MEDIA RELEASE - Monday, 12 February 2007VALUABLE POINTS FOR RED BELLIES IN MARAETAI |
|||||
Fighting on despite technical problems, Red Bellies Racing finished sixth outright and fourth in class in Round two of the New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Championship, held at Maraetai last weekend. The Australian team of Bruce Sanders and Colin Craven were in a race-against-time to start the 100-mile event, stemming from a heavy crash in the season opener on January 10. Red Bellies Racing's 28ft boat suffered extensive damage, the repairs of which would prove a challenge in the short timeframe. Delays on parts and the repair of the canopy ensured the team were flat out in the days leading up to the race. "Originally we were expecting to have all of the parts ready and repaired by Wednesday," Sanders explained. "That would've meant that when Colin, our crew chief Paul and I arrived on late Wednesday night, we'd be ready to put it back together on Thursday. "However we had some delays with various things including the flights that worked against us. "We arrived in New Zealand at 3am on Thursday morning, instead
of 11pm the night before, slept until 7am, and then started working
on the boat along with Marineworks. |
|||||
Red Bellies Racing fought on to score valuable points
in Maraetai
Red Bellies Racing's Bruce Sanders |
|||||
"The canopy was finished on Friday, so we started working at 7am again after a couple of hours sleep and went right through - we eventually finished in time to get about 20 minutes sleep before had to leave for the track at 5am." After the gallant repair efforts, Red Bellies Racing's day would be full of frustration. Two onboard computers failed during a pre-race sponsor ride, with damage to a throttle body also becoming evident. At the start of the race, the final two computers failed, leaving a long race ahead of the team. Scoring valuable championship points in the process, the pair fought on to finish fourth in the Superboat Light class and sixth outright. "Unfortunately everything was so water-logged from the crash, and we could only do so much with the quick turnaround between races," Sanders said. "We only had about three-quarter throttle usage, and without any onboard computers we had to do the whole race at around 5,000rpm, which meant our pace was well down. "If we pushed too hard the boat would've stopped, and the boat isn't designed to run slowly, so if we backed off too much it would've been very difficult to drive, so it was just a case of driving around to score some points." Despite the troubled start to their international campaign, Sanders remains upbeat about the remainder of the New Zealand season, with the next round to be held at Gulf Harbour on February 24. "This weekend was disappointing, but that's the way it goes sometimes," Sanders reflected. "We showed at Taupo that we can mix it with the front-runners, so we'll work hard to make sure the boat is as good as it can be for Gulf Harbour. "Hopefully this is the end of the problems and we can start scoring some strong results." Red Bellies Offshore Racing is supported by Seabreeze Hotel, Barwil Unitor Ships Service, Mainlube, Always Stainless, Watersports Marine, Total Fencing Solutions, Steve Cotton Painting, Hosting Impact and Argo Engineering. When not racing offshore powerboats, Bruce Sanders heads the Sanders Group, based in New South Wales' Nelson Bay, which owns and manages several hotels and motels in the region, including the Seabreeze Hotel. . In 2006, Seabreeze Hotel was awarded 'Hotel of the Year', by the Australian Independent Liquor Group, in recognition of the hotel's high quality management, facilities and services. |
|||||
© 2007 Red Bellies
Racing. All Rights Reserved.
Website Designed and Hosted by
Hosting Impact
www.hostingimpact.com "Creating
Your Website Presence"