October 19th & 20th 2002, Waikato River
Thundercats participate in Hamilton's
2002 Bridge-to-Bridge Classic
This is the
third year in succession the Thundercats have been invited to take
part in this event. Originally a water ski endurance race,
this event has grown over the years to include a Powerboat section
giving the opportunity for a wide variety of boats to race on the
river. This year included a section for Jet-Boats, Personal
Water Craft and Thundercats racing in our own class.
Saturday
morning 10am saw 15 Thundercats lined up at the back of a field of
around 50 powerboats to race Hamilton to Ngaruawahia &
back. Over half of our guy’s were running cleaver
propellers, with the modified Bandit class hoping for speeds of
100+kph on the straight sections of the river.
 With
the friendly but ever present Auckland
vs Waikato rivalry, we were determined to take 1st place
honors back to Auckland for a change this year. There
were
2 ladies crewing for their partners with Corinne crewing for husband
Greg on Aquarius Racing and Amber
crewing for boyfriend Dave in the ZM
boat.
With gusty
winds further up the course it was inevitable to have 2 boats flip
as the crews fought to keep the nosecones down in the strong head
winds. No injuries or damage, but a couple of bruises and grazes
were shown around the next day.
The 2 McKain
boys joined forces in CSL Aquarius and won top placing for the day
from Paul & Cam in Matamata Motors well ahead of the
rest of the field.
Sunday saw a
smaller field of 14 boats make the run from Hamilton to Taupiri and
back without incident. Paul and Cam in Matamata Motors showed
good speed and finished 1st for the day, securing them
1st place overall (and yes they are from Auckland!). Richard &
Craig had switched to Bandit class for the event and with
consistent placings came in 3rd overall.
During the
lunchbreak, prop guards were fitted to 6 boats and demos were held
on the river in front of
the crowds. With some mock circuit racing and
'wheelies' by the drivers the crowd soon packed out the Grantham St
beach and were given a running commentary by Murray McGill about the
boats and our sport.
By 2pm we
were packed up and ready to head home. A few of the local boys
attended the prize giving that evening to hear the official results
for the weekend.
Thanks
to the Waikato boys for their hospitality again, from storing the
boats to a few beers on Saturday night.
Rod
Read
Alan Astrop's view of the weekend!
More
Photos ...
See Race
Results for times & overall placings
Special thanks to
Dave & Amber in ZM and Marcelle & Michael in S200 for stopping to assist us
in the water on Saturday! Thanks also to all the supporters
that provided photos - great stuff keep it up! Corinne
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