Powerboats roar through the Bay on Adrenaline Tour

Torquay hosted Round 3 of the OCRDA Aqua Adrenaline Tour on the final weekend of June and another spectacular success.
Under the leadership of President Bob McCarthy and Chairman and Race Manager Steve Oaten, UK offshore circuit powerboat racing is in very good health. A fleet of 22 boats in three classes, and 12 jet skis in three classes, lined Haldon Pier on Saturday morning, ready to compete in four races.
On Saturday, the sun blazed down, however, water conditions were deceptive, and the crews found the conditions a challenge. For rough water specialist Jeremy Gibson and his navigator Malachy Browne, it was perfect - the Kingsbridge-based racers in their F1 boat, Smokey & The Bandit 2. When the green flag dropped, they broke away from the chasing pack immediately in Race 1 and were never challenged. They repeated their unbeatable performance in Race 2.
Their nearest challengers in F1 were the father and son duo of Malc and Bradley Dopson in 66 Racing – achieving two second-place finishes. In Race 1, the appropriately named Aquablast of Richard Mason/Darren Douthwaite, finished third, and in Race 2, another father and son pairing – Tim and Louis Spink – finished third in Tommy 5 Star.
In F2, Race 1 was won by Southampton-based Wrap Marine – Ben Brown and Andrew Jenvy. They could not repeat this in Race 2, which went the way of Thunderstruck – Wayne Mort and Carl Taylor.
In F3, Robbie Mould and Luke Moore had a memorable day in Working On It – they sure had been, and their reward was two first places!
On Sunday, the conditions had become extremely challenging, the water whipped up by a strong wind. The crew with the biggest smiles again – Jeremy Gibson and Malachy Browne. They completed the perfect weekend with another two first-place finishes in F1. The rough conditions also suited 66 Racing and Aquablast, sharing the runner-up spot and third place – a repeat of their consistent Saturday performance.
For Wrap Marine, they completed a great weekend with Ben and Andrew winning both races. Thunderstruck also completed a very consistent weekend with two second-place finishes. And the Lions - Steve Cox/Harrie Shortman - were roaring to two third places.
Arguably, the performance of the weekend was Jack Burke and Charlie Wilde in F3. The two Essex-based racers were making their race boat debut in Little & Large – they had previously raced jet skis.
With Jack at the wheel, the pair made a cautious start on Saturday, but on Sunday they recorded a fourth in Race 3 and finished off by winning Race 4 – these results gave them second place overall – a magnificent debut!
The conditions were certainly tough for the jet ski racers, with some electing to give the final race on Sunday a miss, and the organisers deciding to reduce both the length of the course and the time limit. In Class J1, Richard Cable took three wins and a third to top the Class. The other race win in Class J1, and runner up overall, went to Martin Campbell racing with the Deeside-based M.E.S. Racing Team.
In Class J2, it was a clean sweep for M.E.S Racing Team members Joe Leeming and Callum Davidson-Guild. For Joe, it was a stunning result to win the Class on his Yamaha FX SVHO – this was his racing debut. It was close at the top – narrowly beaten into second place by just 20 points was Callum – a successful yachtsman, he has made the move from sail power to horsepower.
The trophies were presented to the weekends winners at a reception held at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club on Sunday evening.
Racing resumed in the OCRDA Aqua Adrenaline Tour with Round 4 in Liverpool on July 21-23. For further information, please visit the OCRDA web site www.ocrda.com and Facebook page.