The spectacular Offshore Superboats return to the water this weekend for the second round of the 2024/25 season at Victoria’s Wyndham Harbour, a popular venue for teams and fans alike. Located just 40-kilometres south-west of the Melbourne CBD, the venue provides the ideal vantage point for spectators who can enjoy the ongoing battle for vital championship points as one of the biggest fields in the last decade takes to the water.
Conditions promise to be almost perfect with a return to warm sunny conditions in the high 20s and low 30s, with light winds giving the teams a chance to stretch their legs across the six 30-minute races scheduled across the two days.
Leading the charge will be the iconic Supercat Extreme boats, with former World Champions and reigning Australian title holders ‘222 Marine’ in their stunning ‘Boost Mobile’ Superboat. They will again face stiff competition from former champions ‘ACME Racing’ with Andrew Searle and Tom Barry-Cotter intent on turning the tables on their rivals after some technical setbacks during the opening round at Lake Macquarie.
The Wyndham Harbour venue has hosted the Superboats since 2019 when Barry-Cotter claimed a hat-trick of wins, the Queenslander coming into this year’s event as the most successful Supercat Extreme driver in the field, having claimed a fourth race win in 2021 after the Series returned from a Covid-induced break in 2020.
For the ‘ACME’ team though, they will face the in-form ‘222 Offshore’ duo of Darren Nicholson and Peter McGrath who claimed their own hat-trick of wins in 2023, the mighty Supercat Extreme boats having been absent from the field last year, their return for 2025 with everything to play for, should make for some tight racing at the front of the field.
For the Supercat Outboard teams, they led the charge 12-months ago with Antony De Fina and Matt Kelly collecting three wins, paving the way for another Australian Championship, in the process overcoming a challenging relationship with the Wyndham Harbour venue that had delivered as much heartache as joy over the previous five seasons.
For title rivals Mike Ratcliffe and Karl Wall – both of whom have won at Wyndham – they’d been forced to play second-fiddle at the venue last year, but at the season opener in Lake Macquarie they’d put the ‘MANTIS’ team on notice, their new ‘Sting 99’ hull delivering more than a few surprises, promising for a fantastic battle for valuable Championship points across the weekend, although neither team will have it easy.. ‘TCR Racing’ are no strangers to Wyndham Harbour, Scott Richardson and Stephen Kelly regulars on the podium in past seasons, whilst for long-time mates Steve Lancaster and Craig Dove, they’ll also be in prime position to challenge for a top three finish should any of their rivals falter.
For the last couple of seasons a captivating battle has been brewing in Supersports 85 between Mark Pecherzewski’s ‘Special Edition’ powered by a 700-horsepower ‘Maritimo’ inboard and the popular ‘Colonel Racing’ outboard entry of Mick and Jason Kelly. Coming into the 2025 event both teams can claim wins at Wyndham Harbour on their resumes, although it’s Jason Kelly who currently holds the win record, with six victories to his name, Pecherzewski claiming four whilst for Mick Kelly, who alongside nephew Jason leads the points heading into round two, he is yet to have carded a single win at what is effectively his home track!
For the ‘Hornet Property Services’ supported team, there is much to play for, whilst for Pecherzewski, he will be looking to make amends for a tough start to the season, both teams though keeping a close eye on fellow Victorians Ryan Shan and Scott Kelly who closed out the Lake Macquarie round with their maiden win in the class, the team very comfortable with the position and keen to emulate it at Wyndham.
With a great influx of new entries for the Supersports 65 class, there will be no shortage of challengers for the points-leading local team of Hary Bakkr and Shane Paton, ‘Nut Case’ having claimed a hat-trick of wins at Lake Macquarie to open their new season account with maximum points, although despite entering their ‘home round’ they’ve only seen the top step of the podium at Wyndham once, and will be looking to rectify that this weekend.
12-months ago the race wins were shared by Danny and Dean Caelli in ‘Villian’ and Patty and Michael Paczkowski in ‘Valentus’ who went on to claim the 2024 Supersports 65 title. The Paczkowski’s missed the opening round of the new season at Lake Macquarie, allowing Bakkr and Paton to open their account with a significant advantage, history showing that in many cases, the points leaders after the opening round will go on to claim the title..!
For Wyndham, the big news is the great influx of ski racing competitors who have entered for both the Supersports 65 and new Super V8 85 categories, all of them looking to return to competition with the current sabbatical their sport is taking. Leading the charge in Supersports 65 will be Jake Hinterholzl in ‘Hijact’ who alongside fellow ski-racer Jaxon Bishop (Avenger F2) will be looking to take the fight to the established stars of the category.
For Bakkr and Paton, aside from the ski racers they will have no shortage of challengers, seven boats entered for Supersports 65 including the return of last year’s champions ‘Valentus’, the Caelli father-and-son duo in ‘Villian’, Greg Walters in the beautiful ‘HUN74’ and the debut of Charlie Di Iorio and Peter Cogliandro in ‘Cardiac Arrest’.
There is much excitement about the debut of the new ‘Super V 85’ category designed around the outright inboard leg-boat ski racing machines, the likes of which dominate ski racing on the sport’s most iconic river races around the country. Leading the new assault will be two-time Southern 80 Champions ‘Sapphire’ with team owner Tim Pickford at the wheel, a driver with immense experience in boat racing, but whilst usually towing two skiers with an observer alongside, this weekend Pickford will be going it alone. Pickford, like his rivals Sam Livesley and Adrian Bishop will be no stranger to the open water of Port Phillip Bay, with many of the major international ski races held in open water, whilst many Victorian teams also test in the Bay, although 30-minutes of the 6.96km Wyndham Harbour course racing against 12 other boats will be a new experience without skiers on the rope.
For the fans, they will have no shortage of entertainment to keep them occupied both on and off the water. Six, 30-minute races are scheduled across the weekend, with the mighty Supercat Extreme and Supercat Outboards contesting three races (one on Saturday, two on Sunday), whilst the Supersports classes and the new Super V8 85 boats will also contest three races (two on Saturday, one on Sunday).
The event will also feature the Cars & Coffee display on Sunday morning, which will include new National Drivers’ Championship Unlimited Displacement Champion Tate Ramsey in his new ‘LAY IT ON’ supercharged 21’ Childsplay, with the Wyndham Harbour Twilight Market running from 3:00pm to 8:00pm on Saturday afternoon. The popular 3030 Waterfont cafe will be open both days serving an array of fantastic local food including pizzas and seafood, whilst the mini golf is always a hit with the kids. There is plenty to see and do across a weekend that’s sure to provide plenty of action on the water, but for those who miss it, thanks to Hornet Property Services, the event will be televised ‘free-to-air’ on 7mate, then available immediately afterwards to watch ‘on-demand’ on 7plus. Check guides for details in the weeks following.
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R2, 2024/25 Australian Offshore Superboat Championships presented by Hornet Property Services
Wyndham Harbour, Victoria
22-23 February, 2025
SCHEDULE;
Saturday, 22 February, 2025
1:00pm – Supersports Race#1 (30-minutes)
2:00pm – Superboat Race#1 (30-minutes)
3:00pm – Supersports Race#2 (30-minutes)
Sunday, 23 February, 2025
11:00am – Superboat Race#2 (30-minutes)
12:00pm – Supersports Race#3 (30-minutes)
1:00pm – Superboat Race#3 (30-minutes)
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2024/25 Australian Offshore Superboat Championships
Championship Points (after round one)
Supercat Extreme
1. Boost Mobile (105-points), 2. ACME (32)
Supercat Outboard
1. The Mantis (105-points), 2. The Sting (90), 3. DLR Offshore (78). 4. TCR Offshore (0)
Supersports 85
1. Colonel Racing (95), 2. RS Motorsport (91), 3. C-52 (74), 4. Special Edition (35)
Supersports 65
1. Nut Case (105), 2. All Coast Marine (82), 3. PFM Revolution (52), 4. HUN74 (30), 5. Villian (23)
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2024/25 Offshore Superboat Championships – calendar
R1. Lake Macquarie, NSW – 19-20 October, 2024
R2. Wyndham Harbour, Victoria – 22-23 February, 2025 (sponsored by Hornet Property Services)
R3. Geelong Harbour, Victoria – 15-16 March, 2025 (sponsored by Hornet Property Services)
R4. Port Adelaide, South Australia – 12-13 April, 2025
Further dates and locations released soon.
For more information on the Australian Offshore Superboat Championships, visit us at;
www.superboat.com.au
www.facebook.com/OffshoreSuperboats
www.facebook.com/ausopc
About Hornet Property Services
Located in Melbourne’s south-east, Hornet Property Services was born from the market’s demand for a better standard of tradesman. Servicing all of Melbourne, the business is defined by reliability and an extremely high level of customer service with competitive pricing. Simply put, they are your one stop shop for plumbing, electrical and property maintenance for both residential and commercial properties.
