[BOATS] Victory for Triple X at Maryborough

by Sean Henshelwood

(Archived)


With just two weeks between the opening two rounds of the Queensland Superboat Championships and a persistent driveshaft failure to rectify, the Triple X team had their work cut out for them if they were going to be ready for the Maryborough round..

Victory at last for Triple X at Maryborough
Rnd#2 2009 Continental Tyres Queensland Superboat Championships
Maryborough, QLD

20-21 June, 2009

With just two weeks between the opening two rounds of the Queensland Superboat Championships and a persistent driveshaft failure to rectify, the Triple X team had their work cut out for them if they were going to be ready for the Maryborough round..

As it was, team-leader Phonsy Mullan had already made a prior family commitment and had decided to withdraw from the Maryborough event, leaving the team’s Group A pairing, Ted and Darek Sygidus to go it alone..

“We were actually looking forward to it,” Ted admitted. “We don’t usually go away without Phonsy, so this is a chance for the brothers to run amuck..!”

Despite the quick turnaround, the Group A team repaired and modified the drive of their GM Motorsport inspired boat and arrived at Maryborough full of enthusiasm..

“Let’s go,” Ted grinned prior to opening practice, “I’m, ready..”

Ready he might have been, but by the close of Saturday’s opening two rounds of qualifying, Ted had recorded just one run, the second ending on the bank..

“We tried something with the blades [in the jet unit] that didn’t work, and the result was that Ted missed a corner..” Darek admitted.

“At the end of the day, this is only a Queensland points round, it’s not an Australian points round, but it is also the next round for Australian points, so we’re learning. It’s nice to just forget about the competition for a while and learn some more about the boat.. which is what we just did,” Ted grinned.

Whilst Saturday was about learning, Sunday was about speed, both drivers comfortably inside the top six.. In fact, Ted was so comfortable that he was a quarter of a second clear of 2002 champion Rohan Smith as the top qualifier.

Heading into the top ten, Ted pulled out his fastest lap of the weekend to easily qualify for the final, his 37.231 second lap comfortably eight tenths clear of the pack.

Dezi meanwhile was holding his own and he put down his fastest lap of the weekend, and just missed the final three.

“Look, I’m happy with that because it was an improvement, and the gap between me and Ted is getting shorter all the time, but I have to be realistic, I’m the ‘B’ driver, my job is to back Ted up, not cost him a result because the boat gets wrecked as I look to find that extra time. Don’t get me wrong, I think I can do that, but not at any risk to Ted’s result.. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing..”

Alongside old foes Greg Mercier and Brooke Dixon in the final, Ted’s 37.470 lap was good enough for his first career win, and the taste of champagne couldn’t have been sweeter..

“To come here on our own and win the race, albeit without Slade [Stanley] and Nathan [Pretty] here was a great result for all of us. I’d like to thank Phonsy for all the effort he’s put in, our fantastic team and our long-suffering sponsors who have been getting just as much fun out of this as we have.. Here it is, win #1..

“Roll on September..!”

The Continental Tyres Superboat Championships is having a slight sabbatical prior to the penultimate round of the season back at Maryborough on September 5-6, then the final round of the championship back at Cabarita two weeks later (September 19-20).

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). Also visit www.speedweek.com.au for clips of previous events.

Triple X Racing are proudly supported by; GM Race Engines, GM Motorsport, SGA Engineering, Ripshift, D.G. Parsons Transport, Gill Engineering, Sign Perfection, Showcase Constructions, Leggett Crane Hire, Tom Matthews Accounting and Big Benna Events.

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

2009 Continental Tyres Queensland Superboat Championships
International Group A (drivers points after Rnd#2 of 4)
1. Rohan Smith/Owen Dyball (87), 2. Ted Sygidus/Kelsie Gill (82), 3. Brooke Dixon/Leanne Rake (81), 4. Greg Mercier/Dorinda Mercier (69), 5. Robert Colman/Shane Stewart (66), 6. Darek Sygidus/David Gill (53), 7. Tremayne Jukes/Ruth Webster (50), 8. Slade Stanley/Vanessa Wright (42), 9. Greg Harriman/Adam Doyle (29), 10. Rodney Krause/Kristy Hamilton (25), 11. Shaun Dixon/James Snow (23), 12. Kevin Laugesen/Tiffany Parratt (22), 13. Daniel Walton/ Brad Nicolson (21), 14. Darren Watkins/Brad Saibura (13), 15. Chris Bollins/Aaron Morrisby (11), 16. Mick Manini/Athena Dickson (6), 17. Kieran Krause (5), 18. Geoff Kunkel (5)

www.gmmotorsport.com

www.triplexxxracing.com

www.sgaengineering.com.au





LATEST IMAGES

Click on image to view gallery..