[BOATS] Testing times for Conti

by Sean Henshelwood

(Archived)


When Conti-Racer last hit the water for the state series round at Maryborough in June, boat builder and lead driver Tremayne Jukes admitted it was the best boat he’d driven. Sadly for the Victorian-based Stingray Boats manufacturer a mechanical issue sidelined the team early before they had the chance to realise its full potential.

Testing times for Conti at Maryborough
Susan River Homestead, Maryborough
7 September, 2009

When Conti-Racer last hit the water for the state series round at Maryborough in June, boat builder and lead driver Tremayne Jukes admitted it was the best boat he’d driven. Sadly for the Victorian-based Stingray Boats manufacturer a mechanical issue sidelined the team early before they had the chance to realise its full potential.

“That was frustrating,” TJ admitted prior to the penultimate round of the Continental Tyres supported national championship round at the same venue. “I was 100% focussed and probably driving better than I ever have. The boat was incredible, I know I built it so it sounds like I’m self-promoting, but we’d discovered a few tweaks which just transformed it into the most responsive and accurate boat I’d ever driven. To stop early in the weekend with a drama was devastating because I felt we had a chance to really prove what we were capable of.”

Despite being a relatively minor issue, the boat returned to Melbourne to be fixed before TJ threw in a few more ‘tweaks’ prior to the penultimate round of the national championship.

“I can’t wait,” he admitted prior to opening practice, “I think we’ll really surprise a few people..”

It was obvious from the first corner that TJ was looking to find the form he’d discovered three months prior, and whilst fast through the first part of the lap, he just nipped the bank at the top of the circuit, throwing Conti out of the water and up the bank.

Initially everything looked okay, however a small exhaust fire started which threw the safety crew into action; TJ assuring them it was nothing to worry about, although it did persist for almost a minute. His bigger worry though was the quite significant dent in right front of the gorgeous black bodywork of Conti-Racer. “Fortunately it looks worse than it is,” TJ admitted with frustration written all over his face. “All we can do is make sure we fix anything that will effect the performance of the boat and get it back out there as quickly as we can.”

As TJ had predicted the bulk of the damage was emotional, Chris Bollins and brother-in-law Aaron Morrisby jumping straight in for their opening qualifier which they completed unhindered.

At the close of the day TJ had jumped into sixth place, just a second off the leaders pace, although he was clearly disappointed by his lack of speed.

“The contact with the bank is really only superficial,” he admitted with a frown, “I think the problem is something else that we may not be able to fix this weekend, but we’ll battle on.

“As I said from the start of this project, we’re treading new ground with these boats, and whilst I can see where I need to go and how we can make things better, until you put something on the water, you’re still only guessing; the proof’s in the result, but we’ll get there, I can assure you of that!”

Despite his assessment, TJ and Chris battled on, TJ turning in an aggressive run in the final qualifier to comfortably make the ten, although despite being less than two seconds slower than his experienced team-mate, Chris missed the top ten by a mere 18 one thousands of a second.

“Missed by that much,” he grinned afterwards, “we’ll get ‘em next time!”

Although he qualified fifth, TJ fell back to sixth in the top ten, missing one apex at this level of competition all it takes to drop a position.

“That’s okay, I know what we need to do now, so I’ll try and make some time in the next week or so before the pending series final in two weeks to make some modifications to the bottom of the boat, then come back and have another go at Cabarita. It ain’t over yet!”

The Conti team returns home for just over a week to prepare for the final round of the Continental Tyres supported national series at Cabarita Beach on September 19-20 in front of over 100 invited guests of team sponsors QTR, Tyres 4U and Continental Tyres.

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.

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

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2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
International Group A (400 Class)
Championship points (points after five rounds of six*)
1. Slade Stanley (235), 2. Rohan Smith (197), 3. Ted Sygidus (182), 4. Brooke Dixon (175), 5. Greg Mercier (154), 6. Nathan Pretty (133), 7. Tremayne Jukes (151), 8. Robert Colman (130), 9. Darek Sygidus (96), 10. Daniel Walton (72), 11. Mick Manini (38), 12. Rodney Krause (31), 13. Shaun Dixon (26), 14. Greg Harriman (25), 15. Simon Zarb (15), 16. Tony Whalan (15), 17. Darren Watkins (15), 18. Kevin Laugesen (15), 19. Chris Bollins (13), 20. Shane Loughnan (10), 21. Kieran Krause (10), 22. Geoff Kunkel (10), 23. Brendan Donnelly (7), 24. Darryl Squires (5)

* championship points are calculated from the best five point scoring rounds (of six)

www.v8superboats.com.au





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