Auckland offshore power boat racing team FMI Racing confirmed a fourth national offshore powerboat drivers' championship for 34ft catamaran owner and driver Warren Lewis with catamaran Fairview's victory in the one-hour Napier race on Saturday.
It was the sixth roun in the series which started on Lake Taupo on January 29 and Lewis and co-driver John Shand have secured enough points to take an unassailable lead going into the two 30-minute races which end the championship off Whitianga on May 13.
It is Shand's first season in the boat, with which Lewis had previously claimed the title in 2011 with co-driver Chris Hanley and in 2012 and 2015 with Andrew "Flea" Koolen in the second seat.
The only Superboat 1000 entry in the series, Fairview was one of 19 big-bangers and sports boats that headed to the start line on Saturday and only needed to hold it together in what were possibly the flattest conditions in the history of the Napier race, on a new clockwise course, designed for spectator appeal off Ahuriri and Westshore.
One of seven entries in the 100-mile category, Fairview did just that, averaging just over three minutes a lap to complete 19 rounds by the time the clock ticked over to signal the end.