[BOATS] And so it begins..

by Sean Henshelwood

(Archived)


With much anticipation, the opening round of the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships kicks off this weekend at Melton after an off-season break of just over three months. For a number of competitors the break has been much shorter, and their preparation time shorter still with many boats returning from their assault on the world championships in New Zealand, arriving back in Australia just a few weeks ago.

AND SO IT BEGINS..
Rnd#1 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships - Preview
5 March, 2009

With much anticipation, the opening round of the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships kicks off this weekend at Melton after an off-season break of just over three months. For a number of competitors the break has been much shorter, and their preparation time shorter still with many boats returning from their assault on the world championships in New Zealand, arriving back in Australia just a few weeks ago.

Despite the rush, the Jetsprinting world is full of expectation ahead of this season, which brings with it not just a number of new challengers, but an opportunity to finally be seen right across the country with the AFJSA’s new television deal with SBS Speedweek.

From the Melton round on, the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships will be televised (see times listed below) on the top-rated SBS Speedweek program, on FOX Sports Inside Speed and also on HD TV (Channel Nine, FOX). “This gives us a significant boost in profile,” AFJSA President Greg Harriman agreed. “It will finally give us that missing element we’ve had in recent years – bringing the people to the sport, now we can take the sport to the people without them leaving home. It’s an important step for us as a sport, and we’re not taking it lightly. I’d urge every team in the sport to look upon this as an ideal opportunity to promote themselves and their sponsors and take full advantage of the exposure the sport will generate.”

Another change to the sport for 2009 has been the format, with two day events now the norm. “It gives us a chance to get to an event and do things without rushing,” Harriman explained. “Last year we found ourselves in the difficult position of having to cut out a round or two of qualifying heats because of stoppages and the single day format. We also wanted to make the program a little more ‘user friendly’ for crowds and television, with the bulk of Sunday dedicated to two qualifiers and the finals within an afternoon as opposed to all day.”

2009 will be a turning point for what is one of the most exciting forms of motorsport on the planet, and it’s that anticipation, coupled with the announcement that Australia will host the 2009 UIM World Championships (this November) that has prompted some pretty serious entries for the national series..

“They’re coming out of the woodwork,” Greg Harriman beamed. “It’s going to be a fantastic year.

Whilst always exciting to watch, over recent years the numbers have been down in the Unlimited Superboat class, but that’s about to change in 2009..

Reigning Australian Champion Phil Dixon has returned from New Zealand full of fire after recording just fourth overall in the two round series, and is looking to find some serious improvement prior to the world titles later in the year. “The Kiwis were always going to be hard to compete against, especially on home turf,” Dixon admitted, “but I didn’t expect them to be that quick. Admittedly we [True Blue] don’t carry the same kind of horsepower that they do, but our boat setup more than makes up for any shortfall there usually, but Peter Caughey was just so fast. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, his job is Jetsprint driver. He modifies and builds his own boats [Sprintec] and drives at every opportunity, I’m just a lowly old truck driver,” (laughs). “His efforts in New Zealand did inspire me, and so too did Nathan Pretty, they’re both professional drivers and they take our sport to a whole different level.”

As reigning Australian #1 and #2, Phil and Louise Dixon will be contenders again this year, but they will face seriously tougher competition from a range of new and existing boats. Probably the most eagerly awaited debut will be that of reigning Australian Group A champion Phonsy Mullan and his new Triple X 2 Racing Superboat. The experienced racer and performance specialist built a stunning 1200bhp supercharged and injected LS7 Chev for the World Championships, but sadly suffered a major engine failure in the first round of qualifying on day one.

“We’re essentially reinventing the wheel,” Phonsy admitted. “We know we’re in for an interesting ride, and it may take six months to sort it out, but it will be a weapon when we do. In New Zealand we ended up splitting a bore.. What we’re really trying to do is find a way to push up to 1600bhp through an aluminium LS7 block that’s rated to 800bhp. We could go steel block and avoid some of the dramas, but we believe we can achieve what we’re after and keep the weight saving with the LS7. There’s a lot of new things going into this boat and most of them are untried, but don’t count us out – when we get on top of it, you’ll know about it.

“We might be a bit shy at Melton, because we’re still suffering a handling problem we can’t dial out of it, and we haven’t even had it at full throttle yet, so it will be exciting. Our main focus is to be consistent and get points, that’s the way you win a championship. As for outright wins, we’d love them too, but I don’t think we’ll be challenging for them until the world titles later in the year – then look out..!”

Throw in a revitalised Tony Giustozzi who appeared to have found his ‘mojo’ in New Zealand, team-mate Mick Carroll and the returning Daryl ‘Big Chief’ Hutton (NZ) who will ‘B’ drive alongside Melton promoter Peter Freckleton and you’ve almost got the best field in Australian Superboat history.. Almost, but for one person – the smiling assassin, Dean Finch. The 2007 champion sat out a few races last year, but when he did appear behind the wheel of Andrew Page’s Kamakazi, he was frightening. For Melton he will again join Page, however by season end, he will have his own appropriately named Loose Cannon back on the water with a new Darren Farr (Farr Faster) built powerplant, putting out somewhere in the vicinity of 1600bhp. “You can never have too much,” Finchy laughed when asked to comment about why Kamakazi’s 1400bhp wasn’t enough. “This thing is a 475ci small-block with twin turbos. Darren (Farr) has been on the leading edge of developing these things without turbo lag, so I’d expect it will be awesome.. Besides, Pagey’s things was getting a little slow, I needed a new thrill in my life…!” (laughs).

Despite Phonsy Mullan’s move to Superboats, the 400 Class too is going to be one of the best ever. 2007 Australian champion and newly crowned Group A world champion Nathan Pretty will be back as the second driver in True Blue Too alongside crowd favourite Brooke Dixon, the part-time V8 Supercar driver relishing the chance to complete a season again on home soil.

“I love Jetsprinting,” Pretty admitted, “it’s one of the greatest motorsport thrill rides in the world. The concentration, the commitment, the cornering, it’s just fantastic and I am so stoked that the Dixon’s have allowed me the opportunity to campaign their boat once more. That team is just first class, they have the complete package, from Col Parish’s engines right through to the way they set the Peter Caughey built Sprintec’s up, it’s a great operation, and I’m proud to be able to drive for them.”

Whilst Pretty all but dominated the world titles in New Zealand, his closest competition, former world champion Slade Stanley was forced to battle his long-time foe in Greg Mercier’s Az-U-Do after Stanley’s engine suffered an oil pump failure and subsequent engine detonation in New Zealand. Showing the class we’ve come to expect from the Wagga based builder, Stanley pulled a less than perfectly handling ‘Shark’ onto the world championship podium. For this season he starts equal with Pretty as championship favourite; whether he can topple the world champ will take a season to decide.

Phonsy Mullan may have a new boat and a new project, but that doesn’t mean the Group A mounted Triple X team won’t be contenders. If there’s one thing Ted Sygidus showed last year is that he’s certainly not afraid to man-handle one of these machines around the circuit on a knife’s edge, and whilst at times looking out of control, he has pulled in some outstanding results; his second place to Pretty in the second round of the world championships a good indication of that. Sadly for his opponents too, there is a second Sygidus, with Ted’s younger brother Darek stepping into the ‘B’ drive full time this year. Under Mullan’s tutelage the Sygidus boys could upset the Pretty/Stanley party at times during the season.

Typically it’s easy to make a judgement of who will be the outright contenders at the start of a new season, but there’s one element you can never discount, and that’s consistency. Greg ‘Crusty’ Mercier has been a picture of consistency over recent seasons, but whilst few would argue about the quality and speed of his equipment, he just hasn’t landed the big win he so desperately desires. In 2008 ‘Crusty’ managed to grab second in the series points despite rarely making the top three podium – should he turn consistency in victory, he could be a serious player for the title, as too could Brooke Dixon. A new boat for Pretty and Dixon for either Temora or Griffith could be a step in the right direction for the pair, and Pretty’s return to the team has always prompted more speed from Brooke. “Having someone like Nathan share the boat with you is fantastic,” Brooke admits. “The biggest part is knowing from the data and the way he drives that I can push further or deeper into a corner and the boat will stick – that alone makes a big difference.”

The final part of the Group A season equation is also likely to include Rohan Smith, Rodney Krause and Tremayne Jukes. Smith is acknowledged alongside fellow Group A returnee, Rodney Krause as one of smoothest drivers on the circuit and is usually matching the likes of Stanley and Mercier whenever he competes; should he and Krause complete the entire season, they will certainly be challenging for the podium, if not the outright win. As for Tremayne Jukes, well, what can you say. The affable Stingray Boats manufacturer was a winner first time out in Group A (Maryborough last season) and has shown his boats are good enough to win titles (as was the case with Brooke Lucas last season). Should TJ manage to finish a boat for himself and enjoy enough time away from maintaining customers boats at each round, he will be a potential podium challenger. For Melton he’s also entered in Slade Stanley’s Hazardous, so he might be challenging sooner than anyone expects.. Watch this space!

Fortunately for the fans and the 350 competitors, the 350 Class too will provide another talking point from round to round with a number of new challengers likely to emerge this season. Reigning champion Brooke Lucas may start his title defense on the back foot, with a delay in having his new Stingray hull delivered and his engine freshened in time for the new season, Brooke may start as ‘B’ driver for another team in order to record points in Melton.

Former champion Mark Garlick too will be on the lookout for another title, although both Lucas and Garlick will be watching over their shoulders as two young chargers look to make a mark this year. Most notable of the up-and-comers will be teenage sensation Jake Garlick, the ‘junior’ driver in Grumpy set the class on it’s ear last year with his speed and style, many regarding him already as a star of the future.

Joining Garlick as a possible challenger will be Conti-Racer’s Chris Bollins, the Queenslander earning his stripes last season in an ageing boat; this year though he has the very Stingray hull that took Tremayne Jukes to victory at Maryborough last season. The ‘TJ prototype’ has since received a few more tweaks and a gleaming coat of jet black paint. It looks gorgeous on the trailer and is likely to prove more than competitive on the water, forcing the old boys to be on their game..

One unknown variable in the class will be Daniel James in the Stingray team’s boat powered by a Chev L98 ‘crate’ engine. With the valve train stiffened and stronger valve springs added by GM Motorsport’s Phonsy Mullan, the almost 380ci powerplant runs ‘standard’ and puts out up to 20 bhp less than the 350 engines, but it’s not a 350..?

“This is part of a joint project between New Zealand and Australia in order to establish a lower cost entry class using basically a ‘stock’ engine that can be purchased to run 350s, then modified to become a 400 or Superboat,” Greg Harriman confirmed. “Daniel on TJ’s behalf will run the engine for us to evaluate.. It is lighter than a 350 engine, but down on power so should balance out. Daniel won’t be competing for points this year, although he will be up for a chance to finish on the podium at each round. Our sport is such that the best time to try something like this is during an event, that way it’s public and we can all see how it runs.”

Throw in fellow Queensland youngster Nathan Dickenson, the effervescent Darryl Squires and the Predator team from Melbourne with an outstanding new sponsor and livery, and you have the recipe for one hell of a season.. whatever class you follow..

We can’t wait..!

Television times for the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships.

Rnd#1 - Melton - Speedweek (March 22), FOX Sports (March 25)
Rnd#2 - Temora - Speedweek (April 5), FOX Sports (April 8)
Rnd#3 - Griffith - Speedweek (August 30), FOX Sports (September 2)
Rnd#4 - Maryborough - Speedweek (September 13), FOX Sports (September 16)
Rnd#5 - Cabarita - Speedweek (September 27), FOX Sports (September 30)

a) Speedweek – SBS, Sunday 2:00pm
b) Inside Speed – FOX Sports, Wednesday 8:30pm (plus repeats)
c) HDTV – Nine Network, FOX Sports

For updates over the race weekend, keep an eye on www.321ignitionmag.com





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