Steven Eversley and Brandon Franks blitzed the field to clinch an impressive hat-trick during yesterday’s Rubis Around the Island Race.

The dynamic duo clinched D class honours for the third straight year and were also the first to complete the 54-mile circumnavigation for the second year in succession in their 23-foot Batboat.

Their time, which has yet to be announced by the race committee, is understood to have obliterated the previous race record of 43min 22sec, which they set in the previous race.

“It was a nice race and not as bumpy as I thought it would be,” Eversley said. “We were just hoping for the boat to hold out, and it did.”

Eversley and Franks went into the race with a heavy burden of expectations on their shoulders having dominated their class the previous two years, and led the field across the Ferry Reach finish line in the previous race.

“I never underestimate the competition because there are some very good boats in our class,” Eversley said. “I just wanted to complete the race.”

As was the case last year, the pair took the lead near Clearwater Beach and shut the door behind them on the chasing pack.

“I saw the red Batboat off on the outside of the shoreline and we came on the inside of the shoreline just before Clearwater Beach,” Franks, the co-pilot, said.

“We were catching them and had the better line so by the time they turned in we already had the line going towards St David’s and we led from thereon.

“It wasn’t the conditions that the boat is really designed for, but we gave it what we had and came away with another win.”

Eversley added: “My co-pilot told me to ‘stay on it’, and I did. I just went inside and looked straight ahead and didn’t see anybody.”

In scenes reminiscent of the 1983 America’s Cup, the racing propeller on Eversley’s boat was concealed in a pouch before the hull was raised out of the water on a trailer.

“We can’t show anyone our secret,” Eversley grinned. “That’s what makes the boat move.”

Slightly overshadowing Eversley and Franks’s remarkable feat was the crash involving class rivals Howard Ascento and co-pilot Kim McCallan.

Ascento’s 21-foot catamaran barrel rolled while rounding Five Star Island, throwing both occupants out of the cockpit and into the water.

McCallan, the race rookie and Bermuda Power Boat Association vice-commodore, suffered a cut above an eye and bruising on her body, and was treated for her injuries at the hospital. Driver Ascento was unharmed.

“That was unfortunate,” Eversley said. “I don’t know what happened to them, but hopefully everyone is okay.”

Meanwhile, Damon Simons and Aaron Cannonier, his co-pilot, set a new record en route to winning C class honours, while Keith Bridges and brother Steven Bridges came to within one tenth of a second of the race record on their way to seizing S class honours in their 28-foot skater.

The new C class race record has also yet to be officially announced.

A class honours went to Ryan Davidge and Andrew Osbourne, while Jody Carreiro and Anthony Carreiro, her father, led the B class across the line.

The remaining boats among the 16 starters that failed to finish were Craig Nisbett’s B class entry and Kentwoin Jones’s D class boat, both through mechanical problems. Nisbett broke down off Devonshire Bay on the South Shore and Jones off of Dockyard.

“We didn’t have quantity, but we had a quality race field this year,” Ernie Mello, the race director said.

Henry Talbot, the BPBA commodore, added: “Everything went off pretty smoothly apart from the incident we had with the vice-commodore [McCallan].

“Other than that it was a pretty good day and I was very proud of what the competitors achieved. We had two race records set and another boat come very close to breaking its class record.”