Caughey on the SuperBoat charge

Four-time world SuperBoat champion Peter Caughey is back this season bigger and badder than ever. And so’s the New Zealand series, with more tracks, and better service for spectators, says Caughey.

The Canterbury speedster – already with five NZ SuperBoat champs under his belt, four consecutively – will at last debut the mighty 570 motor he’d hoped to race last year in the new Sprintec boat, and confirms ENZED is back on board as title sponsor.

“It’ll be the tenth year ENZED has been involved with the team, and we’re stoked,” Caughey says. “ENZED fields a great bunch of people and shares our team’s appreciation for quality products and service.”

“They don’t sponsor us because they like us but because they like what we do, and we really value that endorsement,” he says.

“We’ve also got Trojan the trailer component experts on board. We build our own custom trailer and wouldn’t use anything else but Trojan springs, suspension, couplings, lights and brakes.”

“As a racer in a class with no brakes on the boats you learn to appreciate a good set of brakes!”

“We’ve also signed TOTAL lubricants,” Caughey says. “That new 570 motor of ours is a thoroughbred but it’s also a bit of a mongrel and it needs the very best oil available. We’ve been working with TOTAL since 2001 or 2002 and see TOTAL oil as a good insurance policy for our motor.”

Caughey’s kept the same team that’s put the ENZED Sprintec boat on top of world and local podiums so often, backed up by Dave McCallum and Ross Baynes, plus navigator Karen Marshall, who makes the effort to take time off from her nurse management role at Burwood.”

As for the tracks, regular race followers will remember Wanganui, Featherston and Meremere, with Hastings and Wanaka also on the calendar this year.

“Jetpro’s Leighton Minnell is a great man to get things done, there’ll be rock concert-type speakers instead of the old horn trumpets and best of all a giant TV screen, so spectators will get a lot more info about drivers and navigators, close-ups of the racing and action replays of the spectacular wipeouts that are a feature of this sport, where 1000hp boats with no brakes rocket round up to 30 islands in under a minute.”

As for the ENZED team’s aspirations,  “I’m after the silverware; we love to go racing and win!” Caughey says.

The tracks may be getting better, the speakers bigger and screens may be making a debut but some things never change.

2013 Jetsprint calendar

Round 1, December 27, 2012 – Wanganui

Round 2, January 20, 2013 – Featherston

Round 3, February 24, 2013 – Meremere

Round 4, March 3, 2013 – Hastings

Round 5, March 30, 2013 – Wanaka

Round 6, April 13, 2013 – Wanganui