Local power hustlers launch blitzkreig
Far North entry Pist-n-Broke has gotten its campaign in the 2019 NZ Offshore Powerboat Series off to a stellar start by blitzing the field in the first two rounds.
The first leg of seven on this year’s circuit was held in Taupo at the end of January where Hamish Wilton and codriver Scott Tracey cleaned up in the first race only to have organisers forced to abandon the second leg in the afternoon due to extremely rough conditions.
The duo repeated their domination of the 300 class — featuring two other boats although all six different classes, a field of about 20 boats, in the series race together on the day — in the second round which was held in very light conditions in Gisborne earlier this month.
Even though the smooth water in Gisborne did not particularly suit the Tai Tokerau boat which “excels in the lumpy stuff”, it was still a welcome outcome; part of a superb start for the Far North duo and even more so following several forgettable performances in previous campaigns which includes having to withdraw from the local round in their own backyard last year because of a malfunction
“We had just rebuilt it [motor] and then blew it up just before racing began,” Wilton explained of Pist-n-Broke being conspicuous by its absence from the Doubtless Bay leg of the 2018 series.
Wilton and Tracey showed they have managed to take the setbacks which plagued previous campaigns in their stride by going back to the drawing board to rebuild the boat motor while the decision to change down a class was clearly starting to pay dividends.
“We changed a couple of things with the motor . . . changed it back to the original spec model,” Wilton said, noting the race-prepared Yamaha engine from the family business in Mangonui, Wilton’s Garage and Marine, was now giving them the grunt to stay in front of the pack.
The pair are regarded by their peers as the most committed on tour for travelling the longest distances to be part of proceedings; the round at Gisborne, for example, required a 12 hour drive on the Friday night before the event.
The Pist-n-Broke team plan to stay top with a good performance at the next meet in Whitianga early next month, while locals can look forward to seeing the duo in action when the Far North leg of the series is run in Doubtless Bay in April.
The Mangonui duo gave a big shout out to their various sponsors for helping make competing on the national series a reality, and also acknowledged the great support received from the wider community.
■ The New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Series is comprised of six divisions Superboats 1000, 600 and 400 classes, classic class, and sports classes in 300, 225 and 200 grades.
Legs on this year’s series include Taupo on January 27, Gisborne on February 9, Whitianga on March 2, Napier on March 16, Marsden Cove on April 13, Doubtless Bay on April 27, and Timaru on May 18.