Forty-seven Inflatable Powerboat Teams lined the beaches of Mosselbay last weekend at the Six Gun Grill King of the Waves National Inflatable Powerboat Championship that formed part of the hugely successful sporting extravaganza that was held in Mosselbay over the Heritage Day long weekend. The event that was made up of two days of surf racing action followed by a 120 kilometre long-haul endurance event on the third day attracted many spectators who were kept enthralled with the high speed racing action. Due to the high number of entries all three of the classes namely Stock, Pro-Stock & Modifieds had to be divided into two groups with two elimination heats to determine the top twelve boats that would ultimately qualify to compete in the finals.

Picture credit: Heinrich & Rona Sauer Photography
With the sport enjoying a tremendous growth spurt there were a host of new teams taking part and as the racing action started at Diaz Beach the teams quickly realised that they were in for a torrid time as a strong south-easterly wind caught many of them by surprise with boats flipping regularly as they headed out through the pounding surf. After the conclusion of the first round of heats, the race officials made the call to suspend racing for the day due to safety concerns and move to the more sheltered Santos Beach for day two before returning to Diaz Beach for the running of the endurance event on day three.
Local Algoa Inflatable Club racers Terry Lantz & co-pilot Jana Zitlau in their Cooline Logistics & Shukuma Brick sponsored Aquarius Hull put in a good showing in the very competitive pro-stock class for blue-printed motors finishing in seventh place overall in both surf events as well as the long-haul endurance event. Christo Bezuidenhout & Craig Gardiner in their Industrial Highway Carriers Aquarius Hull finished in seventh place on day one in the modified class and were then bumped out of contention while rounding a turn-buoy resulting in a massive flip on day two, with Bezuidenhout damaging ligaments in his leg that brought their weekends racing to a premature stop. Flying the flag for the East London built Aquarius boats was multiple world champion Stefan Lindeque with the 2005 / 2006 & 2007 crowns along with a host of national titles to his name. He has made a welcome return to competitive racing and with co-pilot Luke Myburgh in their Boost Performance and Team Aquarius boat they put on a stunning display of race-craft to finish in fourth place on day one followed up by a second place overall on day two after a dominant display to win the final.
The overall results per class were as follows –
Stock Class day 1 – 1st Nikki du Bois & Marius van Dyk, 2nd Dihan Spies & FC van Zyl, 3rd Wilko du Preez & Duan Hough
Pro-stock Class day 1 – 1st Wehan Malan & Harry Erasmus, 2nd Ayrton Martinengo & Dylan Burger, 3rd Dreyer van Niekerk & JD van Niekerk
Modified Class day 1 – 1st Eben de Bod & Henco Nel, 2nd Johann Lodewyks & Nico le Roux, 3rd Ruben Scholtz & Hugo Erasmus
Stock Class day 2 – 1st Nikki du Bois & Marius van Dyk, 2nd Renier Cronje & Francois van Rooyen, 3rd Morne le Roux & Eckard van der Linden
Pro-stock Class day 2 – 1st Wimpie Ackerman & Robbie Loots, 2nd Stefan Lindeque & Luke Myburg, 3rd Flippie Schoeman & Wian Strydom
Modified Class day 2 – 1st Renier le Roux & Jan Human, 2nd Ruben Scholtz & Hugo Erasmus, 3rd Gideon Siecker & Rohan Spammer
Stock Class Long Haul – 1st Albertus Hanekom & Chad Philip, 2nd Jonathan Badenhorst & Carla Engelbrecht, 3rd Dihan Spies & FC van Zyl
Pro-stock Class Long Haul – 1st Ayrton Martinengo & Dylan Burger, 2nd Dreyer van Niekerk & JD van Niekerk, 3rd JP Hamman & Corne Geldenhuys
Modified Class Long Haul – 1st Ruben Scholtz & Hugo Erasmus, 2nd Emile Steyl & Deon Karsten, 3rd Gideon Siecker & Rohan Spamer