Doosan takes first victory in Taupo offshore powerboat race

The well-known, championship-winning superboat formerly called ‘Sleepyhead’ and now called ‘Doosan’ by its new Auckland-based drivers Sam Fillmore and Cary Gleeson has scored the first 100-mile race win in the 2010 Rayglass NZ Offshore Powerboat Championship in Taupo.

‘A1 Homes’ with Scott Lewis and Murray Tuffin were second and Australian superboat ‘Team 3’, driven by Steve Nugent, from the Gold Coast, and Whangaparaoa’s Craig Archer on the throttles, were third, after the other top-running superboat ‘Fairview Windows and Doors’, with Steve Whitford and Warren Lewis, had to retire with a steering system failure.

The 60-mile race was taken out by former class champion Tauranga’s Mark Diggelmann and Cambridge’s Kevin Ireland in the Ocke Mannerfelt-design ‘Mark Diggelmann Car Sales’. Another Ocke Mannerfelt Super 60-class boat ‘Espresso Engineers’ piloted by Mike Gerbic and Dave Vazey was second with local Taupo entry, the classic class boat ‘Thunderbird 1’ with Haaker Le Sueur, Gavin McGrath and Joel Moses coming home third.

Nearly 30 boats took to the choppy waters of Lake Taupo for the opening round of the eight-round, Rayglass Boats-backed series. The changeable weather created challenging conditions for most of the competitors, according to series commentator Jamie McCarthy.

“There was half a metre of swell, low cloud and 25 to 30 knots of wind, and some boats clearly coped with the conditions on different parts of the L-shaped course which took competitors clockwise along the main Taupo lakefront, out across the bay towards Rainbow Point and back into the lakefront,” said McCarthy.

New to the New Zealand series, Australian superboat ‘Team 3’ won the initial drag race from the start and lead the first lap. Then ‘Doosan’ and ‘Fairview Windows and Doors’ got in front of ‘Team 3’ and traded places for the lead.

“You could see that ‘Fairview’ coped better in the heavier conditions at the southern end of the course, while ‘Doosan’ had the edge along the waterfront stretch,” said McCarthy. “Then ‘Fairview was in the lead on lap seven when the steering failed and driver Steve Whitford did an amazing job to maintain control. This allowed ‘Doosan’ a relatively cruisy run to the finish with ‘A1 Homes’ and ‘Team 3’ having a good old battle for second with ‘A1 Homes’ getting home ahead of ‘Team 3’.”

In the superboat lite class which also runs the 100-mile course, Aucklanders Bob Smith and Andrew Koolan in re-engined 28-foot Skater called ‘NZ Blokes’, formerly ‘Family Boats’, had the initial lead. ‘Rayglass’, driven by Wellington daughter-and-father crew Kelly and Grant Smith, and ‘Red Steel’, the rebuilt and re-engined ‘Placemakers’ run by Brook Faulkner and Tony Carson from Napier, were right on ‘NZ Blokes’ stern for several laps.

“Tony [Carson] told me that ‘Red Steel’ was performing better and better as the fuel load lightened and this played a part in them getting to the front of their class and ultimately coming home the class winner and fourth overall,” said McCarthy. “‘Rayglass’ also passed ‘NZ Blokes’ on the last lap to round out the 100-mile results.

“The race was reasonably incident-free for the 60-mile competitors. You could see that the V-hulled, Ocke Mannerfelt-design boats ‘Mark Diggelmann Car Sales’ and ‘Espresso Engineers’ were having a better run through the heavy conditions than defending 60-mile champions Greg Brinck and Jeff Weake in ‘Konica Minolta’.”

The AB Marine Formula Honda Offshore category again proved the most popular class with ten boats entered.

“Wellington’s Mike Smith – Honda class champion two years ago – and Matt Hopkins took the class win in ‘Rayglass’ from last year’s class champion Mike Knight with a new co-driver Yael Pook, both from Auckland, in ‘Honda Marine’. Fellow Aucklanders Mike Urquhart and Darren Woods were third in ‘Auckland District Collections 2’.

“Both ‘Mark Diggelmann Car Sales’ and ‘Thunderbird 1’ were ‘day entries’ so the 60-mile championship points go to ‘Espresso Engineers’, ‘Konica Minolta’ and the first of the Honda class boats ‘Rayglass’.”

The Rayglass NZ Offshore Powerboat Championship moves to Gisborne for its next round on Saturday 6 February with a 1pm start, before continuing the series at Gulf Harbour (20 February), Napier (6 March), Wellington (27 March), Whitianga (10 April), Marsden Cove outside Whangarei (24 April) and the final round in Auckland (8 May).

More information and updated championship points’ tables can be found on the New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Association website, www.nzoffshore.co.nz.

NZOPA thanks Destination Lake Taupo, AB Marine Services, LiquorKing, LavaRock Café, MarineWorkz, Pub ‘n’ Grub, The Lion Foundation, Marine Paramedical Services, YouthTown and the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board for supporting this event.

2010 Rayglass NZ Offshore Powerboat Championships
Results from Round 1, Taupo, 31 January 2010
100-mile Championship
(Top five)
Sam Fillmore (Auckland) / Cary Gleeson (Auckland) ‘Doosan’ 1, Scott Lewis (Auckland) /Murray Tuffin (Auckland) ‘A1 Homes’ 2, Steve Nugent (Gold Coast) / Craig Archer (Whangaparaoa) ‘Team 3’ 3, Brook Faulkner (Napier) / Tony Carson (Napier) ‘Red Steel’ 4, Kelly Smith (Wellington) / Grant Smith (Wellington) ‘Rayglass’ 5.

60-mile Championship
(Top five)
Mark Diggelmann (Tauranga) / Kevin Ireland (Cambridge) ‘Mark Diggelmann Car Sales’ 1, Mike Gerbic (Auckland) / Dave Vazey (Auckland) ‘Espresso Engineers’ 2, Haaker Le Sueur (Taupo) / Gavin McGrath (Taupo) / Joel Moses (Taupo) ‘Thunderbird 1’ 3, Greg Brinck (Auckland) / Jeff Weake (Hamilton) ‘Konica Minolta’ 4, Greg Crawford (Thames) / Mike Morse (Cambridge) ‘Open Windows and Doors’ 5.