Sydney Bridge-to-Bridge - Australia’s leaders head for the Hawkesbury

by Sean Henshelwood on 17 Nov 2010 Sydney’s Hawkesbury River will come alive this weekend with the 49th annual running of the iconic Sydney Bridge-to-Bridge ski racing classic.

Well over 1000 competitors will hit the water for two days of competition and whilst battles will rage across every one of the 30 classes, it will be the outright contenders in Super Class that will hold the focus of much of the crowd lining the popular waterway.

Six-time champion and 2009 outright winner Greg Houston is the emotional favourite, although the Sydney based team owner admits that this year, the competition will be tough.

'It’s never easy,' he admitted. 'There’s so many good boats now and there’s a number of experienced crews that can race at outright pace, so it will be hard.

'We’d love to go for [win] number seven, but we know it will be tough, especially against the likes of Noel Griffin and Mark Cranny.'

For Houston 2010 will provide the event’s ‘winningest’ driver with a new challenge as he parks ‘Stinga’ - his ageing Connelly hull affectionately nicknamed ‘the legend boat’ - for his new Force F21 boat ‘Stinga F1’.

'It will be sad to start the weekend without the ‘old girl’ but it will also be exciting to have a new challenge. It also puts us right up alongside [Mark] Cranny and [Noel] Griffin with the same hull, so that could really make things interesting.'

For 2006 and 2008 champion Mark Cranny, he too is playing cautious about too many predictions despite being a dual winner of the event and the 2010 winner of arguably the toughest river race in the world - the Southern 80. The world champion also knows what to expect from Houston and his Force 21, as both drivers claimed world titles in Belgium during the closing stages of 2009.

'You never know what to expect from the Sydney Bridge,' Cranny agreed. 'Things can change so dramatically in such a short period of time. Glass smooth water can be rough with up to a metre of chop in a matter of minutes. Every year it’s different, so it’s difficult to know what to expect

'The start is something different too with ten boats line astern either side of the starters boat. Some people believe that picking the right starting position is the key, but I’ve won from both sides so I don’t think that’s the trick, it really comes down to who you want to start alongside and who you don’t..!'

Noel Griffin too like Houston and Cranny was cautious in making any prediction for the weekend citing more than just his two long time rivals as threats. 'Anything can happen in a long river race like this,' he admitted. 'The first leg is the big one, it’s a real challenge - wide open water and very little between teams, that can be the make or break point.'

'The whole river’s actually not too bad,' Cranny added. 'If you are behind it’s wide enough in most places to be able to challenge, so being first into the river proper isn’t the end of it.'

Whilst Houston holds the mantel as the events most successful driver, there is another local team that is sure to put up a fight and make their presence felt.

John, Barry, Paul and Stephen Robertson know a thing or two about the Hawkesbury event, but whilst the family team have won world championships together, they’re yet to complete the Sydney Bridge as victors.

'That keeps us motivated to come back another year,' Barry Robertson admitted. 'Stephen’s done it a couple of times (1996/1999), but we’d love to win it as a group. I don’t know how long we’ve been doing this, but it’s a while, and whilst that winners trophy has eluded us in the past, every year we come into it looking for that outright win - this year’s no different.

'It’s going to be tough. Every year there’s some serious competition, but we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think we were in with a chance.'

Like his opponents, Barry was quick to point out that it was the start that was the most crucial. 'You want to get into the mouth of the river in front if you can. If you have a poor start, then it’s pretty much all over.'

There are nine Super Class teams entered for the Sydney Bridge, many of whom are in outright contention. They include:

1. Stinga F1
Driver: Greg Houston, Observer: Kevin Boylan,
Skiers: Daniel Campbell, Grant Patterson
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 500ci Chev

2. Blazen
Driver: Noel Griffin, Observer: Bernard Simpson
Skiers: Chris Stout, Grant Turner
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 540ci Donovan

3. Hellrazor
Driver: Mark Cranny, Observer: Damien Matthews
Skiers: Jason Walmsley, Peter Procter
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 510ci Chev

4. Strike Force
Driver: Don Gulley, Observer: Gerald Gulley
Skiers: Mark Weaver, Benjamin Gulley
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 540ci Donovan

5. Top Gun
Driver: Russell Lewis, Observer: Chris Gelle
Skier: James Buser, Steven Morley
Hull: 21’ Connelly, Engine: twin-turbo 555ci Chev

6. Superman
Driver: Darren McGuire, Observer: Darren Patterson
Skiers: Daniel Graziano, Daniel Cotton
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 555ci Chev

7. Firebird
Driver: John Robertson, Observer: Barry Robertson
Skiers: Paul Robertson, Stephen Robertson
Hull: 21’ Nordic, Engine: twin-turbo 510ci Chev

8. Blowncash
Driver: Greg Gunther, Observer: Graeme Watts
Skiers: Chris Taylor, Nathan Glynn
Hull: 21’ Superclass, Engine: twin-turbo 496ci

9. The B
Driver: Errol Rix, Observer: Glen Rix
Skiers: Neil Rix, Matt Webster
Hull: 21’ Superclass, Engine: twin-turbo 510ci Chev

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Timetable:
Super Class action begins with the Hawkesbury Hotshots on Saturday (November 20) at 10:30am - a relatively short ‘qualifying’ shootout (around 10 minutes), which ends at Windsor.

Sunday’s main event starts at Dangar Island at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River at around 11:30am (weather permitting) and ends 113 kilometres later (some 40 minutes) at Governor Phillip Park, Windsor

Television:
The Sydney Bridge-to-Bridge will be televised on SBS Speedweek on January 2 (show #1) and January 23 (show #2), with repeats in the following week on Foxtel’s SPEED Channel (check guides for details – ‘Speedweek’ and ‘Inside Speed’).

Footage will also be available 24/7 via www.speedweek.com.au after it has aired on SBS.

www.skiracing.com.au