Stylish Mills leaves off-shore rivals in wake

Press, 5 October 1987, Page 25

Stylish Mills leaves off-shore rivals in wake

Phillip Mills, in his Supercat tunnel boat, won the open A class of the Canterbury Speed Water-ski Club’s offshore power-boat race at Lyttelton Harbour on Saturday morning in fine style. Mills has sold the boat to a North Islander. It was his last race as its owner. Mills provided quite a spectacle, having a helicopter follow him around the harbour course to enable his race to be phtographed and filmed. Open-class races were held over 100 km, and were combined with a nominated speed event for pleasure craft. Although conditions looked disastrous for the event on Friday evening with a storm whipping through Lyttelton Harbour, the race was held in fine weather, providing near perfect conditions for most competitors. No dramatic incidents marred the racing. However, Jim Dunlop, of Clydevale, seized a gearbox in his ninemetre tunnel boat putting him out of the open B class and costing him at least $5OOO in

repairs. It was the first time in five years that such an event had been held on Lyttelton Harbour. The enthusiastic reponse of boat owners means a similar event is likely next year. In the nominated-speed class, where drivers have to estimate the speed they could drive an unknown distance, David Wicks, in his Magnum Suzuki, performed admirably, finishing less than a second off his estimated time over 46.8 km. Second place was shared, a situation never before encountered in that type of event. Roger Turner, in his Mercury 200 who finished -.650 of a minute below his time and Warren Rogers in his Mirage 5000, who finished .650 above his time, shared the second position. Results: A open: Supercat (Phillip Mills) 132.603km/h, 1; Food For Thought (Grant Anderson) 131.283km/h, 2. B open: The Hood (Sandy Bennet) 122.580km/h, 1; No

Mercy (Scott Rhodes) 117.090km/h, 2. C open: Reflex Action (Ross Mangin) 99.239km/h, 1; Tennessee 3 (Eric Dickie) 98.944km/h, 2; Tennessee 5 (Neil Courtley) 88.943km/h, 3. D open: White • Pointer (Steve Pope) 88.375km/h, 1; Magnum Suzuki (David Wicks) 87.199km/h, 2. B production: Aquasonic (Graham Le Compte) 71.781km/h, 1; Hartz Marine (Steve Harris) 68.428km/h, 2. C production: Mirage 5000 (Warren Rogers) 59.235km/h, 1; Screen Prints (Ray Patient) 57.628km/h, 2. Nominated speed; Magnum Suzuki (David Wicks) .074 of a minute off estimated time, 1; Mirage 5000 (Warren Rogers) .650 and Mercury 200 (Roger Turner) -.650, equal 2; Reflex Action (Ross Mangin) .737, 3; Nauti Lass (Don Haggitt) -2.260, 4; Aquasonic (Graham Le Compte) -4.500, 5; Magnum 140 (Ken Coppiestone) -5.450, 6; Sea Nymph Seeke (Graham Ford) -9.600, 7.