Race Day Summaries

SUMMARY

Thundercat Racing King of the Cape 2010 this year attracted a reduced field of 9 boats due to the race season taking its toll on boats and drivers and co-pilots. Lining up at the start at Shipwreck Bay on Sunday morning were Demon Energy from Wellington, Blackpepper, Blue Cougar, Dodge, Dribbler, Goodyear, Jungle Coffee, Plumbquick and UR Mama all from Auckland. Racing got underway at 10.30 in flat conditions at Ahipara which improved to a 3-4m swell by the time the boats reached The Bluff 50 minutes later and after checkpoints at Hukatere and the Bluff (managed with assistance from Steve and the crew from the Kaitaia 4wd club). Eight boats passed The Bluff as at that stage UR Mama had withdrawn with engine problems. After the Bluff Jungle Coffee was next to withdraw with fuel problems and then just 2km from the finish Plumbquick flipped after which they hitched a ride to the finish in a police ute which happened to be passing at the time. The first stage to Scotts landing was won by Dodge with a time of nearly 2 minutes ahead of the next boat.

Stage 2 Scotts Landing back to Shipwreck Bay commenced just after 12 pm and the initial leader was Blue Cougar who led until a bad checkpoint stop at The Bluff enabled Dodge to pass and hold the lead for the remainder of the race. Blue Cougar were seriously challenged by Demon Energy and were closely followed by Blackpepper. At the end of 172km the difference between the first and fifth boat (only 5 ended up finishing) was only 3 minutes. The King of the Cape race results were decided by the cumulative time from each of the 2 legs and it was Dodge who took away the KOC trophy and magnum of bubbly to go with. Second place went to Blue Cougar ahead of Blackpepper.

As always this was a day enjoyed by all racers and the spectators who are able to follow the boats up the beach. We look forward to bringing a bigger and better event to Kaitaia for next year.