International Model Power Boat Association
News
December 2005 Directors Report
District XIII concluded its 10th season with its final High Point race, The Southern Challenge in Sycamore, GA hosted by SOWEGA on November 4 & 5. The five race Highpoint series started with the Spring Nationals in Atlanta. This race is by far our largest race with over 250 boats entered and an early sell out. The flyer for ’06 will be available soon and we will put up a web page to list entries, sponsors, etc.. We expect this race to sell out early again and if you plan to attend send your entry in early. The Twin Shootout will be back in ‘06. Mitch Graber of Florida took home the big trophy in ’05 with his Roadrunner and I’m sure a number of racers are planning to try to claim the top prize and bragging rights in ‘06. Overall the High Point series saw the tunnel classes increase in attendance with the nitro Monos also gaining. Both classes featured good side by side racing and close points battles all through the season. The nitro hydro classes were swept by John Knight, First place in 20,40, 60 & F. We hope to see some guys step up to challenge him next year. The gas classes were almost swept by the Huff family winning 4 out of 5 of the classes. They put on a great show race in and race out with their four Microburst Monos. Be sure to check our district website www.impba13.com for the schedule and classes for ‘06.
Our Grand Prix series also ran a five race schedule in ‘05. Our district’s gas boats take center stage in this series offering seven classes for the gas boats. There was hard racing all season throughout the series. The tough competition in this series couldn’t stop Team Huff as they took the top spot in SIX of the seven gas classes. The biggest story of the year in this series was the increase of speed in the Crackerbox class. Lamar and Don Huff led the chase for more speed but it didn’t take long for Norman Morton to make it a three way battle. This class should really be something to watch at the Spring Nats in April!
In September the Charleston Model Boaters hosted the “Tunnel Championships”. This all tunnel race drew 23 drivers with 75 boats to compete in seven classes and an Enduro class. The largest class was B Tunnel with 18 entries. Steve Cirmello was able to put his HTB290/MAC at the top of the standings after five hard rounds of racing. James Clegg had a notable performance by winning the Enduro with his Lynx/OS Sport B boat. This boat was raced in a total of five classes and completed close to 150 laps! James wanted to get all the racing in he could as this was his last race in the states for a while. He has now moved to Germany and D13 will miss him. Raffle prizes included a Top Speed2 from Aquacraft Models and a MAC engine from CMDi. This was a great event and it will be back again in Oct ’06 and will have it’s own web page again. Full coverage of this year’s race can be found on the district website on the race schedule page.
The Valdosta Model Boat Club hosted two record trials this year and will have Speed Week III at the end of this year. They have another Fast Electric trial scheduled for March and Speed Week IV will return at the end of next year.
After 10 seasons a lot has changed in GA and SC. We began with a seven race series that was hosted by six clubs. There are now ten races on the schedule and two separate series. We still have six clubs but only the Atlanta Model Boaters and East Cooper Model Club still exist. Gone are the Northeast Gator Dodgers, Savannah PropTwisters and Albany Wavewalkers. In their place we have the Ogeechee RC Modelers, Southwest GA Model Boaters, the Charleston Model Boaters and the Valdosta Model Boat Club. Oddly enough after being director 10 years ago I’m back at it again and I’d like to thank the members that took the time to vote. It should be interesting to see what the next 10 years hold in store for model boating in our district. Our second decade starts in February with the Southern Challenge in Sycamore, GA. Hope to see you there!
Bobby Halliday
District Director