Sydney Bridge to Bridge - Hellrazor takes Sydney Bridge honours

by Sean Henshelwood on 25 Nov 2010
Reigning world and Southern 80 champions ‘Hellrazor’ dominated the 49th running of the Feros Hotel Group Sydney Bridge to Bridge after arch-rivals Stinga and Blazen both lost skiers during the early stages of the event.

For Mark Cranny [driver] and Damien Matthews [observer] it was win number three for the pair (Matthews also has a win under his belt as a skier), whilst for skiers Jason ‘Ziggy’ Walmsley and Peter Proctor, it was the second time the pair had achieved outright victory, although it was their first together behind ‘Hellrazor’.

In the end the team just missed Greg Houston’s 2005 race record of 0:38:57, falling just 30 seconds shy after crossing the line at 0:39:27 to win by more than sixty seconds over ‘Top Gun’ (0:40:35), with the Robertson family (‘Firebird’) third (0:41:47).

'It was a great run,' Mark Cranny admitted with a grin post race. 'We pushed hard early because we wanted to try and break the opposition off the start, and the boys were really strong. Unfortunately Ziggy had been ill during the week leading up to the race, so he felt he wasn’t as fit as he’d have liked, but he hung on like the champion he is and we made it to the end no dramas.'

'Yeah, I’d be lying if I said we didn’t have one eye on the clock,' Damien Matthews admitted. 'We set ourselves some target times at various points, but it was also important to finish. It was the second fastest time ever, and we took the win, that’s the important thing. The record’s always there for next year..'

For the ‘Stinga’ team, it was a disappointing end to a weekend that started with so much promise and the fastest qualifying time during the Hawkesbury Hot Shots qualifier on Saturday morning.

On the boat ramp at Brooklyn prior to the race start, it was all smiles as six-time Sydney Bridge champion Greg Houston explained how happy he was with the way his brand-new Force F21S hull was performing.

'It was beautiful yesterday,' he smiled, 'fantastic to drive. Because it only came together over the last couple of weeks, we didn’t fit everything properly for a test run until Thursday night and gave it a quick blast down the river. Then yesterday we had a strong run going but I felt something wasn’t right, so I asked Boylo [observer Kevin Boylan] what was happening and he said he couldn’t see or hear anything so I got back into it, but it was a surprise to see we’d broken the record by 12 seconds. As it turns out, we got to the end and discovered that the turbos were loose..!

'There were no other dramas though and we were ready to go for Sunday morning.'

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Sunday dawned bright but a little damp with a high moisture content in the air. That had little effect on teams though as they approached Dangar Island at 11:50am for the traditional race start, delayed by 20 minutes due to a clash of events all launching off the Brooklyn boat ramp.

When the start was given 2006/2008 champion Mark Cranny jumped into the lead in an effort to break away from the pack. Sadly Noel Griffin’s (‘Blazen’) assault on the event came to an end before it had begun, Grant Turner knocked from his ski by a freak wave off the start.

'He’s shattered,' Griffin admitted afterwards. 'It was one of those waves you never expect to get, especially as a skier with the kind of experience that he has, but it happened, there’s not much you can do.

'In the end we lost about four minutes doing the turnaround and restart, and there was no chance we’d catch Cranny so we just treated it as an extensive training run and made our way to the end. Had we kept going, we would have been in the hunt, but that’s life, we move on to the next one and prepare to do battle again at the Southern 80 early next year.'

It hadn’t been ‘Blazen’s’ only drama for the weekend, a dropped piston during the Hot Shots event costing Griffin the #1 starting position for Sunday’s main event.

'I couldn’t believe it, we dropped a piston about two thirds of the way through. I backed off initially, and then thought ah hell, why not, and got back into it again. At the line we were just two seconds shy of Houston for the win, but that’s the way it goes. Shows how strong the engine is too - we still saw 126mph on seven cylinders..!'

Post-event though the news got worse for Griffin, with ‘Blazen’ disqualified after hearings were complete for what was deemed too sharp a turn off the start after Turner came off his ski.

'That’s all part of it,' Griffin reflected, 'and there is an upside, my son [Andrew] is now classified inside the top ten outright after ‘Burn’n’ won Under 16 boys with him out the back. Not bad for a skier who has only been doing it just on 12 months..!'

With ‘Hellrazor’ leading ‘Stinga’ heading towards Wisemans Ferry, it was clear the event was going to shape up as one to remember, but at Laughtondale it all came to an end for ‘Stinga’ after Grant Patterson hit a freak wave which threw him off his ski at almost 200 km/h.

The team immediately went from attack to recovery, ‘Stinga’s’ championship winning observer Kevin Boylan throwing himself into the Hawkesbury to assist Patterson who was clearly in pain as a result of the off.

Grant was taken to hospital where it was revealed he had suffered some level of injury to his hand and back, but is expected to make a full recovery.

With ‘Stinga’ and ‘Blazen’ out by the mid point, that allowed ‘Hellrazor’ to concentrate on the race record, whilst behind them Russell Lewis was putting ‘Top Gun’ through its paces, on his way to second place.

'This is a great result for the team, and just reward for all their efforts over recent months,' Lewis said. 'To be honest I didn’t think we’d be fighting for second, maybe third or fourth, but this is just great. We had a faultless run after a strong start, and just tucked in behind Cranny and Houston, from there it was just a matter of keeping up with the skiers and making the finish.'

Third were the Roberston family, with former race winners Paul and Stephen in tow. For ‘Firebird’ the weekend could have provided more, but a new engine which the team were bringing on board for the Sydney Bridge, couldn’t be completed in time - rumours suggesting that it had as much as 400 horsepower extra over the their existing 510 twin-turbo Chev.

For the former world champions it was a relatively conservative run down the river and a well deserved third place.

Darren McGuire crossed the line fourth with in ‘Superman’ an ailing Daniel Graziano suffering from glandular fever hanging on out the back. 'He did it hard,' McGuire admitted. 'It wasn’t the result we were after, but you’ve got to have every part of the team working in an event like this, and Daniel’s a huge part of this team, so we ran to the pace that he could handle.'

In the Hi-Tec Oils Unlimited Inboard class, it was ‘Agitator’ who came out on top for Darren Stewart, new observer Adrian Pickering and skiers Kris Knights and Zac Welch.

'That was the result we were after,' Stewart admitted afterwards. 'We managed third yesterday in the shootout, but we knew we’d be okay today because we were running to a plan.

'The aim was to go out hard early and see if we could push the opposition and get an early break. In the end it was a comfortable result and about fifth outright.

'Our aim is to get back into Super Class, but we need to work with Kris and Zac to get them up to speed, and Adrian is pretty new into our team, so we need miles under our belts as a group, but our aim is definitely to be back fighting for outright honours.'

Another driver looking to Super Class - immediately - is ‘Sapphire Racing’s’ Tim Pickford.

After setting a blistering time in the Hot Shots qualifier, Pickford, observer Andrew Glover and skiers Aaron McQualter and Tom Smith were looking for a strong result on Sunday, but it wasn’t to be.

'Tommy’s rope broke off the start,' Pickford admitted with frustration afterwards. 'Sometimes, that’s how it goes.. It wasn’t an old rope - just two meetings old. From there it was all over, but we take some heart from Saturday’s result. We were looking for a low 10, but wound up with a high nine [0:09:48].

'That’s it for us with Unlimited now, we’re off to Super Class. It’s funny, Mark [Cranny] has been at us for a while, and he said to me again on Saturday night that he didn’t know why we didn’t step up to Super Class, but that’s it now, we’ll move over now ready for the Southern 80.

'That’s a tough event too in Unlimited, because if you’re quicker than some of the Super Class guys - which we were comfortably on the weekend, and at last year’s event - you have to pass them, and that kills your time on an event like that.'

With Sapphire Racing out, that left ‘Agitator’ free at the front from emerging stars Mark Ross, Michael Keen, Richard Souwer and Luke Gulley in ‘Ghost Rider’ another boat that looks destined to make the graduation to Super Class in the coming months.

'Yeah, we had a good run,' Ross admitted afterwards. 'We’re very happy with the way the team are coming together. We haven’t been a group for long, but we’re working at finding some pace with the boys out the back to help them help us to make the step up to Super Class, probably some time next year.

2010 Sydney Bridge-to-Bridge

Super Class results

1. Hellrazor - 0:39:27 (starting position - grid 1)
Driver: Mark Cranny, Observer: Damien Matthews
Skiers: Jason Walmsley, Peter Procter
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 510ci Chev

2. Top Gun - 0:40:35 (starting position - grid 2)
Driver: Russell Lewis, Observer: Chris Gelle
Skier: James Buser, Steven Morley
Hull: 21’ Connelly, Engine: twin-turbo 555ci Chev

3. Firebird - 0:41:47 (starting position - grid 8)
Driver: John Robertson, Observer: Barry Robertson
Skiers: Paul Robertson, Stephen Robertson
Hull: 21’ Nordic, Engine: twin-turbo 510ci Chev

4. Superman - 0:42:11 (starting position - grid 4)
Driver: Darren McGuire, Observer: Darren Patterson
Skiers: Daniel Graziano, Daniel Cotton
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 555ci Chev

5. Merc Force - 0:45:16 (starting position - grid 7)
Driver: Don Gulley, Observer: Gerald Gulley
Skiers: Mark Weaver, Ben Gulley
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: supercharged 555ci Mercury

6. The B - 0:47:39 (starting position - grid 3)
Driver: Errol Rix, Observer: Glen Rix
Skiers: Neil Rix, Matt Webster
Hull: 21’ Superclass, Engine: twin-turbo 510ci Chev

DNF. Stinga (starting position - grid 5)
Driver: Greg Houston, Observer: Kevin Boylan,
Skiers: Daniel Campbell, Grant Patterson
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 500ci Chev

DSQ. Blazen (starting position - grid 6)
Driver: Noel Griffin, Observer: Bernard Simpson
Skiers: Chris Stout, Grant Turner
Hull: F21 Force, Engine: twin-turbo 540ci Donovan


Hi-Tec Oils Unlimited Inboard Class results

1. Agitator - 0:44:01 (qualified third - 10:15)
Driver: Darren Stewart, Observer: Adrian Pickering
Skiers: Kris Knights, Zac Welch

2. Ghost Rider - 0:44:38 (qualified fourth - 10:23)
Driver: Mark Ross, Observer: Michael Keen
Skier: Richard Souwer, Luke Gulley

3. Hazy - 0:45:54 (qualified second - 10:12)
Driver: Garry Hayes, Observer: Shane Deering
Skiers: Luke Keys, Jamie Oliver

4. Seven - 0:46:46 (DNQ)
Driver: Wayne Harrison, Observer: Andy Wallington
Skier: Mark Wallington, Steven Berry

5. Speed Master - 0:46:52 (qualified sixth - 10:34)
Driver: Stephen Minahan, Observer: Graham Carruthers
Skier: Chris Singleton, Ray Ball

6. The Judge - 0:48:03 (qualified fifth - 10:26)
Driver: Peter Hally, Observer: Darren Cooper
Skier: Dale Hally, Rhys Duggan

7. Humble - 0:54:40 (qualified eighth - 11:20)
Driver: Darren Apps, Observer: Marc Barlow
Skier: Shane Bru, Peter Miletic

8. Kong - 1:00:01 (DNQ)
Driver: Ashley Mansfield, Observer: Greg Wright
Skier: Tayla Wright, Troy Hood

9. Liquid Force - 1:12:26 (qualified tenth - 11:34)
Driver: Tim Rigg, Observer: Peter Rigg
Skier: Daniel Rigg, Bryce Jones

10. What Inheritance - 1:15:28 (DNQ)
Driver: Steve Greentree, Observer: Andrew Hall
Skier: Craig Greentree, Scott Greentree


Hi-Tec Oils Unlimited Outboard Class results

1. 2 Wild - 0:49:15
Driver: Andy Smith, Observer: Shane Helson
Skiers: Joel Massey, Michael Kelly

2. Team Paradise - 1:02:08
Driver: Rod Bickerton, Observer: Sharon Maxwell
Skier: Shane Clarke, Craig Walker

3. In Pursuit - 1:16:47
Driver: Craig Anthony, Observer: Daryl Cheyne
Skiers: Richard Symons, Rod Butler


MOC

1. Streamline Boat Covers - 0:46:23 (new class record)
Driver: Craig Norris, Observer: Murray Offen
Skiers: Dylan Stevenson, Cameron Mitchell


SMOC

1. Team Evinrude - 0:50:37
Driver: Paul Armstrong, Observer: David Armstrong
Skiers: Trevor Bray, Adam Bail


Formula 2

1. Miss Force - 0:49:24 (new class record)
Driver: Matthew Wastle, Observer: Stephen Wallace
Skiers: Grant Wastle, Aaron Sheath


Junior Boys Under 16

1. Burn’n - 0:46:35
Driver: Gary Holzwart, Observer: Brian Griffin
Skiers: Grant Wastle, Aaron Sheath


Stock 6-litre

1. Brute Force - 0:51:43
Driver: Greg Whitelaw, Observer: Shane Eva
Skiers: Brent Whitelaw, Adam Gulliver


Under 19 Girls

1. Nutcracker - 0:56:24
Driver: Shane Wilson, Observer: Sean Cheetham
Skiers: Jessica Wood, Sarah Brooks


Junior Girls Under 16 - PROVISIONAL

1. Cyclonic - 1:00:07
Driver: Michael Jones, Observer: Simon Russell
Skiers: Reily Russell, Laura Wright


Under 5.2-litre Inboard

1. The Culprit - 0:47:57
Driver: Michael Gane, Observer: Jacqueline Kelly
Skiers: Shannon Gane, Brad Worsley


Social

1. Rebel Yell - 0:57:41
Driver: Neil Lomas, Observer: Jason Loeskow
Skiers: Russell Dick, Travis Patterson


Country

1. Rattle N Hum - 0:49.33
Driver: David Bassmann, Observer: Brian Nutley
Skiers: Jamie Bassmann, Wade Whitton


70 MPH

1. Pumped Up - 1:02:15
Driver: Brad Collins, Observer: Trevor Collins
Skiers: Robert Wilkes, Craig Penney


Sub Junior Boys Under 13

1. Smercn - 0:56:19
Driver: Craig Harper, Observer: Chris Stevens
Skiers: Sean Stevens, Jackson Hammond


Sub Junior Girls Under 13

1. Triple 666 F2 - 1:03:39
Driver: David Langham, Observer: Mark Jamison
Skiers: Brooke Langham, Ellen Jones


60 MPH

1. Confuzion - 1:07:20
Driver: Aaron Beckhaus, Observer: Brandon Chant
Skiers: Ross O’Brien, Todd Stubbings


Under 10 Boys & Girls

1. Big Loll - 1:03:51
Driver: Troy Franks, Observer: Brad Ashton
Skiers: Michael Boylan, Luke Harrison


Under 8-litre Inboard

1. ORSM - 0:47:19
Driver: Neville Freeman, Observer: Jeff Howard
Skiers: Danny Cropper, Kevin Vahtrik


5-2 - 6-litre Inboard

1. Nothin But - 0:47:32
Driver: Stephen Hewitt, Observer: Geoffrey Hewitt
Skiers: Chris Bennett, Peter Hunter


Under 19 Boys

1. Sudden Force - 0:46:50
Driver: Howard Hoggins, Observer: Trent Eastgate
Skiers: Brady Hoggins, Codie Rigg

Women

1. Prime Time - 0:47:10
Driver: Chris Teelow, Observer: Darren Cook
Skiers: Tania Teelow, Cara Jochinke

http://www.skiracing.com.au