Bruce Repsold in his DAC Formula 1 powerboat claimed the unusually calm waters of the St. Helena Bay Harbour as his own in a somewhat dominant performance winning three-out-of-three heats in front of an appreciative crowd at the second round of the new F1 season this past weekend.

In a weekend of high drama that saw Morne Herholdt barrel-roll his lightning fast new DAC in Saturday practice, Keegan Frankiewicz set the quickest time in qualifying and then snapped the main drive shaft in his gear box relegating him to the back of the grid following an engine change, and Ronan Dixon nose-dived his DAC and damaged the hull, ruling himself out of the weekends action. Luckily for Herholdt the notorious St. Helena wind came up early on Saturday afternoon which halted all racing and afforded him and his team an opportunity to repair his boat and motor following the roll in practice.

Sunday’s weather conditions were perfect for racing and an early morning start saw Repsold stamping his authority on the event. A highlight of the racing weekend was the debut of Chase Herholdt who switched from racing cars to racing his racing his father Morne’s spare DAC hull. Plagued by battery issues that hampered his pace in the first heat, he put in a mature performance to finish in fourth place in race two followed by a third in race three.

Reigning SA champion Keagan Frankiewicz was slightly off-pace following the engine change and came home in second place overall in his Baba hull, with an ever improving Wynand de Jager in his Baba rounding out the top three. Adding to the racing action was a hard-bottom class and a field of forty four P750 inflatables that provided many thrills as well as a couple of spills in the windy conditions on Saturday.

Results were as follows –

F1. 1^st Bruce Repsold, 2^nd Kegan Frankiewicz, 3^rd Wynand de Jager, 4^th Chase Herholdt, 5^th John-Ross Duncan, 6^th Morne Herholdt, 7^th Dylan Moolman, 8^th Ronan Dixon.

Hard-bottoms. 1^st Kahil Coetzee, 2^nd Craig Bell, 3^rd Kyle Otto, 4^th Leon Herholdt

Inflatables P750 Modified

1^st Marc Gleed & JD van Niekerk (Rusgenot Transport), 2^nd  Ruben Scholtz & Corne Geldenhuys (Marshmallow Pop), 3^rd  Emile Steyl & Juan Meinhardt (Alonza Investments)

P750 Pro-Stock

1^st Dreyer van Niekerk & Helene van Niekerk (Marshmallow Pop), 2^nd Flippie Schoeman & Sebastian Kotze (Westcoast Petroleum), 3^rd Wehan Malan & Lohan Malan (Pang / Skywalker Distribution)

P750 Stock

1^st Herman Louwrens & Luke Louwrens (Reef Africa), 2^nd Dieter Blignaut & Max van der Walt (Pro-Oil / Chaotic Racing), 3^rd Kallie Koberzig & Julian Minaar (Made Clothing)