Record times secure Macdonald jetboat lead

Press, 20 October 1987, Page 48

Record times secure Macdonald jetboat lead

By

MALCOLM CONDIE

Both success and disaster came to the Macdonald name in the first stage of the B.P. New Zealand jet boat marathon on the Waimakariri yesterday. Ken Macdonald, of Christchurch, last year’s world jet boat marathon winner, leads this year’s marathon after winning both stages yesterday in record times. Paul Macdonald, also of Christchurch, however, had less success, hitting a pressure wave on the upstream run. The blow stove in the right front of his boat. He decided to continue racing and in spite of some handling problems started the downstream stage of the marathon. Another disagreement with the river flow on that stage resulted in bis 460 cu in Hamilton 162 sinking. The boat was retrieved later in the day. No-one was seriously injured.

The first stage yesterday started from Kairaki — each class starting en masse — and went up to Waimakariri Gorge bridge. Ken Macdonald had already pulled clear of his rivals by the twin motorway bridges, about five minutes up the river. Times were quick on the upstream run and the records for every class were broken, some by nearly five minutes. Macdonald’s winning time was 35min 255, beating the record by smin 10s. The B class record of 41mln lOsec was thrashed by Christchurch’s Dave Pooley, driving Pescator, who recorded a time of 38min 325. As if breaking the upstream records was not enough, every class record was also broken on the return run, back to the motorway bridges. Thirty-seven boats started the marathon, two fewer than the registered

number of entries. Dunedin’s Ross Menzies in Sledge Hammer scratched and Joh Bourke, of Tauranga, broke a driveshaft on his 350 cu in Kwik-Kraft before starting. It is hoped he will race today. Another casualty to mechanical troubles was Mike Pooley in his 454 cu in Hamiltoon which was recently fuel injected. Trouble with the fine tuning meant Pooley burnt out a piston and had to withdraw early in the first stage. Two surprises in the over-all results at the end of the day were Corporate General, driven by Bill Roberts (Whakatane) and Pescator, driven by Pooley. Both boats are in lower classes, Corporate General in C class and Pescator in B class, and they finished in fourth and fifth place over all. Roberts* boat is powered by a 302 cu in Chevrolet

and it is the same boat which kept him a clear leader in the C class in the world marathon last year before he was forced out on the Waiau River. Pooley’s machine is powered by a 383 cu in Chevrolet and this is his first national marathon. He has won several local marathons recently. The first three over-all places at the end of yesterday’s racing all went to class A machines. Ken Macdonald was first, Brian Scott, of Geraldine was second due to a superb second stage run down the Waimakariri to pass Angus McFarlane, now third, and close the gap to Macdonald to only 10s. . Racing today starts from the State highway No. 1 motorway bridge over the Waitaki River, races up to the Waitaki Dam and then returns for the fourth stage.