Well i could help BUT my game bomb out and had to re-install. I have a tip, use cruise engins turn sharp corners and hope for the best near the end. I beat him first try.

Hovis race is the same old ring course you see in Tachyon, etc. etc.
I won first shot, but he did get an early lead. I just hit Cruise, maybe he
used afterburners THEN cruise, I don't know.
How I did it was like all ring courses:

Plan at least one ring ahead of the one your flying thru, try to cut the
distance you travel by going thru ring on side closest to next ring,
NOT dead center. This works best on ordinary curves, sometimes on really
sharp curves you gotta hug the outside of the ring. Look at car races.

Hope this helps,
Frobozz


"Got anything for me?" - Trent, A.K.A. 'Mr. Eloquent'

I put a cruise disruptor up his tailpipe, while this did effectively stop his cruise engines. It also got me disqualified. Sure, he can unleash his weapons platforms on you at the end, but just one little missile from you that barely scratches his shields, and he cries foul! Let me get ole Dex out on my racecourse. A few tachyon/plasma cannon bursts and he will be flying his ship to the pearly gates, hehe

Sorry, I am just now understanding that *some* people are experiencing a bug.
Very strange. A hack to fix this has just been posted on the general forum:

Race with Hovis - this is how to skip race and continue mission


"Got anything for me?" - Trent, A.K.A. 'Mr. Eloquent'

I keep telling everybody this. Use your strafe to get through the gates. Bear in mind the position of the next one.

I treated it like an old car race (remember those?)... go into a bend wide, cut the corner on the way. He was in the lead, but then I think he screwed up in a scripted event (?) and he unleashed his weapons platforms. So long as you make a steady gain on him the whole way, I don't think you can loose. Unless of course you have a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Optical version 1 which has decided to show its age by suddenly ****ing the cursor to the top of the screen... even with that I won first try.

P.S. I used burn then cruise, but in the long run it puts you behind... at a speed of 300 he easily makes up the ground you gained at 200... and then some as you have to wait for your cruise engines to charge.
Is it just me, or was your victory scripted? He suddenly dropped back. I'm sure it was meant to happen... I didn't actually look behind me for obvious reasons, but I think he might have crashed.

There is a scripted event in the race. I think a little after the 3/4 mark, he'll miss a gate. At that time, he cuts his cruise engines and circles around on normal engines (not burn) until he clears the gate - then, he fires up his cruise again. If you pass him in this section, he'll unleash the weapons platforms on you. If the two of you finish roughly neck-and-neck, he will not turn on the platforms (I guess for fear of hitting himself).