Oulton Broad Club Meeting: 10/06/2010
The Area 31 Racing Team were left wondering what might have been at a rough Oulton Broad after the prop shaft decided to let go during the final heat robbing the team of the overall victory.
Once again the hydroplane class was well supported with the Area 31 Racing Team competing with the 1973 500cc restored classic hydroplane, and Julian Codling running the ever impressive 250cc GRM powered Trombetta outfit. The remaining entries in this handicap event were made up of 400cc OSY rigs of James Bowman, Tony Knights, James Marr, Luke Hugman, Rob Hales, Joshua Wright, Jason Freeman and new driver Zach Stanford.
The first race saw Area 31 Racing Team driver David Jones start 1 minute 40 seconds after the first OSY outfit of Zach Stanford. The 1973 500cc Konig outfit powered through rough conditions to take second place on the line from Tony Knights with James Bowman taking the first heat win.
Heat two saw the Area 31 Racing Team once again start 1 minute 40 seconds after the first boat and on the rough Oulton Broad circuit the boat was taking a pounding, but once again David managed to take second place on the line with Luke Hugman proving to be to much to catch taking the second heat race win.
With two second places it was David who went into the final heat leading overall and a repeat performance would have seen the Area 31 Racing Team take the overall victory. All seemed to be going well until the half way point of the final race as David approached the start finish line the boat lost momentum and came to a sudden standstill. Returning to the pits it was evident the rough conditions had taken its toll with the prop shaft being snapped in two resulting in the propeller the team had been working on since the start of the season now laying somewhere on the bottom of the broad.
It was a disappointing end to a demanding evening in the tricky conditions for the Area 31 Racing Team. Overall first place ended up going to James Bowman, second to Jason Freeman and third place going to Tony Knights all in 400cc OSY outfits.
Below is a link to some recent video footage of the Area 31 Racing Team competing at Oulton Broad.
- 1973 500cc Konig Powered Restoration Footage: May 2010
- 1973 500cc Konig Powered Restoration Footage: June 2010
