Speed, thrills and spills at St Arnaud
Lake Rotoiti turned on brilliant weather for the 101st Rotoiti Power Boat Club regatta on the 9th and 10th of March.
Local driver Chris DuFeu was the best performed driver in his Formula 1 boat ‘The Panther’, coming away with 5 wins and one second place to charge up the leaderboard before the penultimate round of the NZ F1 Powerboat tour at Lake Kaniere at Easter.
His closest rival Simon Morrison in ‘The Cable Guy’ holds a slender lead with one event to go.
DuFeu’s weekend was finished off with a win by ‘The Panther’ in the King of the Lake race on Sunday.
The crowd favourite GP Hydroplanes did not disappoint, with the National champion Ken Lupton from Waverley winning the South Island GP title.
Honours on the Sunday went to Jason Haggerty in his boat ‘Lady Liz’ in winning the Arthur McCaa Memorial from crowd favourite Raymond Hart in ‘Thundastruck’ who took spectacularly took out a turn buoy to ruin his title chances.
The day was not without some excitement with 2 tunnel boats flipping over the weekend and a fuel fire which damaged Jack Lupton’s GP Hydroplane ‘Annihilator’. Special mention goes to Deane Tootell of Blenheim competing at his first regatta in his Formula 3 boat ‘Automove 2’ who picked up several strong placings over the weekend in this highly competitive class.
Club president Wayne Wells thanked the volunteers and DOC for their efforts.