CAUGHEY TAKES NINTH CROWN
PETER CAUGHEY WON the final round of the MOUTHFRESH Superboat class at Wanaka’s Oxbow Aquatrack, and with it his ninth New Zealand Jetsprint Title, despite the best efforts of Cyclone Cook.
In front of the large crowd, the Canterbury racer put in a blinder of a final run in the top-three elimination round with the fastest time of the day, blitzing 36 corners in just 51.11 seconds.
Cyclone Cook stopped flights around the country, grounding regular navigator Louise Blythe. Fortunately, Shama Putaranui, Caughey’s navigator last season, reached the Altherm Jetsprint Championship venue in time, stepping into the boat on Saturday morning.
Caughey also had to overcome a power deficit. Cyclone Cook brought low air pressure which, combined with altitude, left naturallyaspirated engines about 100hp down on power. Turbo engines were largely unaffected.
But as Caughey says, it’s not just the folk in the boat who win the trophy.
“It was a great team effort and a huge commitment from everyone in the ENZED team for the full championship season.”
This was Caughey’s ninth Superboat title and 11th title overall – he has two Open Group B championships in his trophy cabinet too. Caughey’s Sprintec boats took the top four Superboat places on the day, while another took the Group A title.