The tide has changed in the NZ powerboat racing scene with a 4 Stroke outboard revolution.
At the recent NZ powerboat Nationals – two x 4 stroke Yamaha (4.2L V6)outboards competed against 12 x 2.5litre and 3 litre (V6) Mercury powerhouses that have occupied the honours list in Formula V (200hp) and Mod VP (Unlimited hp) v bottom ski boat class for over 50 years .
That changed over the weekend with Yamaha powered VF250SHO “Tangaroa” driven by Mark Taiatini taking out the converted Mod VP (unlimited hp class) beating defending champion Clint Stewart in the Rayglass/Mercury powered “Noisy Boy” over a three race duel with three different winners of each race.
It was some of the most competitive racing seen in years with Yamaha 4 stroke powered boats taking out 1 or 2 in each race .
What made this even more interesting that Mark in “Tangaroa” and Simon Guard in “YMF REDHOT Marine racing” then competed in the highly competitive Formula V (200hp) class by simply removing the engine ECU and fitting the VF200SHO computer .
“Tangaroa” was able to also record 3NZ in this class with Taiatini claiming that the level of driving skill by all in the classes was superb with Mason Dunlop “Kausin Havoc” and Bayden Sprozen “Scary” taking 1st and 2nd in the Mercury powered 1750 Bullets .
The Formula V and Mod classes seemed to be a crowd favourite along with the GP Hydroplanes with extremely tight racing with the maximum 10 boats allowed on the nationals course at one time .
Class president David Cassidy in “Game Changer” said that the popularity of the class is due to the appeal of “Race” Saturday ,”Go boating/skiing” Sunday with the majority of the boats standard ski boat type craft and only needing minimal changes to make race ready and competitive .
