The final round of the Australian Supercat Championships happens this weekend (Nov. 28-29) at Hervey Bay in Queensland. We are expecting as many as 10 catamarans to participate in the Supercat Outboard and Supercat Extreme (inboard) classes. Viewers who aren’t lucky enough to be there for the action can catch the Livestream broadcast of Sunday’s two 30-minute races—today is pole position qualifying—on speedothewater.com on Saturday evening. (Scheduled broadcast times are 5 p.m. (PST) and 8 p.m. (EST) for the first race and 7 p.m. (PST) and 10 p.m. (EST) for the second race.)
Maritimo and Hogs Breath lead their respective classes heading into tomorrow’s final races of the season. Photo courtesy/copyright EMB Photographics.
Each lap is 10 kilometers and all boats are on the course simultaneously in both races. We’re racing outside the harbor so there are large sweeping turns and the racing will be spectacular—if there is a chop from the wind it’s going to be really exciting as the boats will get heaps of air-time.
The championship for both Supercat Outboard and Supercat Extreme are up for grabs this weekend, so there will be heaps of hard fought competition on the course. For those don’t regularly follow our Offshore Championship Series (OSC) circuit, here’s a little insight as to what’s up in each class heading into the Hervey Bay event.
Supercat Outboard: While Hogs Breath and Team 88 will battle it out for first place in the championship, second and third place will be hard fought as well with SUV Ram Trucks and Ram Trucks Jnr still in the hunt for a top-three finish in the championship,
Hogs Breath also is leading the table for Australia’s most coveted offshore powerboat racing honor—AUS 1. The AUS 1 title is handed to the boat that has been the best performer in the entire series for the year. Hogs Breath leads with Team 88 second, Team 3 in third, Maritimo holding fourth and SUV Ram Trucks in fifth. Only 100 points separate the teams .
This is the first time in 20 years that a smaller Supercat Outboard-class boat has been in contention for AUS 1. For the most part, the honor distinction has been earned by a larger Supercat Extreme boat/team.
Supercat Extreme: The championship lead is currently held by Maritimo. Yellow Brick Road is in second and 222 Offshore is in third. But with 222 Offshore out with structural damage, Team 3 has a great chance to upset the results table with a good showing this weekend after their recovery from a rollover in Bowen.
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