"I went the wrong bloody way, it cost me 6-7 seconds," said Murray. "I didn't get the [quick] time, but neither did Leighton [Minnell]."
The shocks kept on coming as the expat Whanganui racer Minnell, second on points, also bowed out to bring the title race down to Coley and the nine-time champion Peter Caughey of Christchurch, both already neck-and-neck in third spot.
Murray said it had been a hard day with a near-miss earlier in the morning, but he was pleased to have been a contender in his first year in the Superboats.
"It's a bloody cruel sport, I can tell you. To be up there with those top guys in the first year is great."
Caughey and Coley were joined by Foxton's Richard Burt, hunting a second straight round win, along with Napier's David Simmons and Featherston local Scott Donald for the Top 5; each capable of being the spoiler on the points table.
To add to the pressure, sun strikes off the water in the late afternoon made it hard on the driver's vision, with the Group B final being changed to the Top 5 due to time constraints.
Burt dropped out with engine issues and Donald, just happy to be up there, did not make a competitive time.
In the Top 3, Simmons finished the course in 62 seconds, meaning the whole season was coming down to Coley and Caughey's final lap.
In typical fashion, Coley and navigator wife, Ange, went hell for leather and put down a near-perfect drive in 55.664s; beating Caughey's previous effort by 0.14s.
But the veteran Cantabrian eats pressure for breakfast and after a blistering 20s at the split, he rocketed through the hairpin and completed the course in a championship-winning 54.452s.
It was bitterly disappointing for Coley, who had got himself back in the saddle after a spectacular crash at the December 27 round in Whanganui.
Yet the hard-as-nails competitor can look back on the last 12 months with pride after finishing runner-up in both the New Zealand and Australian superboat national championships.
Travers had no complaints about his fate in what will be his swansong in Group B racing.
In the Top 5 final, he couldn't be touched as his 58.899s time was more than two seconds ahead of Haden (61.626s) and Owhango's Tim Edhouse (63.042s), whose third on the day mirrored his season finish.
Haden had lost the battle but won the war, having built up his points lead when Travers and fellow Whanganui driver Hayden Wilson had big engine troubles in Whanganui on December 27.
"Going into the Top 5, Paddy had the NZ1. He deserves it," said Travers.
"It was a good end. Good result all around.
"There's no-one to blame whatsoever. It was four different things [went wrong] on one day.
"We were lucky it wasn't one thing wrong on four different days.
"Everything's all in one piece and the plan is to go up to Group A next season."
Travers used a Group A engine in his boat to compete at the separate UIM World Series in January.
Even in Group B results, his finishing times have often been up there with the top Group A drivers, and having won nine of the 12 rounds which made up the past two seasons, he has nothing more to prove at his current level.
Wilson will also look forward to better things in 2016-17 after he had to settle for fourth in Featherston with a 65.004s drive in the Top 5 final after he clipped an island.
"It's a shame. I was happy to put my 50 cents worth in there for today's results.
"I've got a few things in mind [for next season]. Still got a few dents from Waitara, so I'll tidy that up and work on a few things."
