Victory sweet for hydroplane racer
POWERBOAT
Brendon Egan Victory couldn’t have tasted any sweeter for experienced Southland Powerboat Club member Allan Ballantyne at the North Island modified hydroplane championships at the weekend.
Ballantyne, who has raced powerboats for over 35 years, was able to capture his first North Island title and said that special moment made all the time, energy and money he had poured into the sport over the years, worth it.
‘‘I’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the last few years. I’ve burned boats and wrecked them and for the last four years, people have wondered why I go back to them,’’ Ballantyne said.
‘‘To go up there and do it feels really good. The boat went exceptionally well.’’
Ballantyne, 56, and his hydroplane, dubbed Rage – which is an acronym for ‘‘rough as guts engineering’’ – was anything but sluggish at Porirua Harbour, Wellington. He won both heats raced and triumphed by a whopping 200-point margin.
Ballantyne had a fantastic time of it up north, also grabbing a second placing in the King of the Harbour event.
‘‘The motor was getting pretty tired by then, but I was still able to beat the V8 [engine] boys, which I was pretty stoked about,’’ he said.
Rage, which Ballantyne has owned for the past three years, was completely rebuilt for the North Island championships after a horrific crash at the Oreti River back in November 2010, which caused extensive damage.
Ballantyne previously raced Rage at the world 2.5 modified hydroplane championships earlier that year, but suffered mechanical issues with the boat which dashed his hopes. The stateof-the-art boat has a 2-litre SR20 engine powering it and is capable of reaching speeds of around 210kmh.
Ballantyne, who runs Bayside Fish Supply in Riverton, will be looking to add the South Island title to his mantelpiece at home. The South- land Powerboat Club will host that event from March 24-25 at their Oreti River headquarters and he said it would be great if he was able to win some silverware in front of his family and friends. He will also line up in the powerboat nationals at Lake Kaniere in Hokitika over the weekend of April 7-8.