"Water was trucked in and six pumps went hard out all day in an attempt to keep the water in. There were delays because of the loss of water but the fans didn't mind ... there were 68 retrievals of crews who had left the track. The pushers, the blokes who got their boats back on track or back to the pits, were knackered."
Hill, who runs a nursery business in Hastings, his Hawke's Bay navigator Tracey Webster and boat Liquid Gold didn't attract the attention of the pushers. They won the 17-crew Suzuki Superboats class.
"It was like a game of ping pong out there on the track. The track was extremely technical and challenging. In short you had to stay on the track," Hill said.
"Naturally when the pressure comes on you try and go faster. In Tauranga you went faster at your peril ... it was easy to go from hero to zero."
Hill, 52, and Webster had five drives in Tauranga. Their top eight round ended up a top three as the first four boats left the track.
"They were leaving like wildfire," Hill, who clocked a winning time of 36.81s, said.
Hill has been racing off and on for six years. His Stinger hull is powered by a Bryan Hartley Nissan V8 engine which has a top speed of 140km/h.
It can go from 0-100km/h in less than two seconds.
"A hell of a lot of work has gone into the boat ... there's been many late nights. I want to be the best," Hill said.
That work has paid off. The weekend's first placing followed a fourth in the Wanganui-hosted first round on December 27 and Hill holds second place overall with four rounds remaining.
Meremere hosts the next and third round on February 9 and Hawke's Bay hosts the fourth round at the Crownthorpe track on March 16.
After missing the last three rounds in Hawke's Bay, Hill can't wait to strut his stuff in front of his home crowd again.
After the six-round championship ends in Wanaka on April 18, Hill's attention will turn to the two-round World Series to be raced in the United States during August. He had a top six finish in the New Zealand-hosted World Series two years ago and is eager to improve upon that in the Oregon and Missouri-hosted rounds.
While quick reflexes and quality rapport with his navigator Webster are crucial to quality results, decent levels of fitness are equally as important.
Hill still plays division one club soccer for Maycenvale United and the associated fitness regimes required for this level of play will keep him in shape between the end of the national series and the US trip.
The fact he hasn't raced at the US venues in the past won't be an issue.
Like everybody else, he was a first time competitor at Bay Park last weekend.
