The first round of the Western Circuit Championship was held in Kawhia and Raglan at the Blue balls Buggy Bash August 7 & 8 2010.
The Blues balls trophy was presented for the 6th time from 16 events.

Points for The western Circuit are the same as the old Formula One system. 1st 10, 2nd 6, 3rd 4, 4th 3, 5th 2, 6th 1.

King of the Rain 7/8/2010

1st Perrin Melchior 10
2nd Craig Hansen 6
3rd Al Noblet 4
4th Thomas martin 3
5th Dave Morgan 2

Blue Balls Trophy race 8/8/2010

1st Perrin Melchior 10
2nd Craig Hansen 6
3rd Dave Morgan 4
4th Al Noblet 3


Western Circuit Points Championship.

1st Perrin Melchior 20
2nd Craig Hansen 12
3rd Al Noblet 7
4th Dave Morgan 6
5th Thomas Martin 3

The Blue balls is often small and this year was no different. It tends to draw the hardcore who don't care about a bit of weather or a long drive. 3 riders who attended the inaugural event in 1995 were present and riders attended from as far away as Wellington and Ashburton. Saturday saw near constant rain and a swirling offshore. With wet kites and a fairly small usable area of the beach it was trying but we stuck it out and 6 buggies traversed the wet beach.

A 5 lap "King of the Rain" race was run on a very short course in very poor conditions. As I was marking the course I was thinking there would be no one willing to race but they all lined up when the flags were up and gave it everything they could. I have to applaud them for sheer determination as many lesser riders would never have left the car on a day like that. The start was a shambles and it took a while for all the riders to get over the line onto the course. Craig dumped his kite right onto Perrin's head and other kites just fell from the sky. Perrin had changed kites immediately before the race giving him the driest kite in the sky. He eventually managed to get away and found a very steady but slow pace. He managed to lap the entire field on the way to victory. After suffering an unfortunate start Craig got a second wind and did his best to claw back the lead but he was too far behind. Al, Thomas and Dave all did their best but could not manage a steady pace as the kites got wetter and wetter. At the end they all have massive smiles and it was nice to get some racing in.

The trouble with Kawhia is it has a big sand hill to climb over to get to the beach. Currently it is very steep. Combine that with the new generation of heavy buggies and the amount of gear we carry and the hill became an issue. With good team work we managed to get all the gear back to the car but it was exhausting after a day kiting in the rain. If we go back we will have to work out a plan to make beach access easier.

Sunday morning we bailed from Kawhia and hit the beach at Raglan around noon. At 12.45pm we started a 20 minute race around a 300mtr triangular course in a steady breeze. Although we had the odd shower the race was run in good conditions with mostly dry kites. Craig went straight into the lead with Perrin chasing. Al broke a line and had to change kites 2 minutes before the race. He was hampered by having to use a small kite and a black eye caused by the line whipping him in the face as it broke. He settled into a safe 3rd until another broken line put him out on lap 9. Dave started with the only wet kite and it took a while for it to dry out so he could settle in and get around the marks and keep out of the way of the fast guys racing for the lead. Early on Perrin clawed his way to within striking distance only to find Craig responding with a handful of hot laps that stretched his lead to nearly half a lap. Perrin rode with his usual precise style but could not pull that 1/2 lap up on raw pace. With 6 Minutes to go Craig luffed at a mark rounding and Perrin pounced. He passed Craig and kept the lead with some precise mark roundings and good pace. A few laps later Craig luffed again and Perrin managed to lap him and go on to take the win and get the blue balls trophy 15 years after the first time to won it. Craig got 2nd. Dave plugged away and came home with 3rd to complete the podium.
Its a shame there were not more people in the races but we are used to that. The skill level and tactics are improving and we had some seriously techy buggies on the beach.

it was a very good weekend, their really isnt anything quite like huddling up under a small, altho tardis-like (howmany kitebags+people in their!!) shelter, cunningly supplied by thoes who have seen it all before..
i loved it, altho a had a hangover on saturday that hurt a bit...i think i blame charloie.last time i was at the blueballs i had a hangover and if i recall propely it definently had something to do with you!!
highlite of the weekend was the powerkite song, my new hat and suicidejybes..or atleast some freaky version of one..i was fortuate enuff to be behind craig at one point where i wached him throw the kite up and over and from then on in it was getting the balls and the timing togeather to pull one off...so two sets of snapped lines later
massive thanks to charloie, an awsome weekend...and the man knows how to put on a show and a race...loved it.
till next year..

Great weekend with really great people.
The live music was excellent and the conversation always ended up on the best of subjects...buggying !

Midnight...(well, 2am Sat) flying a 9M+ Peter Lynn Reactor II was a 'first' for me and to date the biggest kite I've flown, (thanks Craig)

The Raglan race was a chance to get more than just a couple of laps and try my first downturns in a race.
I'm glad I didn't have my GPS on board, as the track would have looked something like
a 2year old's representation of a spider...

Thanks to Charlie and his lovely family for the dinner and the hospitality.
Cool workshop and the second 'first' for me was the flying pig....

I'll post a couple of pics here, but I got very few still shots and took much more in the way of video, which I hope to get up on youtube as soon as I can find time.

Awesome Weekend !!!