Townsville Round Australian Offshore Superboat Championships

3:44 AM Tue 7 Jul 2009 GMT

'Spectacular sight as the starter send the field away in the Townsville and sixth round of the Offshore Superboat Championships. - Maritimo crowned top gun' Andrew Gricks Click Here to view large photo

The dual Lamborghini-powered catamaran 'Maritimo', with Tom Barry-Cotter and Ross Willaton at the controls, has been confirmed as the Australian Offshore Superboat Champion after the penultimate round at Townsville last weekend.

Barry-Cotter and Willaton had to 'nurse' the big cat home after a fuel pump failure, but fortunately for them the emergency system came on line and enabled them to complete the race.

Fourth place gave the team 244 points for a total of 2119 points after six rounds of the championships, a lead that cannot be overtaken with only one round remaining.

Steve Searle's bright red Douglas Skater, 'Acme', with Christopher and Andrew Searle on board, shook off its recent mechanical problems to score a convincing two minutes, 15 second win over 'The Good Guys' (Brendan and Christopher Frier) with 'Global Racing' (Mike Beil and Travis Thompson) just 16 seconds behind in third place.

’Maritimo’ and ’Acme’ dicing for the lead shortly after the start off Townsville. ’Acme’ went on to win after ’Maritimo’ had a fuel pump failure, but its fourth place was enough to earn it the 2009 championship. - Maritimo crowned top gun - Andrew Gricks Click Here to view large photo

The Townsville round also featured a return to racing by Maritimo Offshore team owner Bill Barry-Cotter, who teamed up with Luke Durman aboard 'Simrad'.

It was not a race to remember for Bill and Luke, with 'Simrad' losing all 'life' from its on-board computer system forcing a DNF.

Two other boats, 'Mazlin Elec' and 'Team 3' also recorded DNFs.

In Supercat Outboard, Mat Humphrey and Simon Isherwood maintained their consistency aboard 'SUV Dodge Ram' to come home in second place, their third second placing of the championships to go with their three firsts and an unbeatable 2550 points.

’Blade Custom Boats’ (Cameron Davis and Brett Luhrmann) cruises past ski race rig ’Krackem’ (Chris Wiseman and Aidan Luke) to win Supercat Outboard from arch-rival ’SUV Dodge Ram’ (Mat Humphrey and Simon Isherwood). - Maritimo crowned top gun - Andrew Gricks Click Here to view large photo

Cameron Davis and Brett Lurhmann brought 'Blade Custom Boats' home in first place, but it was only their second podium finish since taking second place in round two.

'Kwozzy 2' (Jim Harris and Adam Nicolls) was the only other entrant in Supercat Outboard and failed to finish.

Mick Walker and Gryff Ethell at the controls of ’Team Tiger’ take their fifth chequed flag in six starts to set up an unbeatable lead in the championships in Supercat Outboard Lite. - Maritimo crowned top gun - Andrew Gricks Click Here to view large photo

'Team Tiger' gave Mick Walker and Gryff Ethell a narrow 20 second victory over arch-rivals Ian Harris and Graham Fraser ('Berwicks HF Marine') in Supercat Outboard Lite.

With only 350 points separating them, it will be a case of 'down to the wire' in the final race before one of these crews is named as the championship winner.

’Kwozzy 2’ maned to execute a ’gentle; rollover, leaving crew Jim Harris and Adam Nicolls embarrassed, but fortunately uninjured. The boat, too, sustained no damage to speak of. - Maritimo crowned top gun - Andrew Gricks Click Here to view large photo

Greg Collins and Karl Wall brought 'Kwozzy' home in third place, while the 'gremlins' continued to haunt Paul Gibbs and Paul Fowlds with 'Hog's Breath' recording its third successive DNF.

North Queensland Water Ski Race Club members came out in force to support the offshore racers and eight boats and crews entered for Production Class.

'Loose As' with Jayson Catasti and Aaron Serra aboard, came home first, just seconds ahead of 'Revolution Racing' (Kurt Hamilton and Ben Serra) with Greg Hounsell and Angus Frost third in 'Miss Behave'.

Mark Harrison and Craig Purton claimed Production Unlimited in 'Australian Vehicle Wholesale'.

Offshore Superboat Championships chairman Paul Gibbs said the Townsville venue again proved a winner for the sport.

'The Townsville City Council was of great assistance, as always, and the people of the city came out and supported us as well,' Gibbs said.

'Conditions proved ideal and we were grateful to the management of the city's Breakwater Marina where we were able to stage out pit areas.

'Everything worked so well for us and proved again that Townsville is indeed a superb venue for the Offshore Superboat Championships,' he added.

The final round of the championships is set for Redcliffe and Moreton Bay over the weekend of September 12/13.

by Bob Wonders