Double celebration for new jet boat champion

Press, 22 September 1980, Page 19

Double celebration for new jet boat champion

By LES BLOXHAM A double celebration will be held tonight to mark the twenty-seventh birthday of the new world jet-boating champion,. Mark Cromie, of Rakaia.

Cromie. clinched the title rimin Is £ ahead of Howard Smith (Christchurch) in a breath-taking finish to the 1980 Citizen Watch World Jet Boat Championships on the Waimakariri River on Saturday. Cromie’s Commodore, an alloy boat built by Rakaia Engineers, Ltd, set a new record for the 1000 km, nineriver marathon course by clipping 36min off the time set by the 1978 winner and former world champion, Reg Benton (Featherston). Benton this year equalled! his 1978. time but was forced by a series of minor mechanical frustrations in Export Lion to accept third

.place behind' Smith’s Guti hreys N.Z. Tours. ■ i Smith, a second-time runi ner-up, was unfortunate not : to win. He clocked the fastest ’times on. the Waimakariri but carried the burden of. 4min penalty from the West Coast. The Commodore crew was the youngest in the field. Cromie, who turns 27 today, had with him Bruce Street, aged 26, and Danny Lysaght, aged 28. "I didn’t think it would really happen,” a jubilant Cromie said of his win after being dunked in the river and doused with champagne: “The Waimak’s riot my. best river: I’ve run aground here before. But we were probably lucky that there was so much water today.”

The youthful champion undoubtedly benefited from the tuition and advice of three older men. Alan Thom-

son, a veteran jet boater with 25 years practical river experience, instructed Cromie when he took up the sport, seven years ago. Another friend and neighbour, the former world champion, John Heslop, offered much tactical guidance and advice in spite of the fact that they would be competing against each other.

But the single, most influential'.motivator was the skipper’s father, Laurie Cromie, who as team manager brought, to bear the disciplines of his air force engineering experience. He is the first to admit that the

win was the result of a calculated campaign. “I knew we couldn’t beat Bjorn Borg at tennis but I believed that this was an exercise that could be done,” said Mr Cromie.

Planning: began two years ago when Thomson, .a

Rakaia boat builder, - was commissioned to start work on the 835,000 Commodore. At the time Cromie and Norman Bagrie (Hinds) .had won sixth place in the previous Citizen Watch marathon in a non-turbo-charged boat. Bagrie, who this year drove his own boat, Valvoline, and who was Cromie’s

closest rival for first place at the beginning of the Waimakariri stages on Saturday, came to a grinding halt at the side of the river when a con-rod brokea mile ' above the Gorge Bridge. It was a bitter blow to the

young Hinds farmer, who had raced consistently and was leading Cromie up river when his motor suddenly gave up. “We had no warning,” Bagrie said as his wife , and

friends consoled him. “Everything was reading normal:

isjthen there was a bang and ki we lost our steering.” e. i (Steerage in a jet boat is conid trolled by the. jet stream, d Loss of .power means loss of steerage.) l " . “There was nothing I d could do,” said Bagrie. “Fortunately, the boat finished up ir on the shingle instead of h ramming into a bank.” s Unable to complete the ? marathon, Bagrie accepted an invitation to ride in a ’ helicopter for a bird’s eye view of his friend and forg mer boating mate capturing the world crown. e He was also among the 3 first to offer the winner conj gratulations and unwittingly r shared the honours in the traditional dunking ceremony. ’ Although the saddest inj cident of the marathon, . Bagrie’s misfortune was only : one of a number of hard-

luck stories that ultimately reduced the original field of 90 boats that started on the Ruamahanga River on September Il to a mere 43 at the finish on Saturday. For instance, the only American competitor, Bob Bradley (Las Vegas) brought his boat and crew 12,000 km for what eventually turned out to be 15min of competitive racing before his motor blew. He restored it for the South Island division but again had problems a few minutes after the start of the Waiau stage. He spent the rest of the time with Barrv

Ord and Selwyn Paynter a: navigators on the Grey Taramakau, and Rakaia river; as a non-competitive entry. Bradley’s boat is capable of very high speeds or smooth, deep water but is totally unsuitable for racing up and down New Zealand’s shallow, braided rivers. Bradley readily conceded this point after observing the New Zealand-made boats and drivers performing on their home rivers. “When I get home I’m going to make one of these itsy-bitsy boats and then try to drive it up a trickle from the garden hose,” he said. The only other overseas entry, Alberta Gold, driven by Gordon Ford (Edmonton), also failed to complete th?

: 14300 cu cm to 5200 cu cm I class. i One of the pleasing features of the marathon was the way the less-powerful boats crept into the top overall placings as the much bigger, expensive machines dropped out of the running. Golden Fleece, driven by Alan Cammock (Waipukurau), with Ross Duncan (Hastings) as crew, not only Ued its class but also gained fourth place over all. Down one class, for boats between 3401 cu cm and 4200 cu cm, Cliff Saunders (Christchurch) drove his Gianni Jeans home first and won sixth place over all. Allan Bull (Christchurch) was his crew. Boats in the lowest-

course. Unlike Bradley, Ford I knows how to drive on the I local rivers (he was a boat builder in Taumarunui before leaving New Zealand after the Government imposed its boat-tax last year), but was let down by a run of mechanical failures in the North Island. Disappointingly, the only other overseas interest shown in the marathon..was by an Australian, Graeme Ellis (Sydney), who jointly entered Purple People Eater with Ralph Brown (Queenstown). They finished fifth in the

powered class (up to 3400 cu cm) had little chance of finishing in the top 10, but the class honours went to Harvey Reid (Lower Hutt) in Mr WD-40. Reid’s time of 14h 27s helped him to achieve his aim of beating his father-in-law, Doug Russell (Christchurch) in Taylor’s Drycleaners. Russell, who, at 59, is believed to have been the oldest competitor, earned second place just Bmin behind Reid. Compared with the previous world championships in I Canada and Mexico, the I

organisation of this year’s marathon was flawless and deservedly earned praise for those responsible for timekeeping, results, communications, launching and recovery, and the supporting patrol boats. Their efforts were rewarded on Saturday- by the! thousands of people who lined the banks of the Waimakariri to see the finish. It was by far the biggest crowd for any jet-boating event since the sport began 25 years ago. Over-all placings

Commodore (M. Cromie, Rakaia), 9:59.13, 1; Guthreys N.Z. Tours (H. Smith, Christchurch), 10:3.14, 2; Lion Export (R. Benton, Featherston), 10:34.9, 3; Golden Fleece (A. Cammock, Waipukurau), 11:15.28, 4; Pltantom Ford (E. Hill, Hastings), 11:47.50, 51 Gianni Jeans (C. Saunders, Christchurch), 12:9.8, 6; P and N (J. Heslop,. Southbridge), 12:15.9, .7: LJ2 : (B. Tulett, Christchurch), 12:23.32, 8; Grouse Whiskey: (N. Jefferies, Christchurch). 12:42.25, 9; Quick Flik (P. Muff, Christchurch), 12:48.9. 10.

In the following results, the total elapsed times are given first followed by the stage times for the upstream and downstream runs on the Waimakariri, respectively, in parentheses.

Champion Spark Plug Class (5101 cu cm and above) Commodore (M. Cromie, Rakaia). 9:59.13 (48.39, 39.22), 1; Guthreys N.Z. Tours (H. Smith, Christchurch), 10:3.14 (46.42, 38.37). 2; Lion Export (R. Benton. Featherston), 10:34.9 (46.49, 41.35), 3; P and N (J. Heslop, Southbridge), 12:15.9754.16, 46.55), 4; Valvoline (N. Bagrie, Hinds),

12:59.54 (2:6.0, 2:20.0), 5: Supervalue (B. Derrv, Blenheim), 14:22.43 (2:6.0, 2:20.0), 6; Lockwood Lifestyle (H. McLachlan, Rotorua), 15:44.13 (1:7.56, 51.44),

Rajay Turbochargers class (4201-5100 cu cm)

Golden Fleece (A. Cammock, Waipukurau). 11:15.28 (59.0, 45.48), 1: Phantom Ford (E. Hill, Hastings). 11:47.50 (54.22, 57.36), 2; Grouse Whiskey (N. Jefferies. Christchurch). 12:42.25 (1:1.10, 56.23), 3; Quick Flik (P. Muff. Christchurch), 12:48.9 (1:3.14, 48.46 1 , 4; Purple People Eater (R. Brown, Queenstown and G. Ellis. Sydney). 13:34.47 (1:29.34; 1:10.14), 5; Hi-Riser (K. Newmann. Geraldine), 13:44.16 (1:2.56, 48.38), 6; Kotiki (T. Allan. Christchurch), 13:47.55 (59.51, 48.23), 7. Savage Marine Class (3401-4200 cu cm)

Gianni Jeans (C. Saunders, Christchurch), 12:9.8 (1:3.49, 51.6), 1; LJ2 (B. Tuiett, Christchurch), 12:23.32 (1:2.27, 43.41), 2; Eagle Rock (R. Harrison. Christchurch), 12:49.35 (1:4.9, 49.27), 3; Sasquatch (T. Davies. Taumarunui), 12:59.1 (1:4.16, 52.38). 4; Hitachi Excavators (B. Inwood, Belfast), 13:2.40 (1:3:54, 50.55), 5; Hustler. (J. Roberts', Christchurch), 13:52.7 (1:6.25, 53.41), 6; Nicolette (P, Quinn, Christchurch), 14:25.4 (1:15.10. 54.37), 7.

Hamilton Marine Class (up to 3400 cu cm) Mr WD-40 (H. Reid. Lower Hutt), 14:0.27 (1:7.23, 53.55), 1; Taylors- Drycleaners (D. Russell,' Christchurch), 14:8.45 (1:11.57, 1:4.25), 2; Orinoco (R.-Hardie, Palmerston North), s- 34:27.52' (1:10.11, 1:17.21), 3; Deep (Purple' (J. Harcourt. Christchurch), 14:28.4 (1:12.0, 54.16), 4; Hellbent (R. Benton. New Plymouth), 14:30.41 (1:11.9, 1:31.50), 5; Hombre (E. Kiddie, Te Puke), 14:45.36 (1:16.28. 56.2), 6; Mid Canterbury Industries (G. Taylor. Ashburton), 15:5.12 (1:16.42, 56.55). 7.