Mercury smashes a few records
High-speed raceboats powered by Mercury engines had plenty of success in SMOC (Standard Engine Open Cockpit) and bridge to bridge-style ski races last year and are determined to give competitors the same medicine in 2011.
In December 2010 the 6.4m bullet Warlord
Making victory even sweeter, it was the first win for Warlord’s new owner/driver Simon Morrison, observer Grant Plummer, and skiers Neil Rix and Kevin Vahtrik. Warlord is powered by twin-S3000 Mercury Champ engines.
In third and fourth place respectively in the Open class were two more Mercury-driven machines — Bjammin and Hoofit — both motivated with a 300 X Pro Max.
Elsewhere, after 20 years of racing, Timothy Everest took out his first Victorian SMOC title in The Specimen but didn’t do it the easy way. Starting in the second wave, he had to overtake 10 boats while counting on his skier, Rhys Duggan, to deal with the unrelenting chop.
“We just let it all hang out,” Timothy said later. “Being behind that many boats, we were in rough water most of the time so Rhys just had to hold on.”
The Specimen is a 6m Velocity powered by a Mercury OptiMax 250 Pro, an engine noted for its holeshot ability. The boat is only 12 months old but Timothy and his crew believe they have a fair chance of repeating the win at the national SMOC championships at Wiseman’s Ferry (NSW) in April 2011.
Photo: The Specimen and its successful crew.