[BOATS] Brooke does it again for True Blue

by S2MEDIA

(Archived)


True Blue Racing ventured to Cabarita Beach on the northern NSW coast full of confidence but without a number of key members of the team. Nathan Pretty was a late withdrawal, whilst crew-chief mechanic Colin Parish and assistant Peter Lack were also absent from the event. It was also a weekend to remember for the True Blue team, with the youngest member of the Dixon clan [Shaun] taking over the second seat in True Blue Too alongside sister Brooke.

pic: Shaun Dixon & James Snow debut in Group A (Sean Henshelwood photo)

Brooke Dixon turns in the drive of her life for victory at Cabarita
Rnd#4 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
Cabarita Beach, NSW
6-7 June, 2009

True Blue Racing ventured to Cabarita Beach on the northern NSW coast full of confidence but without a number of key members of the team. Nathan Pretty was a late withdrawal, whilst crew-chief mechanic Colin Parish and assistant Peter Lack were also absent from the event. It was also a weekend to remember for the True Blue team, with the youngest member of the Dixon clan [Shaun] taking over the second seat in True Blue Too alongside sister Brooke.

After a less than perfect start to his Unlimited Superboat title defence, Phil Dixon was out to make an early statement setting the pace right through qualifying, starting with a blistering opening round time of 39.532.

“The first few rounds of the year I have struggled a little bit with qualifying, so this weekend I was  on a mission to try and pull back the gap to championship leader Mick Carroll” Phil said.

In the changeable conditions too it was also important for the True Blue team to lay down some strong qualifying times on the chance that some rounds may be cancelled due to the inclement weather.

True Blue's second Unlimited pilot Louise Dixon was also under pressure with her usual navigator Casie Lack not making the trip north, her position though was quickly filled by Melbourne’s Steph Jones. The 18-year old was proving to be a positive inclusion to the team, the pairing recording very respectable times in the early rounds.

With one race win already under her belt in the Continental Tyres 2009 Superboat series, Group A favourite Brooke Dixon was out to claim another victory. As usual she looked smooth, calm and collected all weekend, and eased herself up to speed. Her best qualifying time on Saturday was right behind championship points leader Slade Stanley with a 40.436.

“I knew in the back of my mind that I had to post some fast times today [Saturday] because there was heavy rain forecast for Sunday and I didn’t want to miss out on valuable qualifying points,” she confirmed.

With mum, dad and his older sister already firmly entrenched in the AFJSA history books, it was only natural that the youngest and possibly most competitive member of the family would make the transition to Superboats, and Cabarita became the baptism of fire for Shaun Dixon. Despite such a daunting venue for his maiden event, Shaun carried the knowledge he had learnt from travelling the world with his family on the the Jetsprint circuit to great effect and kept his nose clean all weekend.

Taking advice on board from AUS#2 Unlimited Superboat pilot, mum Louise, Shaun started the weekend with the goal of learning good habits right from the start. His first lap of 51.673 was quickly beaten by his second and third qualifiers, and by the close of qualifying on Sunday, Shaun was already down to a best of 45.88 which saw him just outside the top ten; an impressive debut in anyone’s language.

The True Blue team was welcomed by a heavy rain shower on Sunday morning, just prior to the third round of qualifying. After the rain had gone the sun came out, and the final rounds of qualifying got underway.

True Blue’s Phil Dixon had already cemented his time near the top of the time sheets, but during round four of qualifying his dream run came to an end.

In the closing stages of the lap he noticed the oil pressure light start to flash and on crossing the line at the finish he heard a knock in the engine and shut it down. Further investigation of the mechanically injected 500 cubic-inch alloy small-block revealed terminal damage, the boat was immediately retired from the event.

It was a big blow to the Unlimited team, which just 24 hours prior looked to be on target for victory, but such is the nature of this demanding and sometimes taxing sport.

Despite being a boat down, Brooke was still looking extremely promising in the Group A class, and had managed to qualify herself comfortably inside the top ten with the second fastest time heading in to the eliminations; in fact Brooke was one of only two Group A drivers to break into the 39 second bracket; the other – points leader Slade Stanley.

Just missing out on a top ten on debut was True Blue Too’s second driver; Shaun narrowly missing the cut to come in with a best time of a 44.604 just behind the Cool Bananas entry of Mick Manini (which Dixon drove in the final qualifier after Phil stepped into True Blue Too to contest the final round of Unlimited Superboats).

With qualifying complete and a mix and match between drivers and boats, Phil Dixon come out in the top ten run off in the 400 cubic-inch True Blue Too; with his day pretty much done he was out to record a respectable time, but also to score valuable series points.

Brooke had shown that the boat was very near capable of winning the Superboat class, but with an almost certain victory facing his daughter, Phil left the heroics to his daughter and chose a conservative approach.

Like her husband, Louise Dixon was also forced to change mounts for the final round of qualifying and subsequent top ten shootout, and she joined AFJSA president Greg Harriman in 321 Ignition.

Like Phil, Louise chose a conservative approach in untried equipment and elected just to gain series points rather than fight for a top three position.

With both Unlimited drivers out of the final, it was down to Brooke to uphold team honour and she did so in the best possible way, recording what many see as the best drive of her career.

In the final qualifier and top ten Brooke posted high 39s, and despite brushing the bank early in her run, showed a cool head as she charged to a 40.097 to top both 2002 champion Rohan Slade and former race winner Rodney Krause after all other challengers (including Stanley with mechanical problems) failed to make the final.

Brooke was ecstatic about the win, her second of the season and third of her career.

“We had a hell of a weekend,” Phil Dixon admitted afterwards. “We were missing key members of the team, we were preparing for the introduction of Brooke’s new boat, so we had a few delays there before putting her back in the world championship winning boat, and then I suffered that mechanical drama which put me out, but to see Brooke dominate the final the way she did was just brilliant. I don’t know that anyone would have beaten her today, not even Nathan; she was that focussed and that driven that she earned this win.”

The True Blue Racing team now prepares for the second round of the 2009 Queensland  Superboat Championships scheduled for Maryborough in southern Queensland 20-21 June, 2009.

True Blue Racing are proudly supported by; Auspro Logistics, Parish Automotive, H2O Full Throttle Magazine, Lake Eildon Marina & House Boat Hire, Alexandra Freighters, Mansfield Express, Symes Transport, Action Smash Repairs (Wangaratta), MoTeC, Sprintec, North-East Windscreens, 321Ignition Magazine, SKIN Industries, Powerbond Pulleys, Yella Terra, Crow Cams, Speedflow and PPG.




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