Warren Lewis and Steve Whitford in the ‘Fairview Windows and Doors’ Skater Superboat continued their climb back up the 2010 Rayglass NZ Offshore Powerboat Championship points ladder, with a fighting second place finish at the third round of the series raced at Gulf Harbour on Auckland’s North Shore.
After an opening round DNF at Taupo, and a comeback win at Gisborne, the ‘Fairview’ duo are again right back in Championship contention.
Championship leader’s Cary Gleeson and Sam Fillmore won the event at Gulf Harbour in ‘Doosan’, with ‘Fairview’ closing the gap from fifteen seconds at the half way stages of the race, to just five seconds at the chequered flag.
“Doosan were better than us through the corners, and they were out accelerating us as well out of them”, explained Fairview throttleman Warren Lewis. “We went to a smaller prop before the race, with the expectation that the course would get rougher out the back of the course, as it typically does here at Gulf Harbour. However it didn’t! We had 120mph speeds on the GPS, which is rare for this race, and we were matching ‘Doosan’ in that respect. We will have some big water races coming up, and I think that will suit us better”.
‘Doosan’ won the start, followed initially by Scott Lewis and Murray Tuffin in the ‘A1 Homes’ 32 ft. Skater. ‘Fairview’ chased down ‘A1’, passing them for second after a couple of laps. ‘A1’ went onto finish a strong third, followed by the Australian ‘Team 3’ 33ft Victory Cat, raced by Aussie Steve Nugent, and Kiwi throttleman Craig Archer.
With their second place finish at Gulf Harbour, the ‘Fairview’ team have now moved into second place in the Championship, 325 points behind point’s leader ‘Doosan’. Just six points now cover ‘Fairview’ in second, ‘A1 Homes’ and the Australian ‘Team 3’ entries now tied for third overall. With 475 points for the win at each round, 375 for second and 300 for third, none of the teams can afford to relax with five rounds of the series still left to run.
The next round of the Rayglass NZ Offshore Powerboat Championship will be raced in Napier on Saturday, March 6. ‘Fairview Windows and Doors’ is the defending Napier 100 race winner.