Beaten by his own boat

THUMBS UP: Reigning New Zealand superboats champion Peter Caughey offered Hamilton-Gisborne combo Sam Newdick and Glenn Mason the use of his boat in round 3 of the national jetsprinting champs at Waitara, and they won the round, with Caughey second. From left are Newdick, Mason, Louise Blythe (Caughey’s navigator) and Caughey. Pictures by Ian Thornton

GISBORNE navigator Glenn Mason and Hamilton driver Sam Newdick not only won round 3 of the New Zealand jetsprint championships at Waitara on Sunday.

They did it in a borrowed boat and, and in the process, did Gisborne’s Blake Briant and Kate Hoogerbrug a huge favour in the battle for the superboats title.

Mason and Newdick beat leaders Peter Caughey and Louise Blythe (Canterbury), who were second, with Briant and Hoogerbrug third.

“It worked out well for us,” said Briant, who is sitting two points behind Caughey.

What made the win even more impressive was Newdick and Mason were double-driving Caughey’s boat.

“We had some mechanical problems in race 2 and our boat wasn’t ready for this race,” said Mason, who, alongside Newdick, won the group A national title last year and stepped up to the superboats category this year.

“Peter, who owns Sprintec and builds and races boats, offered us the chance to race his boat, which shows the calibre of the man.

“He had complete faith in Sam and myself to handle the boat. We could have crashed it and Peter would have been out of contention and lost valuable championship points. It was an amazing gesture.

“We were a bit nervous climbing into the boat for the first time. The seating arrangements were different to what we were used to and then there’s the handling of a boat completely new to us.

“But Sam really showed his driving ability. From the moment we went down the first straight he got some boogie (speed), and he got smoother and faster as the day went on.

“There’s always a tricky corner — the money corner — that causes problems in every race, but Sam handled it brilliantly.”

After competing in three of the four qualifying rounds on the day, Newdick and Mason progressed through the top 12, then top eight, to make a five-boat run-off for the title.

“Normally it’s top three but there were some time constraints and it was decided to run five boats, which could have cost championship points if you made a meal of the final.”

They didn’t. They posted the fastest time of the day — 41.278 seconds — to edge Caughey (41.558), with Briant third in 42.626.

Mason said he and Newdick did not know they had won when they finished the top-five.

“We heard everybody clapping but thought we had just done well. It wasn’t until they handed us the chequered flag and we did the circuit of honour that it sank in. Peter (Caughey) came up to congratulate us, which was awesome.

He must have been disappointed not to have won and being beaten by his own boat, but he was so genuine in his congratulations. It was something Sam and I appreciated.”

Caughey said: “We got word of Sam’s plight early Thursday . . . so we had a team meeting and decided to help. The Newdick team has two of our Sprintecs, Sam is current group A champion and moved to superboats this season. He’s quite a talent, so we offered him a drive.

“We thought if we play this well we could come away with a one-two result but I was thinking us first and him second! But what a great result.”

The win moved Newdick and Mason to fourth-equal overall but well adrift of the top two.

Mason, though, was happy to have helped Briant and Hoogerbrug.

“Blake raced bloody well up against higher horse-powered boats.”

Briant, also in his first season in superboats, was pleased with third.

“Our goal has always been about consistency and while we’re not there where we want to be just yet, we’re getting there,” he said.

“With three rounds to go — Hastings, Whanganui and Wanaka — we’re in a good position to challenge for the championship. “But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. It’s about taking small steps, looking to improve our overall package.”