Maritimo Racing wins Offshore Superboat Championships 2017

Maritimo Racing has finished the 2017 season by winning the Supercat Extreme Championship and its 15th AUS1 overall championship following a solid weekend of high-speed powerboat racing in challenging conditions at Hervey Bay, Queensland, last weekend.

Maritimo 12 crewed by Tom Barry-Cotter and Steve Jellick entered the final round of the Offshore Superboat Championships at Hervey Bay with a sizeable lead in the AUS 1 and Supercat Extreme Championships.

The race-crew duo said they adopted a conservative strategy to preserve that lead and that they didn’t push for race wins.

In the first race of the weekend, Maritimo 12 lead the early laps after a great getaway from the start. However, midway through the race the boat encountered a problem with its trim system.

"We had to slow to a more cautious pace in the tricky conditions in order not to risk the overall championships," Barry-Cotter said.

Maritimo 12 finished race one in third, still maintaining a healthy margin in the overall points, with just one race left on the season the following day.

"In race two, we got off to a great start again and lead the early laps, but as the conditions once again became tricky, we made the decision to hold a more cautious pace in order to finish in the points and secure the overall championships," Barry-Cotter explains.

"This strategy proved successful with us crossing the line in third place, enough to secure the Supercat Extreme and overall AUS1 Overall Championships.

Suffice to say, the race team is extremely excited to have recorded a collective 15th AUS1 Title.

"Our goal all season was to do just that, and the entire team did a fantastic job in working towards that goal," Barry-Cotter said.

Meantime, Maritimo 11, crewed by father-and-son team Ross and Andrew Willaton in the new Maritimo R36 was out of championship contention and, instead, had goals of attaining valuable testing time in the new boat racing in only its second event.

"They were plagued with power-steering issues in the previous round, which saw modifications in between rounds from the standard Mercury VI Drive power-steering system to an upgraded Maritimo Racing system like used in Maritimo 12," said Barry-Cotter.

Maritimo 11 missed the start in race one after the boat tripped on a wave and sustained damage to its tunnel flap

In race two, Maritimo 11 performed well, the race team says, despite the rough and windy conditions.

As the smallest boat in the class, the 36-footer recorded a respectable fourth place and gathered valuable testing data to take into the off-season development program for 2018.

"There are many off-season projects that we will be busy with and will be announcing soon, so stay tuned," Barry-Cotter added.

More at the Maritimo Racing Facebook page.