Hill wins Citizen jet marathon

Press, 20 September 1982, Page 3

Hill wins Citizen jet marathon

By

FRANK DUGGAN

Ted Hill, of Hastings, won the eight-day. 14-lap, Citizen Watch jet boat marathon, which finished on the Waimakariri River on Saturday. Hill, aged 50. a farmer who has been driving boats for about eight years, won the championship by 39mins 48sec from Mark Cromie. of Rakaia. Third was Stu Parsons. of Waitotara. Cromie, who drives the 454 Chevrolet twin turbocharged Commodore, clearly won the eight-lap South Island senior Champion Spark Plug class. After a disastrous North Island leg. Cromie came to the South Island lying fourteenth over all. The 1980 world champion was almost unbeatable in the South Island and he clearly won the section, by Ihr 41min 52sec. For Cromie and his crew. Greg Thomson tßakaia). and Raloh Brown

(Queenstown), it was something of a bitter-sweet success. "But for that major mistake in the North Island, I think we could have won the New Zealand championship." said Cromie. However, Hill and his son Douglas, the driver, deservedly won the championship. Driving a class B boat in the Rajay Turbocharger class. Hill had the most consistent boat throughout the 1158 km marathon. Many times he nursed Phantom Ford, but his speed and skill, enabled them to win clearly. "I didn’t even have to change a spark plug." he said. His time for the 14 laps was 14hrs 14min 3sec. Cromie. in a much larger boat, totalled 14hrs 58min 51sec. Parsons covered the distance in 15hrs 55min Bsec. Ron Hardie of Palmerston North, driving a Falcon XC 3350 cu. cm motor in Ori-

noco. was fourth over all. His performance was splendid considering he was in class 4. the Hamilton Marine section. Fifth was "Aorangi." driven by Don Johnstone, of Feilding. Public interest in the marathon was intense in the South Island. Cars, vans, trucks, and other vehicles were parked at strategic points along the various routes. The finish at the motorway bridge on the Waimakariri on Saturday afternoon gave the race organisers a bonus — there were about 1000 spectators. “When we have the world championship here on the same eight-day course next year, you can expect many times more,” said the assistant secretary and treasurer of the New Zealand International Jet Boat Marathon. Mr Dick Farrant. The marathon had 37 starters in the North Island

on Wednesday. September 8. On Saturday morning there were only 17 for the start of the 78km Waimakariri lap. from Kairaki to Woodstock. After Woodstock, the field was reduced to 13. through groundings and engine failures. Going downstream, the river is hard to read, a factor which may have caused Komatsu to crash at Courtney. Driven by Gary Thomson of Eketahuna and crewed by his son. Shane, Komatsu "flipped” and the older Thomson suffered injuries. This was the only major accident on the tour. John Watson, who drove Motogard 11 in the third Savage Marine class, had a record day on the Waimakariri. On the first lap he created a new record by Imin 25sec and in the afternoon broke that by 31sec. Watson, a market gardener

of Christchurch, was the sen- ■ sation of the marathon. He broke seven lap records, in- , eluding two he created on the Waimakariri River in I 1980. But for drastic probi lems on the later North Island stages, he could have been a winner. ■ Although he finished i second behind Parsons in the ■ Savage Marine class in the : South Island — he was beaten by 21min — he still i provided some of the most spectacular boating of the i series. Parsons was the over- - all national winner of his class, driving Crown Finance, in 15hrs 55min Bsec. Naturally. Ted and Douglas , Hill were winners of the ■ Rajav Turbocharger class. Hardie had little opposition in the Hamilton Marine ’ class, for boats with motors '. up to 3400 cu. cm. He won the national section by more than an hour and in the South Island was clear by Ihr 3Kmin