The top scorer at V1 Penrith – Black heath Crew was not allowed to celebrate his promotion with teammates in Las Vegas.
Australian Formula I champion Shane Vella well and truly stamped his authority on the F1 Superboats at Penrith last weekend.
Vella’s #61 boat proved unbeatable. Not only winning three from three at Penrith, but now claiming three from three over three rounds of the series.
No one would bet he can’t do the same thing on the Gold Coast on November
The Penrith round was almost a disaster for many entrants, with mechanical failures hindering boat after boat.
So many were forced out that the second half of the Sunday racing was an amalgamation of categories, with monohulls doing their best against the F1 and F2 tunnel boats.
Race director Kirk Tsaccounis called 12 Formula I boats to the start line for heat 1, but only seven were ‘up and running’ for the final heat.
There were crashes and roll-overs in nearly every race, but the good news was no injuries. Throughout the program, those dreaded initials, DNF and DNS kept appearing. Altogether there were four DNF (Did Not Finish) and 15 DNS (Did Not Start), the majority due to mechanical problems.
Vella’s ‘triple’ earned him the maximum 104 points, and takes him to a 406 point total for the series, well ahead of second-placed Craig Truslove (277 points) and Anthony Mc Enally back in third on 235.
In Formula 2000, series leader Grant Trask holds an even more dominant lead, his 411 points way out in front of Michael Page (255) and David Wedlock (144).
The Mono Hull Series has served up some close racing and total points to date indicate anyone could emerge victorious. Greg Adams leads on 170 points closely followed by David Ainley (135), Gavin Simmons (128) and Jason Reynolds (127).
All eyes are now focused on the Gold Coast for the next round scheduled for November 1 and 2.
‘The final arrangements for the Gold Coast meeting has been an extremely busy time for me,’ Kirk Tsaccounis said. ‘There are so many details that need to be worked out it’s virtually a full-time job just ensuring one race meeting runs as expected.
‘We’ve had some excellent cooperation from the Gold Coast City Council and I can promise the weekend of October 31/November 1 and 2 will be a powerboat racing weekend to remember.’
