Three in-a-row for Sleepyhead
07.03.2008 |
© NZ Offshore Powerboat Association |
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| The Manukau City sponsored event was held back a day when race organizers and safety crews decided that the stormy weather that past through Auckland city on Saturday with wind gusts of 35 knots was unsafe for all concerned. Sunday provided a picture perfect day for all, justifying the decision of event organizers, although some teams may have wished for a steadier breeze at race time. For the third time this season the Sleepyhead combination of Turner & Archer hit the front, the acceleration of the Phantom 34 certainly highlighting that the boat set-up is proving a deciding factor in the difference between themselves and the rest of the field. Somewhat surprisingly sitting in second place early on was the 35-foot Skater catamaran of Tony Coleman & new throttleman Wayne Carson in Cure Kids. Carson accepted the invitation from Coleman to throttle the Cure Kids cat after the season ending accident that robbed the superboat field of the PlaceMakers race boat at Gulf Harbour and Carson without a boat to race in. |
© NZ Offshore Powerboat Association |
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© NZ Offshore Powerboat Association |
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Quickly tucking in behind Cure Kids were the Lewis brothers, Warren and Scott with conditions ideally suited to the wide bodied Skater 32 of Fairview Windows & Doors. Also in their favour would have been the flat waters off Maraetai. Superboat Light boats filled the next four positions as Addictive Racing, Rayglass Boats, Doosan and Family Boats battled resumed there fortnightly battle for supremacy in this exciting and spectacular class. Unfortunately another Superboat race favourite Pro Floors Racing totally missed the start and were trailing the entire superboat field by quite some distance when they eventually did pass the start finish line for the first time.
Tauranga’s Mark Diggleman in financepoint.co.nz lead the 60-mile field past the line for the first time, closely followed by Greg Crawford in Team Steadcraft, Spirit of Cheyenne and Konica Minolta. Both Diggleman and Crawford in the 23-foot Ocke Mannerfelt “Bat Boats” can certainly get these boats absolutely flying in the calm waters and were reaching speeds well in excess of 80mph. |
© NZ Offshore Powerboat Association |
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© NZ Offshore Powerboat Association |
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| Back in the 12 lap, 100-mile race Sleepyhead were lapping in times of 4min 40 seconds and held an average lead of 25 seconds over the challenge coming from Coleman and Carson in Cure Kids who in turn held a lead over Fairview Windows & Doors of an average 7 seconds for the first half of the race. It was an impressive start for Carson who was in the throttle seat for the first time in his career and it will be interesting to see during the remaining races of the season if they can extract some additional speed out of the 35-foot skater. Whilst Pro Floors Racing was starting to haul in the superboat light field they were just too far back to seriously threaten any of the superboats that filled the top three positions. Wellington’s Grant Smith & Dave Aldridge in Addictive Racing were slowing building a lead over second placed Kelly Smith and Travis Thompson in Rayglass Boats while the challenge from Doosan Construction Equipment came to an abrupt halt as they sheared a blade off the port propeller, allowing Family Boats to slip into third spot. |
© NZ Offshore Powerboat Association |
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© NZ Offshore Powerboat Association |
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| Chris Neal in Spirit of Cheyenne was leading the classic class from Mike Cameron in Marine Workz while the highly anticipated return of Jesse James fizzed out after they blew an engine before the race start. Jeff Weake in Exception to the Rule was enjoying conditions in the Linder 33, whilst in the Super 60 class Diggleman was totally dominate. Surprisingly Greg Brinck in Konica Minolta was struggling to keep up with the Bat Boat of Greg Crawford in sports 60 while Tim Fellows filled third position in Stealth Boats. The formula Honda class battle raged with little distance between the top five boats of Light Industries, Back 2 Bay 6, Building Solutions, Honda Marine and Mike Pero Mortgages. |
© NZ Offshore Powerboat Association |
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© NZ Offshore Powerboat Association |
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The current national champions of Peter Turner & Craig Archer in Sleepyhead completed the 100-mile race in a little over 60 minutes, 19 seconds in front a fast finishing Cure Kids team of Tony Coleman & Wayne Carson who held off the challenge from Warren & Scott Lewis in Fairview Windows & Doors. Whilst Coleman had a smile a mile wide after the race, little could be said of the same with the Lewis brothers who would have been bitterly disappointed with a third place when conditions should have suited their boat. Sleepyhead now has a 375 point lead over Fairview Windows & Doors as the teams head to the capital for round four. Addictive Racing made it two from three starts with a convincing win in the superboat light class from Rayglass Boats and Family Boats, while Marine Works took the honours in the classics class after Spirit of Cheyenne was disqualified. Mark Diggleman won Super 60, and Greg Crawford claimed sports 60 bragging rights.
In the formula Honda class the see saw season took another twist with the third different winner appearing on the top of the podium in the form of Hibiscus Coast team of Mike & Darrin Urquhart in Light Industries from Honda Marine and Building Solutions. |
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