Sail-World.com : Grand Prix Hydroplane titles: Son leads cousin and father not happy
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Grand Prix Hydroplane titles: Son leads cousin and father not happy |
Veteran Kiwi hydroplane racer, Warwick Lupton, will not necessarily be a happy and contented man after the opening round of the World Grand Prix Hydroplane titles in New Zealand last weekend. Simply put, Warwick Lupton likes winning; he has little interest in coming second.
Now, after the opening round in front of a healthy crowd at Tauranga, Warwick’s son Ken leads the table with 625 points, from David Alexander, Warwick’s cousin, third with 469 points.
The Lupton clan and their ‘Annihilator’ race team are a dominant force in world hydroplane racing.
 | Why wouldn’t Ken Lupton look happy - he’s beaten the ’old man’ and holds a healthy lead in the point score. - Phillip Hoskyn |
It was Warwick at the wheel of ‘Annihilator’ who claimed the prestigious E.C.Griffith Cup, the legendary symbol of Australasian speedboat supremacy in November, a feat he would have been much happier with as Ken could ‘only’ manage second.
Kiwi fans of the hydroplane racing say Warwick, Ken and David Alexander all ‘push the envelope’; all take great delight in winning and claiming family boasting honours..
Warwick can look back on more than 30-years of high-powered competition, while Ken, 22, already boasts four-years on the race circuits.
 | David Alexander, ’the other part’ of the successful Annihilator race team. - Phillip Hoskyn |
David Alexander’s ‘Annihilator’ is actually 25-years old! It was originally Warwick’s boat and obviously still has plenty of life in it.
The Annihilator team will soon be welcoming a new man on board. Chris Picard, currently David’s crew chief, is set to take up a role behind the wheel instead of a spanner. Meanwhile, Warwick has a new boat nearing completion, just in case Ken and David think they’ve got him beaten.
Incidentally, the New Zealand Hydroplane Club has expressed disappointment at the lack of competition from the ‘other’ land down under.
Brett Niddrie, in ‘Warlord’, currently sitting in fourth place on the point score, was the only one to carry the Aussie flag.
With the exception of American driver J. Michael Kelly, (in seventh place) all other competitors were New Zealanders.
by Bob Wonders Share
2:26 AM Mon 19 Jan 2009 GMT
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