MEDIA RELEASE - Monday, 21March 2007RED BELLIES EYEING SECOND-HALF CHARGE |
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Just as it's often said that sports such as the rugby codes and soccer are games of two halves, Red Bellies Racing - Australia's representatives in the New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Series - are hoping the second half of the 2007 series has little in common with the first. Round five of eight will this weekend take place in Tauranga, looking to put a troubled first half of the season behind them. The pairing of Bruce Sanders and Colin Craven had a promising start to their international debut, showing impressive pace in the season opener at Taupo before a crash, but have since faced an array of mechanical problems. "It has been frustrating to have all of these little issues hurt us in races," Sanders said. "Cruising around with a damaged boat is the last way any team wants to spend a race doing, but unfortunately that's what Colin and I have had to do for the last three races. "Most of the problems have come about following the Taupo crash and have been little niggling issues we probably could've rectified if were able to do some more testing before the rounds. "But now those first four rounds are behind us and there is nothing we can do about it, other than to work hard to ensure we have a better run in the second half of the season." |
Red Bellies Racing are eyeying a second-half fightback
Red Bellies Racing in action |
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Rather than have some oranges and a breather during the 'half-time' break for the 2007 season, Red Bellies have continued to work on improving their 28ft racer. "We've gone back to the drawing board," Sanders explained. "We've taken out the reserve fuel tanks that we had in it from Australian racing to lighten the boat, and have installed new fuel tanks and a different oil injection system. "The aim has been to improve the boat, and make up for lost ground from the first couple of rounds. "I think that the overall package is a lot stronger now." The recent misfortunes see Red Bellies currently sitting fourth in the Superboat Light standings, with their best result coming in round three at Gulf Harbour, where they fought on despite steering problems to finish third in class and fifth outright. "The results we've scored so far don't show the potential that we feel we have," Sanders stated. "Obviously we didn't expect to walk over here and dominate, but we know we are capable of running at the front of the field and challenging for wins. "We've still got four races to go in this season, and the problems we've had so far have made us hungrier than ever to get back out there and be successful." The round five action starts at 12pm on Saturday, with the field embarking from Sulphur Point. 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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