Wonthaggi Human Powered Grand Prix a Success!
Sun, rain, hail, wind, new vehicles for many teams and ambulances on speed dial
Race report by Nigel Preston (Online Manager for the RACV Energy Breakthrough and fmr President of Bendigo Youth Racing)

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Bendigo Youth Racing's 'BY-06 MkII' get's it's wings and puts daylight between itself and it's rivals at the 2007 Wonthaggi Human Powered Grand Prix.  View Full Results As only Wonthaggi seems to do - the weather ranged from a total fire ban on Friday to a downpour within 12 hours! The Saturday morning practice session was a good soaking for all and at 4pm short stint of hail covered the field. BUT - for the majority of the event the skies were clear - blue skies and a few clouds hung high over the South Gippsland town. A special note to all teams heading to Wonthaggi in 2008 - make sure you pack super bright headlights, a loud horn and the cold/wet-weather gear! How the Race Unfolded: Bendigo Youth Racing started on pole and created a good lead until a puncture slowed them at the 18 minute mark. Community Class teams Deakin Uni, Berwick SC's 'FireTruck', Trisled, Weeroona-X, Tru-Blu and the Ex-Pats all made good use of this and their pace was smooth. Not even the dreaded first turn claimed a casualty for over 40 minutes! Despite starting close to the pointy end of the field, Padua College's long running 'XLR8', suffered a twisted derailleur and ended up with a 180 degree twist in the chain. The time spent fitting the new derailleur and new chain effectively put paid to the team's class or overall hopes for glory in Wonthaggi. The vehicles in the top ten began to get grilled about passing without using their horns and more than a number of stop-go penalties were applied. A number of additional external horns were fitted at scrutineers request during the race and this appeased the officials. Rollover images to find out more - or view the Image Gallery Unfortunately, over on pit straight, the race saw a number of vehicle-spectator collisions, with the ambulance attending the circuit four times. One man received a broken leg in two places after stepping out in front of 'Vento' - the spectator fell onto the rider's head and split his helmet and destroyed the front windscreen on the vehicle. The damage to 'Vento' can be seen below right. Thankfully for the teams participating there was minimal delays and interference to the racing and this was a great effort by the ambo's, St John's and event organisers. View the full Image Gallery The pace was quick all the way down the field, with great racing in the Open secondary class between the irrepressible Berwick SC's 'Firetruck' and Flora Hill's 'Big Unit'. The content remained tight throughout the race with only a handful of laps separating them and laps times were quite comparable. Middle Secondary was Flora Hill's 'Gumbertron' all the way - the team now looking on to Murray Bridge & Maryborough to continue their three-peat from 2006. Weeroona's 'Fill' and Berwick SC's 'Firefly' were second and third, whilst Caulfield Grammar's 'Showdown' put in a solid performance in fourth for this class. The Junior Secondary class saw a great duel between Maiden Gully's 'Ziptar' and Weeroona College's 'Bee Bee' - the two circulating cleanly the often passing their share of Open, Middle and Senior Secondary teams on the track during their 16 hours. Ziptar continued their winning run, with a solid performance from all of the team, however with much of the team now moving into secondary school, their future is unclear. St Margaret's team 'Blonde' continued ripping through the field in the Senior Secondary class, and was the first all-girls team to take a class win in a long time. With the new All-Female secondary class created for the Energy Breakthrough this year, they have already shown themselves as the team to beat! As night fell, Trisled held a one lap buffer over BYR, with the Ex-Pats and Tru-Blu a few laps behind. Trisled continued to enjoy it's smooth run, whilst BYR's many problems began to settle down. Here, a 1 lap deficit became a 6 lap lead for the Bendigo crew - who began to felt validated that their vehicle originally built for Murray Bridge last September was a sound creation. The generally clean race continued throughout the evening, with a few nudges here and there, but very few major pile-ups. The feeling amongst the field was that this was the result of fewer vehicles than at other large 'Community' HPV events. Here in Wonthaggi, there were spaces of free track where riders could get into a rhythm and the tight section bunched vehicles up so that passing was actually easier on the straights. Rollover images to find out more & view the full Image Gallery Weeroona X, racing the Silver Bullet, did some barrier leaping, successfully shattered an $80 windscreen and also narrowly avoided a run-in with a Four-Wheel-Drive (see left). The team was quick at times, but had a bit of difficulty navigating the tight twists and turns of the esses and hairpin. View the full Image Gallery Kim Chapman (above left) put in a stellar stint with Greenspeed with an hour to go. He was flying through the hairpin with curb-kissing precision and delighting the crowd along the way. Tru-Blu unveiled their new creation here in Wonthaggi too - a sleek, quiet trike which remained smooth throughout the race. The Mt Martha crew seemed to avoid major incidents or issues and set a steady pace throughout the event. Deakin Uni fielded two teams for the first time and their ability to corner at speed is a major bonus here more than at any other circuit. For most of the event they were the fastest teams through the esses and hairpin as the wider front wheel track came into full effect. The perennial Mt Eliza circulated and their riders seemed to be smiling - with Cheryl moving quickly from time to time. They haven't seemed able to recapture their glory days of Maryborough in 1996. The wireless and overall race timing was faultless through the race, with RaceTime Computing once again doing a stellar job at suppling the teams with a flood of information. On the way to the chequered flag and despite sitting 40 laps ahead, Bendigo Youth Racing broke the 2 minute barrier (with a 1:59) for the first time ever - claiming not only the Fastest Lap record, but also setting a new total distance record. Rider Rowan Nankervis (who is pictured right jumping in for that stint) accepted the award at the presentations with a speech - "I'd like to thank all the competitors, because that's what makes the event at the end of the day. It's nice to do well, but it's also good to see people come along and give it a crack." Final Results: Junior Secondary: Middle Secondary Design & Construction 'Ziptar'- Maiden Gully PS Design & Construction 'Open Circuit' - Drouin SC' Race 'Ziptar'- Maiden Gully PS Race 'Gumbertron' - Flora Hill SC Overall (Race + Design & Construction 'Ziptar'- Maiden Gully PS Overall (Race + Design & Construction 'Gumbertron' - Flora Hill SC     Senior Secondary Open Secondary Class Design & Construction 'Sorcerer' - Wonthaggi SC Design & Construction 'Circuit Breaker' - Drouin SC Race 'Blonde' - St. Margaret's Race 'FireTruck' - Berwick SC Overall (Race + Design & Construction 'Blonde' - St. Margaret's Overall (Race + Design & Construction 'FireTruck' - Berwick SC   Community Fastest Lap of the Race: Design & Construction 'Silver Bullet' - Weeroona College 'BY-06 MkII' - Bendigo Youth Racing 1:49 Race 'BY-06 MkII' - Bendigo Youth Racing   Overall (Race + Design & Construction 'BY-06 MkII' - Bendigo Youth Racing

Links:
- Results (Courtesy of RaceTime Computing)
- Image Gallery
- Wonthaggi HPVGP Official Website
- 2006 Race Report
- Curriculum Resource: HPV Major Service (Teams may need this before Maryborough!)

Teams sites:
- Bendigo Youth Racing website
- Trisled website
- Deakin Uni website
- Greenspeed website
- Weeroona Energy Vehicles website