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[BOATS] Second for Triple X at Melton
by Sean Henshelwood
(Archived)
pic: Sean Henshelwood 321 Ignition
Strong start for Triple X at home
Rnd#1 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
McPherson Park, Melton, Victoria
8 March, 2009
The Triple X Racing team were full of hope for a strong result at their home venue during the opening round of the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships at Melton, and they weren’t disappointed, all three drivers finished inside the top ten, with Group A lead driver Ted Sygidus claiming second outright.
It had been a frustrating start to the year for Triple X who debuted their all new Triple X Racing 2 Superboat at New Zealand for the World Championships for newly crowned Australian Group A champion Phonsy Mullan.
For Mullan’s GM Motorsport team, the world title debut for the 1200 horsepower supercharged and electronic-injected Superboat was the culmination of some serious work through the second half of 2008. Sadly though the project appeared jinxed even before it began after it caught fire at GM Motorsport on the very day it was due to be loaded into the container for NZ. Then, after arriving in New Zealand later than originally planned forcing the team to miss the Wanganui shakedown, the new boat suffered a major engine failure in it’s very first lap of competition.
“We did some pretty serious testing on the lake near the Mememere venue the day before the opening round and got some very useful data, but half way around the first lap of practice the engine let go in a big way,” Phonsy admitted. “Essentially what we’re trying to do is pump 1200hp through an LS7 Chev alloy block that’s rated to 800hp.. At Meremere we had a leak in the block which allowed the jet unit to pump one cylinder full of water under some pretty serious pressure and it blew two sides out of the engine.. It was a good one (laughs).
“Really we’re pioneers in what we’re trying to do with this setup so I expected we’d suffer a few problems. Unfortunately we also got caught with the boat coming back to Australia, they all arrived back very late so we didn’t have too much time to get onto that engine, so we started work on a second unit and that seems to be better, we’ll so how we go.. Unfortunately we’ve also got a mean handling problem where the boat wants to submerge itself at anything over 110 m/h and with Melton being a pace track, that could be an issue.. With all focus on the engine we haven’t had time to work on the boat.. Don’t expect too much from us early in the year because there’s a lot of development and heartache to go through, but by the time the worlds [world championships] come.. look out..!”
Whilst Mullan was sceptical about his chances at Melton, the Triple X Group A team of brothers Ted and Darek Sygidus were primed and ready to go.. “We’ll be all right,” Ted grinned, “especially here at Melton, our home track.. Dezi (Darek) has only done limited laps, but he’ll be quick, and I reckon I can take it to Nathan [Pretty] and Slade [Stanley].”
By the close of qualifying, Ted’s pre-race prediction was pretty good, but Phonsy’s was way off.. “We made the top three,” he laughed. “Wait till we get the thing sorted..!”
Despite a cautious start and a boat that required some serious aggression, Phonsy had dialled Triple X 2 into a pretty good rhythm by the final qualifier to record a very competitive 44.143 to be classified third behind Excalibur duo Tony Giustozzi (43.538) and Mick Carroll (44.002).
In Group A things were looking good too with Ted narrowly missing the top three, former champion Rohan Smith topping him by just over a tenth of a second. “We’ll be right in the finals, we’ve got Phonsy’s gun jet [carburettor] setup from last year, so we’ll come out with all guns blazing..”
Further back Darek was raising more than a few eyebrows with his pace, his best of 47.640 putting him into the top eight and a chance to gain some more serious miles.
“That’s pretty good huh,” he beamed. “Especially since I’ve only had 14 minutes in the boat prior to this.. I couldn’t be part of a better team though, the things we’ve learnt from Phonsy and how good the boat is makes it a dream to drive. I’ve got a bit to learn, but I’m pretty confident I can be there mixing it with Ted by the end of the year.”
Darek was one of the first boats out in the top ten and he put down his best time of the day to claim seventh overall. “I’m pretty happy with that,” he beamed, “that’s a good start, now all I need to do is improve on that each round and we’ll be where we want to be by season end.”
By the time Ted hit the water both Pretty and Stanley had recorded times in the 44s forcing Ted to put in a strong run to make the podium. “I knew we could do it, so just kept the boot in. It wasn’t as quick as I’d have liked, so we’ll make a few changes for the top three, but how good’s this for a start..”
Ted was first out in the top three and you could see from the body language that he was going all out. At the end the time was a 45.455, his best of the weekend and just six tenths off team-boss Phonsy Mullan’s time from six months prior..
Nathan Pretty was next out and it was clear he was going for broke, but on the final corner he clipped the bank and crossed the line out of the water, negating his high 44 lap time. That left Ted in the lead with just Slade Stanley to go.
To beat Ted’s time Stanley needed to go out hard and he did, crossing the line with a 44.893 to take the winner’s trophy. For Ted though second was a strong result and a sure sign of his maturity in the boat.. “Told you,” he smiled afterwards, “I knew we could do it. It’s just reward for the team who put in a huge effort to have two competitive boats on the water.
“We’re only four points off the lead in the championships so we’re not letting up. We’ll go and do some more homework before Temora and see if we can’t turn that points deficit into a points lead.. Can’t wait..!”
Whilst the Group A team were celebrating Phonsy was doing his best to improve the Superboat to make it into the final three. In the end though he just missed the cut as one of the best Superboat fields in Australian history pushed the lead pack well into the 43s. Sadly for Phonsy he missed the cut by half a second, narrowly defeating reigning Australian champion Phil Dixon.
“That’s not a bad start, all things considered,” Phonsy admitted. “We worked pretty hard yesterday on getting the boat right and in fact were forced to back off at one stage because the MoTeC was telling us we were running so lean that we should have detonated the engine. We did an old fashioned visual inspection and discovered the plugs were black, so the engine was rich enough, it turned out the wiring loom was playing up and giving mixed signals to the computer. We’ll replace the loom before Temora and also have a good look at the engine, but it was nice to complete an entire event and be as quick as we were because we’ve got a whole lot more to come yet.. This is just the beginning!!”
Round one of the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships will be televised on SBS Speedweek on March 22 (2:00pm EST - check guides) and repeated on FOX Sports 'Inside Speed' on March 25 (8:30pm EST - check local guides for confirmation).
The Triple X Racing team now prepares for the second round of the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships scheduled for Temora in central-western on March 27-28.
Triple X Racing are proudly supported by; GM Race Engines, GM Motorsport, SGA Engineering, Ripshift, Gill Engineering, Sign Perfection, Showcase Constructions, Leggett Crane Hire, Tom Matthews Accounting, Big Benna Events and DJ Parsons Transport.
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2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
Unlimited Superboats (points after Rnd#1 of 5)
1. Mick Carroll (42), 2. Dean Finch (41), 3. Tony Giustozzi (40), 4. Daryl Hutton (35), 5. Phil Dixon (33), 6. Jamie Welch (32), 7. Phonsy Mullan/Byron Bassett (29), 8. Peter Freckleton (22), 9. Cheryl Welch (21), 10. Louise Dixon (20), 11. Paul Burgess (8), 12. Glenn Roberts (7), 13. Andrew Page (5), 13. Jody Ely (5), 13. Adam Raverty (5)
International Group A (points after Rnd#1 of 5)
1. Nathan Pretty (47), 2. Slade Stanley (46), 3. Ted Sygidus/Kelsie Gill (43), 4. Rohan Smith (37), 5. Tremayne Jukes (36), 6. Brooke Dixon (26), 7. Robert Colman (25), 8. Darek Sygidus/David Gill (19), 9. Simon Zarb (18), 10. Greg Mercier (15), 11. Brendan Donnelly (10), 12. Greg Harriman (7), 13. Mick Manini (6), 14. Shane Loughnan (5), 14. Kevin Laugesen (5), 14. Darren Watkins (5), 14. Tony Whalan (5)
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