Clarence King clocked at 120mph

By Tim Howard

Hawkesbury power boat driver Hayden Chesser has been crowned King of the Clarence after winning the inaugural Jacaranda Classic Circuit Boat race in Grafton on Sunday.

Chesser, in Fury, 21ft evercraft blown big block Chevy, rocketed down the 650m course set between Corcoran Park and Elizabeth Island at speeds of around 120mph, to dominate the race against two other competitors,  Wedlock and Melodie XI.

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Although hailing from the Hawkesbury there was quite a strong Clarence Valley connection on team Fury on Sunday.

The head mechanic was Chris Whalan from C&D Electronics at Woombah the support crew of Samantha, Jason, Clay and Talon Lamerton, from Iluka.

Chesser said that while he was in the cockpit piloting the boat, it took a massive amount of support to get him there.

Trophy patron Graham Guiles presents the perpetual Patricia Lewis Guile Trophy to Dave Laws, whose boat Homewrecker was the overall pointscore winner on the day. Nick Case, centre was runner up and Troy Poles was third.

“Really, when you up there after a win, all you’re doing is thinking about all the people who helped get you there,” he said.

“The Chesser racing team has had heaps of support from people like Wallace Concrete ad RA Auto Electronics keep us going.

“These boats operate at a high level. There’s probably about $100,000 worth in that engine and we’re stretching it to breaking point every time we race.”

Chesser was full of praise for the race organisers, the Northern Rivers Aquatic Club and the Clarence River as a course.

“For young club to put on a new event like this and get the crews and crowd support they did is a credit to them,” he said.

“And the river was just sensational to race on. We will definitely be coming back to race in any events they put on.”

Chesser said it had also been a special pleasure race against Melodie XI in the Classic because it continued powerboat rivalry between the Chesser and Kirkpatrick families, which goes back generations.

The team behind Fury’s win in the Jacaranda Classic: from left: Jason Lamerton, Hayden Chesser, Brenton Chesser, Chris Whalan and Peter Vial.

“To find myself competing against the Kirkpatricks in the inaugural event here is very special to me,” Chesser said.

Modest in victory, Chesser said there had been some disappointments in the race.

“Not being able to compete agains Gary Truslove was really disappointing,” he said.

“And I would also have like to race against (GP hydroplane) Whitenoise and Ricky Howard.

“They would have kicked my arse, but it would have special to see them competing.”

Earlier in the day the crowd did get to see Whitenoise give a exhibition run on the course.

Owned by NRAC president Grant Heeley and his wife and club secretary Karin, Whitenoise made a rare appearance on the water and treated spectators to laps exceeding 150mph.

The Heeleys have been rebuilding the boat over the past few years and despite its reputation as one of the fastest powerboats in the country, has not raced regularly.

The third boat entered in the Jacaranda Classic Circuit Boat race is Melodie XI, a 5 litre class boat.

While Heeley was disappointed the boat could not compete he was glad people got tha chance to catch a glimpse of what she could do.

“She developed a bad oil leak, so we decided to pull her out of the classic,” he said.

“It was disappointing, but we decided it wasn’t worth the risk at the start of the season.”

Heeley said his club had managed the weekend superbly after the disappointment of calling off Saturday’s racing due to rough conditions.

“People can say what they like, in this support safety is paramount and conditions weren’t right on Saturday,” he said.

“But the way things ran today we almost caught up the backlog of events from the first day which was a credit to everyone.”

Club secretary and event coordinator Kim Schiemer said the crowds the event attracted on Sunday exceeded expectations.

“The Rotary Club, Mr Whippy and the two coffee vans all did a roaring trade,” he said.

He said the format of the racing for the event was slightly different with a reliability factor built into the races along with tradition points for top three finishes.

Jacaranda Classic winning driver Hayden Chesser waves the chequered flag after winning the inaugural event at Grafton on Sunday.

“The more classes boats entered the more points they could gather if they finished their races,” he said.

Schiemer said the crash boats and safety crews also had chances to demonstrate they were up to scratch.

“We had an incident with one of the 25hp 550 boats nosediving into a wave and sinking,” he said.

“Rescue crews sort that out without any dramas.

“We also had a boat spin out on a turn and go over another boat,” he said.

“The bow of the boat hit the helmet of the driver of the other boat and put a three inch crack in it.

“The driver was fine and it demonstrated how effective the safety equipment is in the sport.”

He also singled out the club’s pitman, Greg Leth, for praise.

“He hadn’t run anything like this for around 25 years, and after picking up on some of the more modern way things are done, he ran the pits like clockwork.

“It was largely due to him we were able to catch up on so many races from Saturday’s cancelled racing.”

He said the club had demonstrated it could stage an event of this calibre and thanked major sponsors Jacaranda Laundry, Clarence Valley Timber and Wicks & Parker for all their support.

He also praised the Clarence Valley community for getting behind the event in big numbers.

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