Promising start to 2010 for Glenmaggie club
by Bob Wonders on 8 Jan 2010
Rick Macansh brought ’RKM Quality Systems’ home in second place in the 1.6-litre Oz Lite Hydro Class. - Glenmaggie boat club Maxine Penington
The Glenmaggie and District Boat Club has celebrated the New Year with 41 boats turning out for a grand day of racing, culminating in the prestigious Glenmaggie Cup, sponsored by the Heyfield Community Branch of the Bendigo Bank.
Melbourne driver Grant Harrison, at the wheel of GP1, claimed the cup from fellow members of the Victorian Outboard Club, Wayne Hodgson (Rythum) and Paul Eade (Budlight Racing).
Twenty nine races were staged on Saturday (January 2), with organisers initially fearing a ‘washout' when a massive thunderstorm hit the area on the Friday evening.
Fortunately, the weather tended to settle and despite low cloud and some light rain, water conditions were smooth and ready for racing.
More than 1500 spectators turned out to watch some close racing across all classes, with 20 inboards, 21 outboards and eight Formula Futures making appearances.
Glenmaggie club member Rick Duddington piloted ‘She's the Boss' to a smart victory in the 6.0-litre Daryl Hamilton Memorial, relegating ‘The Other Madam' (Bob Webster) and South Australia's ‘Bite Me' (Tom Barnhard) to the minor places.
Melbourne drivers triumphed in the Unlimited Outboard and 1800 Mono classes.
David Meades (‘The Meadeator') led the field home in Unlimited Outboard, with Tim Martin (‘WaterCooled') second and Jake Vlasveld (‘Rumballs') third home.
Richie Hannan, at the wheel of ‘Yamawrek' took out the 1800 Mono with Ken Leveque (‘Aussie Experiment') and Craig Oliver (‘Advantage Marine') claiming second and third respectively.
The hotly-contested 5.0-litre race, the Alan Hore Memorial, was won by Ian Hamilton (‘Prime Mover').
South Australia's Chris Wellington brought ‘'Jac Racing' home in second spot with Mark Healy, ‘About Time', taking third.
There was not shortage of close racing in the 1.6-litre Oz Lite Hydros, with Grant Rollason (‘Melton Toyota') eventually claiming the winner's podium from Rick Macansh (‘RKM Quality Systems') and Natasha Heffernan at the wheel of ‘Lil Terra.'
Bob Reid drove ‘Freedom' to take out the 4.2 Displacement class, downing ‘Ballistic' (Brent Hough) and ‘Buzzard' (Adrian Smit) in the process.
Marine dealer Kris Oakley showed his experience to win the 25hp Class in, what else, ‘Kris Oakley Marine', with the minor places going to Wes Frost (‘WFM') and Craig Farrar (‘Mighty Fine Sings/).
All in all, a grand way to begin the New Year, according to club officials.
For those unfamiliar with the Glenmaggie and District Boat Club, it can look back on a 55-year history of competition.
The club's venue, Lake Glenmaggie, is in the heart of Victoria's Gippsland area, east of the state capital, Melbourne. Primary aim of the lake originally was for farmland irrigation.
It was 1955 when a group of locals, 32 in all, formed the club and named it the Glenmaggie and District Boat Club.
Racing has been held there ever since, with only a couple of seasons forcing suspension of racing due to drought and insufficient water level.
Alan Beale, former (10-times) Australian champion and powerboat Hall of Famer, raced many times at Glenmaggie and has find memories of the venue.
Beale, now semi-retired and living on the Gold Coast, formerly owned Melbourne-based Psycho Marine, builder of the famous Stephens flat-bottom boats.
The late Alan Hore, a lifelong Gippsland competitor remembered by the 5.0-litre Alan Hore Memorial, was a Stephens driver.
'I raced against Alan many times over many years,' Beale said, 'he was always a great competitor.'
Beale also knew Daryl Hamilton, commemorated with the Daryl Hamilton Memorial 6.0-litre.
Sadly, Hamilton was killed when his boat crashed in a NSW race in 2008/09.
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/65215