Testing conditions for NZ Offshore championships
by Bob Wonders on 9 Mar 2009
Eventualk 100-mile winner, ’Fairview Windows and Doors’, leads ’Cure Kids’ down a rough straightaway. New Zealand Hydroplane Drivers Club .Phillip Hoskyn
http://www.nzgrandprixhydroplane.com
One to two-metre swells and a nasty one-metre chop were on hand to welcome competitors in the fourth round of the Rayglass New Zealand Offshore Powerboat championships off Napier over the weekend.
Despite what organisers termed ‘testing conditions’, there was plenty of close racing over the 100-mile (Superboat) and 60-mile classes.
Greg Brinck, driver of the 60-mile championship leader, ‘Konica Minolta’ and spokesman for the NZOPC, said the leading boats in both classes all finished ‘within two or 300-metres of each other.’
'It made for some exciting and very close racing,' he said. 'Rotorua’s Ted Taiatini and Auckland’s Warren Lewis handed in a strong performance aboard ‘Fairview Windows and Doors’ to take out their third consecutive win in the 100-mile race. 'Throughout the race, they had the edge over their key opposition, ‘Cure Kids’, crewed by Tony Coleman and Chris Handley.
'In the Superboat Lite class, which also contests the 100-mile race, previous championship leaders Sam Fillimore and Cary Gleeson had engine problems with their boat ‘Doosan’ and were unable to start,' Brincks added.
Bad luck for one usually means good luck for another, and so it was for defending champion Kelly Smith and her father, Grant, aboard ‘Rayglass.’
The Wellington driver scooted to a well-earned class win and fourth overall, with ‘Rayglass’ now in the lead of the Superboat Lite class with four rounds to go.
Brinck and co-driver Eldon Archer took ‘Konica Minolta’ to a commanding lead of nearly a kilometre in the 60-mile race before intermittent engine problems allowed ‘Number 80’’, the Classic Class boat of Mike Cameron and Dennis Vivash to power past on the final lap.
Third boat home in the 60-miler was the first of the smallest classes, the Formula Honda boat ‘Auckland District Collections #2’ with Mike Urquhart and Darren Woods, of Whangaparaoa, aboard.
Formula Honda class spokesman Mike Knight, driver of second-placed ‘Building Solutions’, said a navigational error had presented Urquhart and Woods with an advantage.
'It was pretty much a two boat race,' he said, 'but Mark Morrell and Sean Bryant aboard ‘Altitude’ were very consistent performers and deserved their third placing.'
Full results, round four;
100-Mile – ‘Fairview Windows and Doors’, Ted Taiatini and Warren Lewis, 1, ‘Cure Kids’, Tony Coleman and Chris Handley, 2, ‘A1 Homes’, Scott Lewis and Murray Tuffin, 3, ‘Rayglass’, Kelly Smith, Grant Smith, 4.
60-Mile – ‘Number 80’, Mike Cameron and Dennis Vivash, 1, ‘Konica Minolta’, Greg Brincks and Eldon Archer, 2, ‘Auckland District Collections #2’, Mike Urquhart and Darren Woods, 3.
Championships points after round four;
100-Mile: ‘Fairview Windows and Doors’, 1425 points, ‘Cure Kids’, 1125, ‘Rayglass’, 690, ‘A1 Homes’, 600, ‘Doosan’, 544.
60-Mile: ‘Konica Minolta’, 1325 points, ‘Expresso Engineers’, 825, ‘Number 80’, 775, ‘Building Solutions’, 690, ‘Auckland District Collections #2’ 672.
The offshore races next clash on Wellington’s inner harbour on March 21, followed by Whitianga, April 4, Whangarei on April 18 with the final round scheduled for Auckland Harbour on May 2.
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