"It wasn't until we saw them stop about 10 minutes from the finish with fuel pump problems that we realised the race was ours," Valder, 46, said.
"It was hard work and we earned every bit of money we won today."
Mentored by his uncle Stan Ash at the age of 15, Valder has raced for 31 years.
He will be back in Napier to race again next year, and had already worked out that one more round win during the three remaining rounds - Auckland's Point to Point on April 2, Paihia on April 16, and Auckland on April 30 - could be enough to give him the 1NZ title currently held by Lewis and Koolen.
Fairview's stoppage meant the race ended with a Pro Floors quinella as Pro Floors No10 raced by Aucklanders Richard Shores and Wayne Carson finished second. Carson is a member of Hawke's Bay's Carson family which had six members racing.
Hawke's Bay's father and daughter team of Tony, Wayne's brother, and Charlotte Carson, who raced Red Steel, retained their lead in the Sports 200 class with their second consecutive win in the Napier round.
"We were fortunate to have a bit of home water luck," Tony said afterwards.
He pointed out Saturday's conditions were the roughest that his daughter, a first-year commerce student at Victoria University in Wellington, had encountered during two summers of racing.
"Family members watching from Perfume Point told us it was pretty rough. I told them it was even worse down the Bay View end of the course.
"Charlotte's main goal was to beat her cousins [Wayne's children Max and Jamie Carson in DH Steel] and it got pretty close at times ... fortunately for us they broke down on the second to last lap," Tony said.
"We've got a 500-odd point lead now, but we still have to finish every race in the next three rounds to win the series."
It wasn't a memorable visit to Napier for the well-resourced Australia team 222 Offshore Racing, crewed by owner Darren Nicholson and New Zealand racer and former Napier winner Peter McGrath. They changed their engines from 565 horsepower ones to 800 horsepower, with the aim of putting on a better show.
However, issues with one of the engines forced them to pull out at the start.
In addition to this DNS there were 11 DNFs among the 20 starters, another indication of the rugged conditions. Crews that completed 75 per cent of the race still earned points.
