The Offshore Superboat Championships resume with the sixth round of the titles set for Townsville over the weekend of July 4 and 5.
Race director Russell Embleton expects a full field in all classes, with only the Melbourne entrant 'Impact Steel' looking unlikely.
Seven classes are likely to contest the event, Class 1, Supercat Outboard, Supercat Outboard Lite, Super Vee Lite, Cruiser, Production and Production Unlimited.
Class 1, Supercat Outboard, Supercat Outboard Lite and Super Vee will race as championship classes, while all others will race as non-championship classes.
Race control and dry pit area will be at Townsville's Breakwater Marina, conveniently located on The Strand, facing Trinity Bay and the race circuit. The venue offers excellent spectator viewing.
Scrutineering for all classes has been scheduled for the Saturday (July 4) from 1000hrs to 1300hrs in the dry pit area, offering spectators a close up look at the big boats.
Crews will test their rigs on Saturday afternoon and will be subject to final crew briefing the following morning with 0900hrs to 1030hrs set aside for launching. A sighting lap with the start boat tales place at 1100hrs with the Townsville Offshore Superboat Classic flagged away at 1120hrs.
Class 1 entrants are subjected to a 16 lap (96 nautical miles) race with a minimum of 11 laps to be declared a race.
Supercat Outboard must race over 14 laps (10 laps minimum) and a distance of 84 nautical miles, while Supercat Outboard Lite faces 12 laps (eight laps minimum) and 72 nautical miles.
Super Vee Lite will contest the class over 10 laps (seven laps minium) at 60 nautical miles.
Smaller classes will do battle over a 1o lap, 60 nautical mile course with no minimum declared.
Bill Barry-Cotter's Lamborghini-powered catamaran, 'Maritimo', with son Tom and Norway's Pal Virik Nilsen aboard, has totalled 1875 points on the leader board thanks to its three firsts and one second (one DNF) from its five starts.
It gives the boat a handy 675 point lead over second placed 'Global Racing' (Mike Beil and Ross Willaton), with 'Acme Racing' (Andrew and Christopher Searle) and 'Simrad' (Luke Durman and Peter McGrath) a further 125 points behind.
Both 'Acme Racing' and 'Simrad' will need to score maximum points and hope for failure among the leaders to find a spot on the podium.
In Supercat Outboard (the J.R.Gilbert Trophy), Mat Humphrey and Simon Isherwood, aboard 'SUV Dodge Ram' virtually have a firm grip on the trophy with 2275 points, well clear of second-placed 'Saracen' (Antony Defina and Nigel Craven) on 1525 points.
A neck and neck battle looms in Supercat Outboard Lite with 'Team Tiger' (Mick Walker and Gary Smith) on 1975 points locked in battle with Berwicks HF Marine (Ian Harris and Graham Fraser) only 250 points behind.
The class will really go down to the wire.
'Grumpy Mongrel', Peter Jack and Jamie Callan now full recovered from their roll-over in Melbourne, will continue their domination of Super Vee Lite.
Offshore Superboat Championships chairman, Paul Gibbs, said the Townsville race will rate as an entertainment spectacular.
'The North Queensland Ski Racing Club will stage a couple of competitive ski racing events and on the Sunday will leave their skiers at home and run the race on Production Class,' he said.
'There's also a jet ski club based in Townville and they too will put on a show with racing on both days.
'It's shaping up as a weekend to remember,' he added.
Gibbs, also a competitor campaigning his new 'Hog's Breath' with Paul Fowlds in Supercat Outboard Lite, will no doubt be hoping the 'gremlins' have left the boat and gone overboard.
The former Australian champion launched the new boat in the third round of the championships and finished a creditable third place. Unfortunately, the dreaded DNF took over in rounds four and five.
Macquarie Island, TAS
