The first offshore powerboat championship race in Gisborne for nearly ten years was action-packed after the Wellington superboat lite class entry ‘Rayglass’ of daughter and father team Kelly and Grant Smith caught a rogue wave and flipped.
“The response from the tremendous team at Marine Paramedical Services was swift, with both divers going in the water to ensure Kelly and Grant were quickly and safely out of the boat,” says series commentator Jamie McCarthy . “Everyone’s fine, the boat’s fine structurally, but the engines don’t like being dunked like that. Luckily the Smiths have a spare and expect to be at the next round at Gulf Harbour on 20 February.”
The crash on lap eight meant the race was red-flagged before the scheduled 12 laps were complete, with the final finishing order being taken back to the lap seven placings. This saw ‘Fairview Windows & Doors’ the 100-mile race winner from ‘Team 3’ and ‘Doosan’. The 60-mile race win went to ‘Thunderbird 1’ from ‘Espresso Engineers’ and ‘Konica Minolta’.
Massive crowds turned out to see the event in brilliant fine Gisborne weather, says McCarthy.
“It was a fantastic crowd along the waterfront, the hospitality for the whole offshore powerboat event has been outstanding and the feedback very positive. The facilities here are first-class and we even had the Gisborne mayor Meng Foon competing in one of the Formula Honda boats, ‘Marine Workz’, alongside driver Jono Hanley of Auckland .”
McCarthy describes the race action: “It was a very even start among the four superboats and they raced close together until Scott Lewis and Murray Tuffin made an error onboard ‘A1 Homes’ which dropped them to the tail of that pack and left ‘Fairview Windows and Doors’, with Steve Whitford and Warren Lewis, to battle with Australian superboat ‘Team 3’, driven by Steve Nugent and Peter McGrath, from the Gold Coast.
“Over on ‘Doosan’, Sam Fillmore and Cary Gleeson said they were taking a reasonably conservative approach after the wind picked up considerably after the start – conditions were increasingly tricky further out on the course with big swells running at a difficult angle to the racing line. ‘Fairview’ and ‘Team 3’ were going at full throttle, running just a couple of seconds apart each lap, with ‘Fairview’ taking the hard-fought victory.
“In the superboat lite class, ‘Rayglass’ and Aucklanders Bob Smith and Andrew Koolan in ‘NZ Blokes’ were head to head until ‘Rayglass’ hit that rogue wave. Taupo’s superboat lite class winner ‘Red Steel’, with Napier crew Brook Faulkner and Tony Carson, had some technical issues with their trim tabs to come home second in class.
McCarthy says the Classic class boat ‘Thunderbird 1’ driven by the Taupo crew of Haaker Le Sueur, Gavin McGrath and Joel Moses dominated the 60-mile race for a handy win. “The Ocke Mannerfelt ‘Espresso Engineers’ of Mike Gerbic and Dave Vazey also coped well with the increasing wind and swell to take second. Greg Brinck and Jeff Weake in ‘Konica Minolta’ came in third after establishing a good lead on the opening lap, but dropped back as conditions got more windy.”
The AB Marine Formula Honda Offshore category saw Mike Knight and Yael Pook, both from Auckland, in ‘Honda Marine’ take the early lead, but an error and half-spin allowed the Wellington crew of Mike Smith and Matt Hopkins in the #10 ‘Rayglass’ (not the same as the #S-5 ‘Rayglass’ which flipped) through into the lead. Smith and Hopkins were never headed.
Provisionally, the championship points-table has ‘Doosan’ with 775 points at the top of the 100-mile series leader-board, then Team 3 with 675 and ‘A1 Homes’ with 619. In the 60-mile championship, ‘Espresso Engineers’ leads with 950 points from ‘Konica Minolta’ with 750 and ‘Rayglass’ with 600. (‘Thunderbird 1’ is racing under a day licence so is not eligible for points.)
The NZ Offshore Powerboat Association would like to thank Tourism Eastland, Eastland Community Trust, Eastland Port , Steve McCafferty Trucking, Eastland Oils, Phil Law Panelbeating, White Pointer, Martins Hire Centre, Gisborne Honda and C R Taylor Ltd for their support of this event. Appreciation is also extended to the series sponsors Rayglass, AB Marine, Marine Paramedical Services and MarineWorkz.
With the Taupo and Gisborne events now complete, the 2010 Rayglass NZ Offshore Powerboat Championship continues at Gulf Harbour (20 February), Napier (6 March), Wellington (27 March), Whitianga (10 April), Marsden Cove outside Whangarei (24 April) with the final round in Auckland (8 May).
2010 Rayglass NZ Offshore Powerboat Championships
Results from Round 2, Gisborne, 6 February 2010
100-mile Championship
(Top five)
Steve Whitford (Albany) / Warren Lewis (Auckland) ‘Fairview Windows and Doors’ 1, Steve Nugent (Gold Coast) / Peter McGarth (Gold Coast) ‘Team 3’ 2, Sam Fillmore (Auckland) / Cary Gleeson (Auckland) ‘Doosan’ 3, Scott Lewis (Auckland) /Murray Tuffin (Auckland) ‘A1 Homes’ 4, Bob Smith (Auckland) / Andrew Koolan (Auckland) ‘NZ Blokes’ 5
60-mile Championship
(Top five)
Haaker Le Sueur (Taupo) / Gavin McGrath (Taupo) / Joel Moses (Taupo) ‘Thunderbird 1’ 1, Mike Gerbic (Auckland) / Dave Vazey (Auckland) ‘Espresso Engineers’ 2, Greg Brinck (Auckland) / Jeff Weake (Hamilton) ‘Konica Minolta’ 3, Mike Smith (Wellington) / Matt Hopkins (Wellington) ‘Rayglass’ 4, Mike Knight (Auckland) / Yael Pook (Auckland) ‘Honda Marine’ 5
