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[BOATS] It’s all good for 321Ignition!
by Sean Henshelwood
It’s all good for 321Ignition!
FINAL 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
Cabarita Beach, NSW
21 September, 2009
On the face of it, 2009 has not been a kind season to Greg Harriman and the 321Ignition team, but as frustrated as many of his peers have become about his performances this season, Greg believes it was one of his most enjoyable seasons to date…
“Okay, so the added workload of being the President of the Jetsprint Association (AFJSA) has made every race weekend more demanding of my time which has probably affected my driving, but when you compare the advances in the sport plus the changes we’ve made to the boat this season to improve it, there’s nothing to be frustrated by, I’ve had a ball.”
Whilst Cabarita signaled the end of the Continental Tyres supported national championships, it also signaled a new beginning for Harriman and navigator Adam Doyle who welcomed former Group A champion Jeff Haley on board to assist them in setting up the boat for the final round in an effort to extract more pace from it.
“Jeff’s widely regarded as one of the best drivers Australia ever had,” Greg added, “but he’s been retired for a couple of years and hasn’t attended too many meetings, but I’d been speaking with him a bit over recent weeks and thought it might be interesting for him to come back to the sport and give us a little bit of valuable momentum.”
Over the course of the weekend, Haley’s knowledge and advice did in fact have a bearing on the performance of the 321Ignition machine, which saw Harriman and Doyle threatening the tail end of the top ten right throughout the weekend.
“We just missed out in the end, but it was another step forward. I found some issues with the rockers early on in the weekend, something that had been a factor over previous rounds and that gave us another jump in performance, so with every round we’re getting closer to the ten, and from the back to the front of the top ten here was a matter of tenths, so we’re getting up towards where we should be.
“Everyone has been worried about the workload that I’ve had this year as President, and whilst I’ll admit that has had a bearing of sorts, I haven’t had a problem with it.
“I’m happy with the way we’ve changed and improved the boat over the course of the season, and when I look back to where we started at Melton, we’ve probably improved the performance of the boat by three seconds, and there’s not too many people that could say that, so all up, I’m pretty happy.
With the Australian championships now over, focus now turns to the internationally sanctioned world championships this November in Australia, with round one at Temora (NSW) on November 21-22 and round two at Melton (Victoria) just one week later (November 28-29).
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.
321Ignition Racing is proudly supported by; 321Ignition Magazine, Brumby’s, Parish Automotive, ACE Truck Bodies, SKIN Industries Pickering Smash Repairs, Meridian Motorsport, Adrenaline R and Phicom Extreme Communication.
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2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
International Group A (400 Class)
Championship points (points after six rounds of six*)
1. Slade Stanley (243), 2. Rohan Smith (197), 3. Ted Sygidus (183), 4. Brooke Dixon (182), 5. Greg Mercier (181), 6. Tremayne Jukes (154), 7. Robert Colman (134), 8. Nathan Pretty (133), 9. Darek Sygidus (105), 10. Daniel Walton (78), 11. Shaun Dixon (59), 12. Mick Manini (40), 13. Rodney Krause (31), 14. Chris Bollins (27), 15. Greg Harriman/Adam Doyle (25), 16. Kevin Laugenson (20), 17. Simon Zarb (15), 18. Tony Whalan (15), 19. Darren Watkins (15), 20. Geoff Kunkel (15), 21. Shane Loughnan (10), 22. Kieren Krause (10), 23. Darryl Squires (10), 24. Brendan Donnelly (7)
* championship points are calculated from the best five point scoring rounds (of six)
www.321ignitionmag.com
www.v8superboats.com.au
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