Mark Cromie’s last hurdle

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 72

Mark Cromie’s last hurdle

From

FRANK DUGGAN

in Greymouth

The unpredictable Waimakariri River is the last hurdle for the Rakaia driver, Mark Cromie, in his bid to win the 1983 Citizen Watch jet boat marathon. Cromie won his first world championship in New Zealand in 1980 in his everreliable Commodore, and the pair start the thirteenth lap of the championships upstream from Kairaki this ' morning with an over-all lead of 9min 9s over Howard Smith, of Christchurch, driving Guthreys N.Z. tours.

Third is the “find” of the championship, Tony Ward, of Tauranga, and his 350 cu in Mr Kwik Kraft, a Jockey class boat which has had an exceptional tour. Today will be Ward’s last drive in the craft — he has sold it to a Canadian.** Fourth on the over-all

aggregate and third in the Champion class is John Heslop, of Southbridge, and Spirit of Southbridge. Heslop had three good laps yesterday and but for stopping and helping the Canadian, Fred Chrunyk, and Canadian Club in the first lap of the South Island series on Wednesday, Heslop could be challenging for a

higher ranking. Weather conditions de-

teriorated to such an extent ' that on the third lap along the Taramakau River rain had enveloped the area, interspersed with showers of sleet and high winds; but this did not stop Cromie from recording his third lap record of the day, a role he filled last year. On the first lap (58km) from the Greymouth wharf along the Grey River, to Ahaura, Commodore recorded 36min 335, bettering his 1982 time by more than

3min. On the return Cromie was again three minutes better than last year and on the run upstream on the Taramakau, Cromie’s 25min 22s was another three minutes ahead of his previous record.

Nine fresh lap records were set yesterday, and this offset, to a certain extent, several on-water tragedies. Chrunyk, who led the North Island section, and then made a brilliant recovery on the Waiau River on Wednesday after a bad start on the Rakaia, crashed on the first leg yesterday.

A member of his crew, Larry Service, cracked some ribs and was replaced for the later runs by another Canadian, Barry Doherty. “I was following Mark Cromie, and I think I got into his wake and the boat went’tideways,” said Chrunyk. ‘‘We hit the bank, blew

the tail pipe in the jet unit and lost the steering. Larry got tossed around when it happened.” Merv Moore broke an ankle when Warren Meredith’s (Christchurch) Marauder crashed and sank in the second lap. The beat is now at the bottom of the Ahaura River. Dave Matterson, of Belfast, who previously lay in second place in the turbocharged class and eighth over all, blew his motor just after the start of the second leg. Several other boats also failed and from the starting figure of 50 at Greymouth yesterday morning the numbers will have dropped to less than 40.

Aggregate (after 12 laps).— Champion class: M. Cromie (Rakaia), Commodore, lOhrs Imin 15s, 1; H. Smith (Christchurch), Guthries NZ 'fours, lOhrs lOmin 265, 2; J. Heslop

(Southbridge), Spirit of Southbridge, lOhrs 45min, 51s, 3. Jockey class: A. Ward (Tauranga), Mr Kwik Kraft, lOhrs 45min 3s, 1; R. King (Palmerston North), Thystyme llhrs 24min 50s, 2.

IHI class: P. Muff (Christchurch), Konvekta Air Conditioners llhrs 20min, 1; R. Harrison (Christchurch), Burnit Elliott and Co., llhrs 35min 555, 2; A. and G. Sutton (Tauranga), NRM Feeds 12hrs 19min ss, 3.

Savage class: X Borren (Palmerston North), Mr Altherm, 12hrs 49min 58s, 1; P. Quinn (Christchurch), Giddy Up, 13hrs 44min 565, 2; B. Kerr (Christchurch), Sellotape Sticky Fixer, 16hrs 26min Is, 3.

Hamilton class: B. Harvey (Queenstown), Top Priority, 13hrs 3min 9s, 1; K. Frederickson (Inglewood), 13hrs 45min 2s, 2; M. Cox (Christchurch) Green Finger, 13hrs, 49min 355, 3.