Because they never got underway, Coley was able to borrow the boat of Foxton's Keven Roberts, and despite being an unfamiliar craft the Whanganui speedster gave it everything to still finish fifth.
That effort and Murray's strong day means Coley still holds the 2NZ spot by four points ahead of Rotorua's Nick Berryman, who was fourth at Meremere, but the Caughey has an virtually untouchable 18 point lead heading into the rescheduled final round in Waitara.
Caughey himself tipped his hat to Coley's never-say-die attitude.
"That was an astounding effort.
"Briant put in a good drive, he's missed a couple of rounds of the champs and will be well pleased to have taken second place on the winner's rostrum, and Murray logged one of his best results since his recent move up to SuperBoats in the ex-Hulk boat.
"He'll be one happy farmer."
Murray was pleased to be finally be over some of the gremlims they have been fixing in his machine.
"We had our issues, just working on those issues and getting used to the speed," he said.
"We think we're on top of that now – just with the transfer of the fuel pump.
"We haven't beat Nick Berryman all year. Three or four runs we beat him on time."
Murray remains fifth overall in the series, while his navigator Jo Rathbone is third for the seperate navigator series.
The Group A division saw a replay of the last round at Crownthorpe, as Christchurch's Simon Gibbon is now the form driver in the competition with back-to-back wins, while Hamilton's series leader Ollie Silverton was runnerup and Travers third.
It means Gibbon closes up to two points behind Silverton in the battle for the title, but Travers will likely have to settle for third overall, being around 10 points further back.
However, the next highest points scorer is still a further ten points back, so Travers will gladly take 3NZ as a continued improvement after coming fourth in his debut Group A season last year.
"I was only 0.8s off Si and 0.4s off Ollie. It was tapped out, nothing else left," Travers said yesterday.
"I can't wait to get this new camshaft in. The motor's hopefully coming out tonight."
Travers' end game is the World Series in Australia later this year, as he is now looking for sponsors to help cover the expenses of the trip.
The camshaft, newly imported from America, could possibly add another two seconds of top end finishing speed to the Radioactive boat, which based on the current times in Group A could make all the difference.
The Stinger Sprint Boats Group B round was won by Te Awamutu's Patrick Haden for his third straight victory, with Taranaki's Daniel Reade and Bevan Schuller second and third respectively.
Expat Whanganui racer Kellie Minnell and former national champion Hayden Wilson missed the podium.
Meremere was initially supposed to be the climax of the six round season, however the dry weather abandonment of the December event at Masterton's Tauherenikau Racecourse has seen an extra round added, back in Waitara on April 14.
