News from Stilwell Brothers Racing
Round 3 was held at beautiful Lake Rotoiti near Nelson on 17 – 18 of March. The weather was fantastic and there was two days of good racing.
After qualifying 3rd we were set for a good run in Race 1. Despite getting the ‘hole shot’ to the first turn, having to hold lanes quickly eliminated this advantage and we ran hot on the heals of our main Tour rivals for the whole race finishing 3rd. The ‘action’ of the day was Anthony Robinson (Design Windows) undertaking a near “blowover” and then major nose-dive while trying ‘whip’ up the inside of Julian in one of the turns. Fortunately there was no major damage to either boat or driver.
With Race 2 being a reverse grid, we took advantage of a good position at the start and came out with a convincing 2nd over Luke Sharp in Promt Parts. Malcolm Jamieson (KRB Racing) managed to sneak past in the first turn and maintained 1st for the remainder of the race. We are “stoked” with this result and Julian seems to now coming to grips with the boat.
Sharp lead the field in Race 3 on Sunday, Jamieson – 2nd, and us, again 3rd.
These results leave us still maintaining 3rd in the NZ F1 Tour closely followed by Steve Pope from Cromwell (“The Vatican”).
Unfortunately, later that day, in one of the Unlimited races on Sunday we melted a piston. This is a bit of set back for us but we will have this fixed for the Nationals and Final Tour round at Lake Kaniere at Easter. Our major concern here, is not so much repairing the engine, but the “why”?, so it does not happen again.
With rumoured 40+ entries over all classes so far for the Nationals at Lake Kaniere (Hokitika) on 7 – April, it should be an excellent event. Also, Nationals Rules dictates that pole positions on the start grid are ‘drawn from a hat’. This will definately make things interesting….
A special thanks to all our sponsors and supporters that came to the event
Next Round and NZPBA Nationals – Easter (7 – 8 April) – Lake Kaniere, Hokitika
Be sure to check out the videos on our site also!!!