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Superboat world champs set for tricky final |
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Written by admin
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Saturday, 28 November 2009 |
Tomorrow’s final of the UIM World Jetsprint Championships is set to be a tricky one, says defending world superboat champion Peter Caughey.
“The good news is we are setting the fastest time so far, the bad news is we took a wrong turn a number of times, and really only put in one decent lap with no issues.”
Caughey’s first qualifying time was a 43.99, which remains the best of the day with Nathan Pretty in second, on 44.6. “So he’s close,” Caughey says.
But even Pretty had navigation problems. “This is not an easy track to navigate, and it’s incredibly unforgiving.”
The water is salty, so it’s more buoyant and is lifting hulls higher than the Kiwis are used to. It’s lined with used tyres, which delivers a reasonably defined line with higher islands – and lots of backwash.
“That’s the same for everyone,” Caughey says, “But the Aussies are used to it, they’ve raced here a lot, though not with this track rotation.”
But Caughey’s confident he and his navigator can beat the gremlins. “Today’s wrong turn proved Karen knows where she’s going and I’m not following her. I might have a bruised arm tomorrow but she’s going to get the message across!”
She’ll have to. Caughey’s TOTAL boat is hitting 120kph on this track. It has no brakes, and he’ll need to navigate 30 to 40 corners, in the right sequence and in under 44 seconds to remain in contention.
He’ll also need to beat the track’s difficult turn four, and the backwash the fastest boats encounter. “There are a couple of money corners, but you have to boat turn four twice and everyone is having some level of grief.”
“Whoever wins tomorrow will have earned it,” Caughey says. “This track will not give anyone an easy result.”
“Ex-pat Kiwi Daryll Hutton was in for a real blinder when he clipped an island, careered off the course, over a tyre wall and into the safety fence, injuring a marshal en route.”
The marshal reportedly broke a leg – Hutton and his navigator were shaken, not stirred, and “They will be back out tomorrow. He’s a really hard pedaller with a supercharged boat and he will be pushing it to the limit,” Caughey says.
At least the weather is cooler, Caughey’s Sprintec-built boat has picked up some speed and all those who hit strife last week are back on track.
“Even Alan Carr and Chris Kent who had that huge crash last week are out racing again – competitors helped them rebuild their boat, and the guys at MoTeC checked and resealed their datalogger which was drowned, while they finished rebuilding their motor yesterday.”
Caughey says Nathan Pretty is his main competition for the title, though “there are several guys who have the boat control and discipline.”
But first, “We are looking forward to a good night’s sleep and re-attacking that track. Tomorrow’s another day and we’ll get stuck in.”
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