[BOATS] Strong 400 debut for Conti-Racer

by Sean Henshelwood

(Archived)


It had been almost two months between rounds of the Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships, and whilst two months is a long break for anyone, it was an especially tough time for Conti-Racer’s Chris Bollins who was waiting nervously like an expectant father heading into his ‘local’ round..

Strong 400 Class debut for Conti-racer
Rnd#4 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
Round Mountain Road, Cabarita Beach, NSW
6-7 June, 2009

It had been almost two months between rounds of the Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships, and whilst two months is a long break for anyone, it was an especially tough time for Conti-Racer’s Chris Bollins who was waiting nervously like an expectant father heading into his ‘local’ round..

“Griffith was amazing, especially after taking second in 350s,” Chris admitted, “but, the break between rounds has given me enough time to be nervous about my debut into the 400s, especially with Stingray Boats team boss [Tremayne ‘TJ’ Jukes] alongside me as my new team-mate.. I’m both excited and nervous about our new project..”

Immediately after their great Griffith result, Conti-Racer was whisked back to Melbourne to Stingray Boats to begin its transformation into a Group A boat, with TJ admitting to a number of modifications..

‘I’m always trying something,” he grinned, “but predominantly the work has been on fitting my new Moe Engines 400 class powerplant. It’s been a pretty easy modification, just timely. John [team-boss John Bollins] has also asked us to add a data system, so we’ve included an AiM Sportsystems logger which will be a useful tool to help me analyse what the boats doing, and give Chris and I a chance to overlay data.”

Despite Cabarita’s reputation as a boat breaker, Jukes was immediately on the pace in the new boat, posting top five times by the close of qualifying which easily put him into the top ten final.

Chris meanwhile was taking a conservative approach but running times within reach of the tail of the top ten, but he was also under instruction..

“Chris has been given a program by TJ, and he’s sticking to it,” John Bollins confirmed. “He’s comfortable, but not pushing it having 100 plus extra horsepower under his right foot.. With all the rushing around with the two teams and tweaking the new boat, he’s unfortunately made a couple of minor mistakes, having missed one navigation point on one run, and also forgetting to change his transponder in another, which scrubbed what would have been easily his best time..

“It’s one of those things. We’ve been a single driver operation pretty much till now, so we’ve got to get used to being a team now, but I can see advantages already, not the least being that I can go and sit on the hill with our sponsors and watch comfortably for a change..!”

Despite missing the top ten, Chris was stoked with the debut of the ‘new’ boat. “I love this, it’s great,” he beamed. “That extra horsepower makes it nice to drive and helps get you out of, and possibly into, sticky situations.. TJ has done a great job, and he’s been brilliant to work with, I look forward to the next event and getting up to speed so that we can have a good crack at the world championships.”

Despite improving with every run, TJ fell just short of making the top three on debut, running a best of 41.344 in the top ten shootout to claim the fifth fastest time. Sadly for the talented Victorian, he was just a tenth of a second shy of a berth in the final.

“That’s frustrating, especially when my final qualifying time would have put me second, but that’s racing. The new boat is nice, but it’s not nice enough, it was a little bit taily and a touch unpredictable at times so I asked Chris to take it easy.

“What inspires me though is how much potential the package has. Every tweak I made found us time and along with the data, which to date we haven’t had, we’ll be able to gain valuable information to improve not just the boats performance, but ours as well.

“I’ve got a few ideas after this weekend which I’ll try in two weeks time at Maryborough, then we’ll bring it home [Melbourne] and have a play again before the Victorian round at Melton in late August.. All in all though, I think we’re going to surprise a few people..”

The Continental Tyres Superboat Championships now enjoy a slight sabbatical prior to the penultimate round of the season at Maryborough on September 5-6, then the final round of the championship back at Cabarita two weeks later (September 19-20). The Conti-Racer team now goes back to state level competition with the second round of the Queensland Championships scheduled for Maryborough in two weeks time (June 20-21).

You can catch all the action from the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships on SBS Speedweek and FOX Sports 'Inside Speed' (check local guides and keep an eye on www.v8superboats.com.au for dates and times).

Conti-Racer is proudly supported by; Continental Tyres, QTR Tyre Professionals, Tyres 4U, Stingray Boats, Loose Kid Industries, ANZ Wheels, Bandag and Moe Engines.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
International Group A (drivers points after Rnd#4 of 6)
1. Slade Stanley/Vanessa Wright (182), 2. Rohan Smith/Owen Dyball (157), 3. Ted Sygidus/Kelsie Gill (141), 4. Brooke Dixon/Leanne Rake (139), 5. Nathan Pretty/Lincoln Burns (135), 6. Tremayne Jukes/Ruth Webster (123), 7. Robert Colman/Shane Stewart (108), 8. Greg Mercier/Dorinda Mercier (107), 9. Darek Sygidus/David Gill (70), 10. Daniel Walton/ Brad Nicolson (58), 11. Mick Manini/Athena Dickson (34), 12. Rodney Krause/Kristy Hamilton (31), 13. Greg Harriman/Adam Doyle (22), 14. Simon Zarb/Peter Keep (18), 15. Tony Whalan/Adrian Kemp (15), 15. Darren Watkins/Brad Saibura (15), 17. Brendan Donnelly/Tyson Allen (10), 17. Shane Loughnan/Joe Manganaro (10), 17. Damien O’Leary/Carly Nappa (10), 17. Kevin Laugesen/Tiffany Parratt (10), 17. Kieran Krause (10), 22. Shaun Dixon (5), 22. Chris Bollins/Aaron Morrisby (5), 22. Geoff Kunkel (5)

For further information or images on the Conti-Racer Team, please contact Sean Henshelwood on 0419 143 267 or email: 321ignition@austarnet.com.au

www.v8superboats.com.au






LATEST IMAGES

Click on image to view gallery..