Round two of the Australian Offshore Superboat Championships will see the iconic race boats back on the waters of Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay for what will be back-to-back events in Victoria across the coming three weeks, Wyndham Harbour always popular with the purists for its changeable conditions, conditions which can often have a big impact on the result.
With the sport enjoying an upward swing in interest over the last 18-months, there will be no shortage of outright competition for the points leaders, although since the season-opener at Lake Macquarie last October, there have been some changes. Most notable will be a livery change for the reigning Supercat Extreme Champions, ‘222 Offshore’ now sporting a green, black and white livery, with the addition of Mobile X which also adorns their boat in the US.
For their 2024/25 rivals ‘ACME Racing’ there has also been a change, although this one isn’t quite as welcome, the popular Andrew Searle/Tom Barry-Cotter combination sidelined for the immediate future with some technical challenges uncovered at the opening round. As former champions, and passionate Offshore ambassadors, they will be back, but concede they have some work to do to trouble-shoot some niggling issues before mounting a comeback.
Despite their absence and based on the performance of the rookie entries at the season opener, 222 will have no shortage of competition this weekend.
2005 Bathurst 1000 Champion and part-time boat racer Todd Kelly will start his third Offshore event at Wyndham Harbour; home venue for team-mate and boat owner Stuart Eustice. The pair showed impressive pace at Lake Macquarie in their maiden event as team-mates, Kelly making his debut on throttles with Eustice on the wheel. Second in their maiden race was a highlight, although two retirements with prop failures weren’t a great follow-up, although Kelly admitted it did give them the opportunity to replace the second-hand units with which they’d purchased the boat with new props, providing them some level of confidence in being able to push the boat closer to the limit.
Speaking of Kellys.. arguably the performance of Lake Macquarie was that of reigning Supersports 85 Champions Mick and Jason Kelly in their new ‘Hornet Racing’ Supercat Extreme package. A former title-winning boat purchased in the off-season from New Zealand, the outright rookies looked anything but in the opening round, finishing second twice to ‘222 Offshore’ after third in the opening race, to be second in points heading into their home race.
Acknowledging that they’ve still got a long way to go, the stunning fluro ‘Hornet Racing’ package will be sure to attract plenty of attention, and they showed last year in their fight against ‘Special Edition’ in the rough water, that mother-nature isn’t going to hold them back!
Joining the Kellys as rookies in the class; and also reigning class champions – are Antony De Fina and Matt Kelly in their former ‘Team 3’ outfit, now rebadged as ‘Venturi Offshore’. The reigning – and multiple – Supercat Outboard Champions are looking forward to a return to competition after some educational laps at Lake Macquarie, an event that saw them twice make the podium despite some teething issues, one of those almost costing De Fina a couple of fingers..
A water pressure issue which was difficult to address on-site at Lake Macquarie has been rectified and recent testing saw smiles all round, and as their home event, they’ll be looking for some big steps forward in performance and a chance to take the fight to the Hornet team; it may be a six-boat Championship as things stand right now, but there will be Championship like celebrations in Melbourne’s south-east for one of those two teams come Sunday night; bragging rights just as important..!
Sadly for the returning ‘Team Australia’, they too have been forced to sit out the Wyndham Harbour round; post-Lake Macquarie investigations revealing some maintenance issues the team needed to address as a result of the boat having sat unused for some time, they’re feverishly making those updates ahead of a return in Geelong where new boat-owner Phil Wiley is expected to take over from former Supercat Outboard Champion Paul Fowlds, alongside Darren Apps.
12-months ago, the Supercat Outboard category was dominated by the mighty ‘Sting’ entry of Mike Ratcliffe and Karl Wall, the duo turning the tables on title rivals De Fina and Kelly who had clean swept the opening round at Lake Macquarie. This season it was Ratcliffe and Wall who claimed three-from-three at the season opener, which is ominous news for their rivals as they return to Victoria, although despite their favouritism, they also remember only too well that they were co-points leaders with ‘The Mantis’ last year after Wyndham Harbour’s success, before a dramatic off in Geelong’s penultimate round brought their season to a sudden end.
For Steve Lancaster, who last year sat alongside Craig Dove in ‘DLR Offshore’, he’s the proud new owner of ‘The Mantis’ and after a strong debut with his new boat in Lake Macquarie, which saw the new-look ‘Kess Racing’ machine grab second, he’s convinced that the points leaders aren’t too far from reach, promising to amp up the pressure this weekend, although he’ll have to keep one eye firmly on the mirror as he also knows what’s coming..
Last year the ‘DLR Offshore’ team were the real giant-killers of the class, finishing second in points to ‘The Mantis’ with Lancaster at the wheel. This year Craig Dove is joined by son Lachlan, and whilst there might be a crew change, the team are well versed with how to get the most from the boat, the same applies with Scott Richardson and Steve Kelly in ‘TCR Offshore’. Both campaign older model powerplants which feature less outright pace than their rivals, but both are well sorted boats with two experienced crews, so more than capable of featuring in the result.
The Wyndham Harbour round was a standout event for Mark Pecherzeswki’s ‘Special Edition’ ‘Cootacraft’ – the rougher conditions really suiting the deep-vee monohull in his title battle with the Kelly family in ‘The Colonel’. One of the real highlights of the 2025 season, the two rivals have gone in different directions this season, the Kellys graduating to the outright class, whilst Pecherzewski was forced to sit in the jump seat of Ian Tricker’s mighty ‘TR Racing’ ski-racing inboard monster at Lake Mac in order to score vital Championship points after engine parts delays sidelined his own boat at the eleventh hour.
Sadly, ‘The Colonel’ has been put back in mothballs for the immediate future, round one Supersports 85 rookie and reigning Supersports 65 Champion Hary Bakkr moving back to his own boat for his home event, although he admitted his opening round taste of twin hull racing was more than addictive; the ‘Razorcraft’ boss looking to make a return to the faster class with a new boat in the not too distant future.
With ‘The Colonel’ sidelined, Pecherzewski will be alone for the weekend although he’ll be in full entertainment round, loving nothing more than running the mighty ‘Maritimo’ inboard wide open as often as possible, he’ll also be looking to re-pay his new team-mate after Tricker did all the heavy lifting at Lake Mac as the driver, Pecherzewski keen to turn the tables..!
As always, the Supersports 65 category has been well subscribed, and at Wyndham Harbour – led by the reigning Champions ‘Nut Case’, Shane Paton again expected to join Hary Bakkr in the mighty green ‘Razorcaft’. 12-months ago they didn’t have the best of luck, a broken electrical connection impacting their opening race, before other setbacks dropped them back down the order, although having clean-swept Lake Macquarie in 2024, the impact on their title chase was minimal. This year they’re back in the points race, and will have no shortage of competition, including 2024 Champion Patty Paczkowski who won the event last year.
For Geelong’s Charlie Di Iorio, he takes over sole duties in the family-owned ‘Cardiac Arrest’ with Greg Walters looking to return to his own boat in the weeks to come, Di Iorio currently the points leader after two class wins in the opening round, although with Brendan Weeks and Sophie Lancaster just 18 points behind and second overall, he’ll have his work cut out for him this weekend, although he knows only too well that rougher conditions perfectly suit his ‘Cootacraft’.
Add Ben Embleton and the experienced Liam Sutherland in ‘Team 38 Offshore’ and Darren and Kristy Milgate in their ‘Angler’s Rest Hotel’ entry and you have all the ingredients for another memorable weekend!
For anyone attending the event, teams will again be based at Wyndham Harbour, just 10-kilometres south-east of Werribee. The Wyndham Harbour precinct is within minutes of some of Melbourne’s best attractions including the Werribee free-range Zoo, Werribee Mansion and Halifax Winery to name a few. The venue provides plenty of entertainment, fantastic cuisine at 3030 Waterfront, and no shortage of great locations from which to view the racing.
Three 30-minute races will run on Saturday, February 21 with races scheduled at 1:00pm, 2:00pm and 3:00pm, whilst on Sunday, February 22, races will run at 11:00am, 12:00pm and 1:00pm.
For more information on the Australian Offshore Superboat Championships, visit us at;
www.superboat.com.au
www.facebook.com/OffshoreSuperboats
www.facebook.com/ausopc
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2025/26 Australian Offshore Superboat Championships
Supercat Extreme Championship (after round one of four)
1. Darren Nicholson/Steve Jellick (Boost Mobile/222 Offshore) – 105-points
2. Mick Kelly/Jason Kelly (Hornet Racing) – 86
3. Stuart Eustice/Todd Kelly (MOJO) – 53
4. Antony De Fina/Matt Kelly (Venturi Offshore) – 53
5. Darren Apps/Paul Fowlds (Team Australia) – 23
6. Andrew Searle/Tom Barry Cotter (ACME Racing) – 1
Supercat Outboard Championship (after round one of four)
1. Mike Ratcliffe/Karl Wall (The Sting) – 105-points
2. Steve Lancaster/Scott Kelly (Kess Racing) – 90
3. Scott Richardson/Steve Kelly (TCR Offshore) – 78
4. Craig Dove/Lachlan Dove (DLR Offshore) – 66
Supersports 85 Championship (after round one of four)
1. Mark Pecherzewski/Ian Tricker (Special Edition/TR Racing) – 95-points
2. Hary Bakkr/Scott Kelly/Steve Kelly (The Colonel) – 70
Supersports 65 Championship (after round one of four)
1. Charlie Di Iorio/Greg Walters (Cardiac Arrest) – 100-points
2. Brendan Weeks/Sophie Lancaster (The Con) – 82
3. Hary Bakkr/Antonio Fazzolari (Nut Case) – 70
4. Pat Paczkowski (Valentus) – 57
5. Ben Embleton/Liam Sutherland (Team 38 Offshore) – 49
6. Zac Gould/Michael Agius (Degen) – 18
