VP series success Morris takes title

Nelson's Andy Morris comfortably added another national title to his CV before adopting a more cautious approach to yesterday's racing at the Rotoiti Powerboat Club's annual Arthur McCaa Memorial Regatta.

Morris completed his anticipated Modified VP championship success, emulating his first-round efforts at Lake Karapiro earlier this month by winning all three of Saturday's heats to take out the series.

Having driven Southern Storm to consecutive national titles in 2002-03, he won again in 2006 after the class was not contested in the two previous years. He clinched the title again, this time in Desert Storm, in 2008, with the class again not contested last year.

"It was a good day – it was pretty comfortable, really," said Morris of Saturday's effort. He nevertheless decided to pull Desert Storm out of the water yesterday as a precaution.

"I had one prop [on Saturday] that I ran it in with, and I was hoping I'd get enough running to get used to it and put a bigger prop on for [Sunday].

"I was pretty happy with everything [on Saturday]. Everything on the dash was looking really sweet. Today I went out and put a bigger fan on it and went about six laps, and it was looking really good, and when I came in to stop, it just obviously hadn't had enough [running].

"It looks all right ... but it's enough for me to worry and pull out." He still took to the water yesterday, but in a borrowed Timaru boat, Chris Henderson's Ballz Out, to finish second behind Levin driver Jamie Knight's six-litre hydroplane Phantom in one of yesterday's feature races, the Pelorus Jack Trophy.

There was plenty of interest in Whanganui driver Warwick Lupton's new supercharged GP powerboat, Annihilator Race Boats. After two days of racing, in which his best finish was a third placing in yesterday's Arthur McCaa Memorial Trophy, Lupton confirmed that despite its potential, it was still very much a work in progress.

He said the boat was currently running at about 60 per cent capacity. There were still steering problems to overcome, and he and his support crew needed to cut the side out of the sponson (outer running surface) to change the angle of attack.

"Until we tune that, we can't really do the straightaway speed because it'll change the attitude of the boat in the straight," he said.

"We did plenty of laps and it was a bit of practice. We buggered round, we improved and we got worse; you know what it's like. [The steering] just won't lock in. We're sure we can fix it, but it's probably a week's job."

At least the Arthur McCaa Trophy honours remained in-house, with Ken Lupton winning both races in Annihilator 3 to take this year's title ahead of David Alexander in Annihilator 2.

"Ken and Dave were running a lot quicker than I was today [Sunday] by quite a considerable amount. It's showing plenty of potential but obviously a brand new rig to drive, it's a totally different feeling. You've just got to get a handle on everything but obviously, the more laps you do, the better you get."

Alexander won Saturday's national GP championship title after he'd led the series with three straight first-round heat wins.

Auckland's Luke Sharp in Prompt Parts was too quick for the field as he overtook previous points leader and fellow Aucklander Steve Hughes in Stealth to win the F1 championship title. Sharp also won the King of the Nationals, raced over two heats – the first at Karapiro and the second at Rotoiti.

After winning the Karapiro heat, he finished second to Alexander at the weekend after Alexander had missed the Karapiro heat.

Auckland's Sam Hughes also dominated with three straight wins in The Apprentice on Saturday to overhaul Nelson's Philip Stilwell and take out the national F2 championship title. Stilwell was driving brother Julian's Johnston Associates-sponsored boat after destroying his hull practising for the Gold Cup on the Manawatu River the previous weekend.

Wellington's Mickey Wooton drove Bowtie Boogie to victory in the Pro Com-Prostock classes, again winning all three heats, while Manawatu's Tracey Gapper won the Modified Hydroplane title in Tempo Too, the first time in 40 years of racing that either he or his father Colin had won a national title.

In yesterday's final feature race, Alexander completed a memorable South Island sojourn by winning the King of the Lake title from Sharp, with Ken Lupton finishing third.

Sharp had led for three of the four laps before the superior power of Alexander's Annihilator 2 produced an exciting finish.

- © Fairfax NZ News