Doosan and Rayglass lead NZ offshore powerboat series

by Kate Gordon on 20 Feb 2010 Racing in some of the most pleasant conditions seen in Gulf Harbour, north of Auckland, for several seasons, a strong field contested the third round of the 2010 Rayglass NZ Offshore Powerboat Championship today (20 February).

Line honours in a relatively straightforward 100-mile race went to Sam Fillmore and Cary Gleeson in Doosan with Fairview Windows and Doors, piloted by with Steve Whitford and Warren Lewis, coming home second. Third was A1 Homes driven by Scott Lewis and Murray Tuffin. All three superboat crews are Auckland-based.

Series commentator Jamie McCarthy says Doosan lead from start to finish. 'It was a very tidy, very controlled race from Doosan.

Lewis, the throttle-man on ‘Fairview Windows', says they were down by 15 seconds about halfway through the race. 'We pushed on and managed to halve that gap by the end, but ‘Doosan' was accelerating well out of the corners and cornering great and we just couldn't catch her.'

McCarthy says the superboat lite class, which also runs the L-shaped 100-mile course offshore from Gulf Harbour Marina, saw the highly experienced crew of Ted Taiatini, from Rotorua, and Auckland's Andrew Koolen take the class win in comprehensive style in ‘NZ Blokes'.

'The Wellington daughter and father crew of Kelly and Grant Smith had a busy time after the last round in Gisborne when ‘Rayglass' flipped after hitting a rogue wave. The Smiths pulled their older boat ‘Addictive' out of the workshop, rebranded it ‘Rayglass' and went racing to earn some points. Considering Kelly also had to contend with a broken ankle, they did a fine job to finish second and keep their class championship hopes alive,' says McCarthy.

‘Doosan', which was leading the 100-mile series after the first two rounds, continues to lead with a provisional total of 1250 points. ‘Fairview Windows' moves into second place on the leader-board with 925 points. This bumps Australian superboat ‘Team 3' (Steve Nugent, from Gold Coast, and Craig Archer, from Whangaparaoa), which finished fourth in today's race, back into third equal with ‘A1 Homes' on 919 points.

Nugent and Archer acknowledged that they made the wrong choice about which size propeller to use, meaning ‘Team 3' didn't have the optimum setup for the day's reasonably smooth water and light wind conditions.

The 60-mile race wasn't quite so straightforward once everyone returned to shore, says McCarthy.

'On the water, Greg Brinck and David King took a handy win in ‘Konica Minolta' from fellow Aucklanders and current 60-mile series leaders Mike Gerbic and Dave Vazey in ‘Espresso Engineers'. But both crews repeatedly went around the wrong marker buoy and were later disqualified.

'This meant day entrants Greg Crawford, from Thames, and Mike Morse, from Cambridge, in ‘Open Windows & Doors' took line honours. Graham Pike, from Auckland, and Brett Archer, from Whangaparaoa, were second in ‘No Name' and the Whangaparaoa crew of John Purchase and David Roderique were third in ‘Eliminator'.

'The Auckland crew of Glen Reid and Andrew Jarvis in ‘California Boats' were celebrating their best-ever result – fifth – in their very first season of powerboat racing. James Taylor and Shannon Thickpenny rounded out the top three in the AB Marine Formula Honda Offshore category in ‘Total Oil' and were sixth in the 60-mile race.'

The #10 Formula Honda ‘Rayglass', driven by Kelly Smith's brother Mike and another Wellingtonian Matt Hopkins, provisionally moves to the top of the 60-mile leader-board with their fourth place in today's race. ‘‘Espresso Engineers' and ‘Konica Minolta' are still, provisionally, second and third, with Aucklanders Mike Knight and Yael Pook fourth in ‘Honda Marine'. Pike and Archer's 475 points for today's race win jumped them up to fifth in the championship.

New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Association thanks AB Marine Services, MarineWorkz and Marine Paramedical Services for their support of the Gulf Harbour event.

The Rayglass-backed series continues in Napier on Saturday 6 March with a 12:00 pm scheduled race start. The remaining four rounds in the 2010 series are: Wellington (27 March), Whitianga (10 April) and Marsden Cove outside Whangarei (24 April) and Auckland's final round on 8 May.

More information and updated championship points' tables can be found on the New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Association website, www.nzoffshore.co.nz.

2010 Rayglass NZ Offshore Powerboat Championship
Round 3, Gulf Harbour, 20 February 2010
100-mile Championship
Sam Fillmore (Auckland) / Cary Gleeson (Auckland) ‘Doosan' 1, Steve Whitford (Auckland) / Warren Lewis (Auckland) ‘Fairview Windows & Doors' 2, Scott Lewis (Auckland) / Murray Tuffin (Auckland) ‘A1 Homes' 3, Steve Nugent (Gold Coast) / Craig Archer (Whangaparaoa) ‘Team 3' 4, Ted Taiatini (Rotorua) / Andrew Koolen (Auckland) ‘NZ Blokes' 5

60-mile Championship
Greg Crawford (Thames) / Mike Morse (Cambridge) ‘Open Windows & Doors' 1, Graham Pike (Auckland) / Brett Archer (Whangaparaoa) ‘#71' 2, John Purchase (Whangaparaoa) / David Roderique (Whangaparaoa) ‘Eliminator' 3, Mike Smith (Wellington) / Matt Hopkins (Wellington) ‘Rayglass' 4, Glen Reid (Auckland) / Andrew Jarvis (Auckland) ‘California Boats' 5