The Final round of the 2016 Offshore Superboat Championships has been run and won at beautiful Hervey Bay,
The weather gods put on the sunshine and challenging water conditions.
Race 1 with points still close in all the 3 classes teams would have a battle to take out their championship trophies.
Supercat Extreme, ‘222 Offshore’ (Darren Nicholson and Karl Wall) took to the lead with ‘Maritimo 15’ (Andrew Searle and Andrew Willaton) and ‘Yellow Brick Road’ (Brendan and Chris Frier) Chasing them down, That’s how positions stayed with ‘222 Offshore’ taking 1st place, ‘Maritimo 15’ 2nd.
Supercat 1000hp, ‘Pro Floors’ (Wayne Valder and Chris Hanley) battled with ‘Team 3’ (Tom Barry-Cotter and Steve Jellick) for the class win and also the “Trans Tasman Challenge” between Aussie & Kiwis, ‘Pro Floors’ taking 1st place, ‘Team 3’ 2nd.
Supercat Outboard, ‘Barely Legal’ (John Shand and Mike Knight) took to the lead and being chased by ‘R Marine Crawley’ (Glenn Campbell and Andy Smith), ‘Gold Coast City Marina’ (Michael & Gryff Ethell) and ‘Hogs Breath Offshore Racing’ (Jim Harris and Paul Fowlds), that’s how it stayed until the last lap when a water pickup came off ‘Barely Legal’ flooding the starboard sponson but still managing to cross the line,
‘R Marine Crawley’ 1st, ‘Barely Legal’2nd, ‘Hogs Breath Offshore Racing’ 3rd, ‘Gold Coast City Marina’ 4th.
Race 2, with sometime between the races some teams had a lot of work to do before race start.
Unfortunately ‘Maritimo 15’, ‘222 offshore’ & ‘Barely Legal’ could not make it back on course.
Supercat Extreme, ‘Yellow Brick Road’ and ‘Maritimo 11’ (Ross Willaton and Travis Thompson) fought each other for the entire race, ‘Maritimo 11’ 1st, Yellow Brick Road’ 2nd.
Supercat 1000hp, ‘Pro Floors’ showed a clean set of heels from the start to take 1st with ‘Team 3’ 2nd.
Supercat Outboard, It was clear ‘R Marine Crawley’ were on a mission from the flag drop pulling away from the field until midway through, they slowed and being passed by ‘Hogs Breath Offshore Racing’ and ‘Gold Coast City Marina’, ‘R Marine Crawley’ managed to stay on the plane with a broken prop.
‘Hogs Breath Offshore Racing’ 1st, ‘Gold Coast City Marina’ 2nd & ‘R Marine Crawley’ 3rd.
A fantastic weekend of racing with fantastic local support from Businesses and the public,
Special mention to the Beach House Hotel, Handy Hire, Wide Bay Cranes and Fraser Coast Council.
Also to all the volunteers over the weekend, without your support the event cannot go ahead.
Thank you to our race director and his crew for a great job over the season and of course to all of the offshore teams that put in a lot to go and have fun on the water.
Congratulations to the following winners.
The 2016 Offshore Superboat Champions
AUS 1,
Maritimo Australia, Ross Willaton and Travis Thompson
Supercat Extreme
1st, Maritimo Australia, Ross Willaton and Travis Thompson
2nd, Yellow Brick Road, Brendan Frier and Chris Frier
3rd, 222 Offshore, Darren Nicholson and Peter McGrath
Supercat 1000hp
1st, Pro Floors, Wayne Valder and Chris Hanley
2nd, Team 3, Steve Jellick and Tom Barry-Cotter
3rd, Maritimo 15, Andrew Searle and Andrew Willaton
Supercat Outboard
1st, R Marine Crawley, Andy Smith and Glenn Campbell
2nd, Hogs Breath Offshore Racing, Jim Harris and Paul Fowlds
3rd, Gold Coast City Marina, Gryff Ethell and Michael Ethell
