Sydney Bridge to Bridge - Houston takes top honours on day one

by Sean Henshelwood on 21 Nov 2010 Sydney Bridge to Bridge - Reigning Sydney Bridge to Bridge champion Greg Houston started his title defence in fine style today by winning the short Hawkesbury Hot Shots Super Class pole setting event in record time - all in a new Force F21 boat that the Stinga team finished preparing on Thursday evening.

'We knew we needed a Force 21 for an event like this,' Houston admitted afterwards, 'because the F24 that we had for the world titles last year is too big and heavy for the river races, and we’d decided to ‘retire’ the Connelly, but it all came together a bit later than we’d have liked.'

For the Stinga team though whilst it was an all new boat for the event that they’ve dominated a record six times, the result was still the same, Houston, observer Kevin Boylan and skiers Daniel Campbell and Grant Patterson still took victory in the Hot Shots pole shootout, breaking their old record by a ‘massive’ 12 seconds.

And it wasn’t just Houston, arch-rivals Noel Griffin (Blazen) and Mark Cranny (Hellrazor) also broke the old record, the three Force pilots separated by just on five seconds at the end of the run.

That left Houston with the first choice in the pole draw, the local driver taking P5, alongside the start boat and on the high side, whilst Griffin chose P6 on the other side of the start boat and Cranny P1. The Robertson’s got what they were looking for in Firebird after qualifying fourth fastest of the Super Class - they chose grid 8, the far outside - for tomorrow’s 112 kilometre classic.

In the Hi-Tec Oils Unlimited class, Sapphire Racing’s Tim Pickford dominated the field, setting a stunning time of 09:48:28, almost half a second clear of Garry Hayes (Hazy) and Darren Stewart (Agitator). Stewart was not concerned though, and still bonding with new observer Adrian Pickering. 'Adrian’s new to the team so we took it pretty casually,' he said. 'What we wanted was a front row start for tomorrow, and we got that, so we’ll work on picking up the pace tomorrow.'

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.

2010 Hawkesbury Hot Shots Super Class Qualifier – Sacksville to Windsor

1. Stinga - 09:32:20 (grid 5 - Sunday)
Driver: Greg Houston, Observer: Kevin Boylan,
Skiers: Daniel Campbell, Grant Patterson
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 500ci Chev

2. Blazen - 09:34:62 (grid 6 - Sunday)
Driver: Noel Griffin, Observer: Bernard Simpson
Skiers: Chris Stout, Grant Turner
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 540ci Donovan

3. Hellrazor - 09:37:13 (grid 1 - Sunday)
Driver: Mark Cranny, Observer: Damien Matthews
Skiers: Jason Walmsley, Peter Procter
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 510ci Chev

7. Firebird - 09:57:52 (grid 8 - Sunday)
Driver: John Robertson, Observer: Barry Robertson
Skiers: Paul Robertson, Stephen Robertson
Hull: 21’ Nordic, Engine: twin-turbo 510ci Chev

6. Superman - 10:08:54 (grid 4 - Sunday)
Driver: Darren McGuire, Observer: Darren Patterson
Skiers: Daniel Graziano, Daniel Cotton
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 555ci Chev

5. Top Gun - 10:09:46 (grid 2 - Sunday)
Driver: Russell Lewis, Observer: Chris Gelle
Skier: James Buser, Steven Morley
Hull: 21’ Connelly, Engine: twin-turbo 555ci Chev

4. Merc Force - 10:51:49 (grid 7 - Sunday)
Driver: Don Gulley, Observer: Gerald Gulley
Skiers: Mark Weaver, Benjamin Gulley
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: supercharged 555ci Mercury

9. The B - 10:51:49 (grid 3 - Sunday)
Driver: Errol Rix, Observer: Glen Rix
Skiers: Neil Rix, Matt Webster
Hull: 21’ Superclass, Engine: twin-turbo 510ci Chev

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