Tauranga Harbour, New Zealand, April, 2008 – Friday 28th of March saw a wet and grey start to the day, but Tauranga and the local Konica Minolta team led by Richard Edwards turned on the sunshine and turned up the heat for over 40 of their clients, to enjoy an afternoon on the water with driver Greg Brinck and co-driver Eldon Archer. 

The ‘Lobster Club’ set on side of Tauranga Harbour was the starting point for what was to be a great weekend for Team Konica Minolta Offshore Racing. 

For the forth year running the Tauranga Konica Minolta branch laid on another great afternoon with a capacity group of loyal customers looking forward to their speed fix in the new Konica Minolta Evinrude E-TEC™ 225 HO powered Force F19x.

Race day was calm with just a light northerly blowing. Greg and Eldon made their customary great start, second overall into the first mark and hot on the tail of Super 60 Bat Boat ‘Finance Point’ driven by Mark Diggleman. 

Konica Minolta continued to lead the Sports 60 field for the entire 60 mile race, extending their class lead each lap.  After holding 2nd place overall for 6 of the 8 laps, the Konica Minolta Evinrude E-TEC™ 225 HO powered Force F19x finished 4th overall and first in class, an outstanding result.

“The boat was flying” said Eldon.” We were sitting on 82 mph in places and the fun for us was to see how long we could hold off the bigger faster Classic Class boats. The forecast 15 knot conditions eventuated during the latter stages of the race which affected our ability to maintain our earlier speeds. Even so we were rapt with the result.” 

The crowds on the beachfront were in prime position to see all the action up close and personal & with the Konica Minolta Evinrude E-TEC™ 225 HO powered Force F19x valiantly keeping ahead of their bigger rivals, often saw them mid air.

Again Evinrude E-TEC's DQR (Durability, Quality, and Reliability) reinforces how confident the company is with their product.  BRP has chosen to offer a full 3 year warranty on all Evinrude E-TEC motors, even in the racing environment!

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For Information:
For Australia, New Zealand & Pacific Islands:  
Helen Bromage
Events Co-ordinator, BRP Australia Pty Ltd
+ 61 (02) 9794 6632
helen.bromage@brp.com