Mick Pentney Memorial Trophy - Oulton Broad - 12/09/10
Date added: 12/09/10
The final club meeting of the season saw the Area 31 Racing Team competing for the trophy named in memory of their great friend Mick Pentney who sadly lost his life in a powerboat accident during the 1980's. The team had a surprise for all classic hydroplane racing fans as they finally re-launched the third restoration project they had been working on for the past two years.
The restored 500cc Konig powered Popoli hydroplane was the latest restoration project for the team, a boat they raced during the 1990's. It was also a boat Mick Pentney raced during his final years as a powerboat racer, so it was a fitting tribute that the restoration project was re-launched competing for the trophy in memory of Mick.
Race 1
Norman Bell and Tony Sallis got the race underway with their 350cc hydroplane outfits shortly followed by Jamie Grieve in a 500cc hydrocat. Area 31 Racing Team driver David Jones then followed in the 500cc restored Popoli hydroplane and Keith McVeigh and Peter Rix completed the line up with their 500cc and 700cc outfits.
Although not feeling totally comfortable with the positioning of the stack pedal and foot holes meaning team driver David was laying a little too far down in the boat, he soon started clocking impressive 40 second lap times. With such consistent lap times David was able to power his way through the field to take an impressive race win with Jamie Grieve coming home in second and Keith McVeigh taking third.
Race 2
After an impressive first heat win Area 31 Racing team driver David Jones saw 16 seconds added to his handicap for the second race and it proved to be a little to much despite lapping into the 39 second barrier he could not make up the deficit with Keith Mcveigh taking the race win in the 500cc powered classic Cabover hydroplane and Jamie Grieves taking second place in the 500cc hydrocat.
Race 3
The final heat saw David, Keith McVeigh and Jamie Grieves all in with a chance of taking home the Mick Pentney memorial trophy. It was soon to become evident it would not be the Area 31 Racing Team as David Jones raced down to the first turn the engine seemed to kick itself in making it hard to handle and as David went round the bottom buoy the engine died ending the teams chances of winning the Mick Pentney trophy.
It was left for Keith McVeigh and Jamie Grieves to battle it out for the overall win and it was Keith who managed to catch and pass Jamie to take the third heat win and the overall win.
The Area 31 Racing Team were pleased with third place overall, especially on the restored 500cc powered Popoli's first outing. However it could have been a fairytale ending to finish the final heat and at least be challenging for the Mick Pentney Trophy in a boat Mick used to race.
