious Rumours’, Wayne and Rhys Duggan, 1, ‘Stalker Evinrude’, Will Groves and John Cartledge, 2, ‘Evinrude Racing’, Andy Ellis and Kane Merrett, 3.

MOC: ‘Twisted’, Ben Jeffree and Cam Mitchell, 1, ‘Running Riot’, Brad Tunks and Adam Kruse, 2, ‘Category 5’, Stewart Tobin and Neil Rix, 3.

Unlimited Outboard: ‘Fuel’n Around’, Dale Jamison and Mitchell Williams, 1, ‘2 Wild’, Matt Duce and Darren Apps, 2, ‘Team SBR’, Gavin Arnott and Andrew Stephen, 3.

5.2 to 6.0-litre Inboard: ‘Kryptonite’, Luke Watts and Matt Webster, 1, ‘Moonshine’, James Matthews and Simon Handley, 2, ‘Nothin But’, Craig Gordon and Ray Ball, 3.

Under 19 Boys: ‘Chief’, Aiden Cuff and James Hogben, 1, ‘Rumours’, Jake Tegart and Aaron Sheath, 2, ‘Rattle ‘N Hum’, Jamie Bassman and Wade Whitton, 3.

Under 8.0-litre Inboard: ‘ORSM’, Nathan Glynn and Zac Welch, 1.

Under 13 Girls: ‘Good to Go’, Shantelle King and Laura Wright, 1, ‘Triple 666’, Brooke Langham and Ellen Jones, 2, ‘Mr B’, Amy and Michelle Boylan, 3.

Under 10 Boys and Girls: ‘Coldys’, Bradley Osmotherly and Luke Harrison, 1.

60 MPH (Provisional Only): ‘The Battler’, Jacob Smith and Glenn Baldwin, 1, ‘Pumped Up’, Rob Wilkes and Craig Penney, 2, ‘Too Ezy’, Justin and Ashley Mortel, 3.

Under 16 Girls: ‘Shotgun’, Danielle Coyle and Taylah Williams, 1, ‘Stormn’, Jessica Wood and Sarah Brooks, 2, ‘Out 4 Revenge’, Ashlee Cuff and Brooke Reinke, 3.

70 MPH: ‘Bulls Eye’, Mark Roberts and Darren Wong, 1, ‘Buckshot’, Michael Rogers and Garry Vagg, 2, ‘Nail It’, Jason Wells and Steve Madsen, 3.

Under 13 Boys: ‘Underbelly’, Ben Atkins and Jesse Burns, 1, ‘Big Loll’, Jack Harrison and Codey Wood, 2, ‘Top Toy’, Shannon Daldy and Jackson Hammond, 3.

Under 19 Girls: ‘Prima Donna’, Kelsey Feros and Renae Gray, 1, ‘Play Dirty’, Chelbe Kinslow and Sarah Teelow, 2, ‘Springloaded’, Lucinda Bishop and Kellie Teitge, 3.

Social Class: ‘Dickin’ Around’, Russell Dick and Travis Patterson, 1.

Under 5.2-Litre Inboard: ‘The Rat’, Megan Penny and Cassandra Taylor, 1.

Up to 2.5-Litre Outboard: ‘Splat Attack’, Brett Sampson and Regan Leary, 1, ‘Saint’n’, Mark Williams and Andrew Morgan, 2, ‘Messy Racing 2’, Tony Mithen and Peter Gleeson, 3.

Country: ‘Agony’, Kane Cathro and Jamie Perkins, 1, ‘Adrenalin’, Andrew Shearing and Brendan Tidswell, 2, ‘The Phantom’, Michael Larkins and Ron Loud, 3.

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