The banks of the Hawkesbury River were packed at Governor Phillip Park over the weekend, as people flocked to the Upper Hawkesbury Power Boat Club’s Blown Boat Spectacular.
It was billed as a showdown between the United States of America, represented by Duff Daily and Steve Sequiera, and Australia.
The lure of the Americans proved so tantalising, UHPBC commodore John Davoll reckons it was the biggest crowd the club had seen in 15 years.
Davoll said there were some in the Australian racing community who doubted whether the Americans and their boats, which differ to Australian ones, could adapt to the Australian style courses.
However, Davoll said the Americans more than proved their talent, with Duff Daily in El Cid finishing second overall.
Steve Sequiera in Back to the Future rolled his craft, but was unharmed, and will race in the second part of the series in South Australia.
Duff Daily, who raced here in 2007, said he had a great time racing.
“It is all fun, and friendly racing. The younger guys want to knock the older guys off but as a rule it is just going out and having fun,” he said.
“The people are treating us great and I really enjoy it.”
Daily said he knew that the Australians would have an advantage over him, but said the challenge of trying to beat them was exciting.
“All the boats are different to what we run design wise,” he said.
“I have some strong points on them and they have some strong points on me.
“They definitely have an advantage on this course that we run at Windsor. Our courses have much bigger turns and are longer.”
Daily said it was interesting working with Sequiera, who is normally one of his fierce rivals.
“We're team mates ehre but we will run against each other if we have to. We're kinda together for the next two weekends,” he said.
“It is good. We work together and put some strategy in together and yeah it is fun.”
John Davoll said he could not be happier with how things had turned out, after the club put in a lot of effort to ensure the spectacular went ahead.
“There was a massive crowd. It was probably the best crowd we've had in about 15 years,” he said.
“It went really well, there was a great crowd, great racing and only a few incidents.
“It is a lot of work, but to see the event unfold after so much work went into it and the amount of people supporting the event was terrific.”
Chris Palmer in outlaw ended up winning the blown class; Corey Davoll won the formula 2; Hayden Sherry won the formula 4; Ryan MacIntosh won the 6 litre; and, Justin Frankham won the 105mph superstock.
