Maritimo Racing has finished the 2017 season on a strong note taking out the Supercat Extreme Championship and its 15th AUS1 overall championship after a solid weekend of racing in the final round at Hervey Bay last weekend.
Maritimo 12 crewed by Tom Barry-Cotter and Steve Jellick entered the final round of the Offshore Superboat Championships in Hervey Bay with a sizeable lead in the AUS 1 and Supercat Extreme Championships. The pair said they entered the weekend with a conservative strategy to preserve that lead of the championship, and not necessarily pushing for race wins.
Maritimo 11, crewed by father and son team Ross and Andrew Willaton in the new Maritimo R36, in only its second event, was out of championship contention and had goals of attaining valuable testing time in the new boat.
“They were plagued with power steering issues in the previous round, which saw modifications in between rounds from the standard Mercury VI Drive power steering system to an upgraded Maritimo Racing system like used in Maritimo 12,” said Barry-Cotter.
He said in the first race of the weekend, Maritimo 12 lead the early laps after a great getaway from the start. However midway through the race the boat encountered a problem with its trim system, said Barry-Cotter.
“We had to slow to a more cautious pace in the tricky conditions in order not to risk the overall championships,” he said. “Maritimo 12 finished race one in third, still maintaining a healthy margin in the overall points with one race left on the season.
“In race two we got off to a great start again and lead the early laps, but as the conditions once again became tricky, we made the decision to hold a more cautious pace in order to finish in the points and secure the overall championships. This strategy proved successful with us crossing the line in third place, enough to secure the Supercat Extreme and overall AUS1 Overall Championships.”
Maritimo 11 was not as fortunate and missed the start in race one after the boat tripped on a wave and sustained damage to its tunnel flap. In race two Maritimo 11 performed well, despite the rough and windy conditions and being the smallest boat in the class, recording a very respectable fourth place and gathering much valuable testing data to take into the off-season development program for 2018.
“The team are extremely excited to have recorded a collective 15th AUS1 Title. Our goal all season was to do just that, and the entire team did a fantastic job in working towards that goal,” said Barry-Cotter. “There are many offseason projects that we will be busy with and will be announcing soon, so stay tuned.”
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