MEDIA RELEASE - Monday, 19 February 2007RED BELLIES RACE FIT FOR GULF HARBOUR |
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Australia's Red Bellies Racing team will be looking for a change in fortune at round three of the 2007 New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Championship at Gulf Harbour this weekend. In their first two international races, Red Bellies' racers Bruce Sanders and Colin Craven displayed the pace to be contenders, but have been luckless in race conditions. The run of misfortune started in the season opener at Taupo on January 28, when the pair crashed heavily while leading the Superboat Light class by a comfortable margin. After extensive repair work to the 28ft racer, the Aussies once again endured frustration in Maraetai 10 days ago. Electrical problems stemming from the original crash saw their pace significantly reduced, and left the pair to salvage fourth in class and sixth outright. "We're hoping things turn around for us this weekend," Sanders said. "It is obviously a little bit frustrating to not have any results to show thus far, but we know we can get the job done. "We were in a great position at Taupo before the crash,
which ultimately led to our problems at Maraetai, all of which
we now believe is behind us." |
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Red Bellies Racing in action
Red Bellies Racing's Bruce Sanders |
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In the time since round two at Maraetai, repair work has continued on the Red Bellies Racer, returning it to race condition. "The time between Taupo and Maraetai was so tight and frenetic, it was a mad rush to get the boat on the water," Sanders explained. "We didn't have an opportunity to run the boat in before the race either, which would've helped find things like the electronics problems which ended up ruining our race. "But now we've had some time to look more thoroughly through the boat to find all of the issues. "We've got new computers going in, the throttles have been fixed, and we've rebuilt the gearbox and steering - so the boat will be back the way it was before the crash." With the two rounds of eight rounds now completed, Sanders feels a strong result this weekend is important to kick start Red Bellies' championship points challenge. "After our problems at Taupo and Maraetai, we're down a few points on the leading boats in our class," Sanders said. "Obviously we scored some points at Maraetai, which is better than nothing, but we're still a bit behind where we had hoped to be. "We know the boat has the speed to be right up at the front, but if we are going to challenge for the class title, we really can't afford to have any more bad weekends. "Hopefully it's third time lucky and we can get a good result at Gulf Harbour." Saturday's race on Gulf Harbour kicks off at 1pm local time. 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. |
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