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[BOATS] Improvement for Conti at Caba
by Sean Henshelwood
Closer again for Conti-Racer at Cabarita
Round Mountain Raceway, Cabarita, NSW
21 September, 2009
Heading into the final round of the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships, the Conti-Racer team of Tremayne Jukes (TJ) and Chris Bollins were looking to make a serious impression on the championship leaders in their final event before the all important world championships starting at the Temora venue on November 21.
“This will be an important event for us,” team-boss John Bollins admitted, “not just because it’s the Australian final, but also because we have a huge list of invited guests from Continental Tyres and their Australian distributor Tyres 4U on the eve of their national conference who will enjoy Sunday’s finals from a vantage point at the top of the spectator area; it should be an exciting weekend.”
From TJ’s perspective it was nice to finally put the boat on the water after effecting repairs on the bottom of the hull at the workshop of reigning 350 Class champion and fellow Stingray owner Brooke Lucas. “We spent all day Wednesday working to shape the bottom and get it back to where it should be,” he admitted. “It was actually my first real chance to look at it since we converted it across from a 350.”
Despite the changes, the Conti team admitted at the close of the opening days qualifying that whilst the performance of the boat itself was an improvement over the previous round, that they just couldn’t find a blade combination that would allow them to get the maximum power from their Moe Engines built powerplant.
“The most I can get is about 80% throttle,” a frustrated Jukes admitted on Saturday night. “I think it must be water viscosity, because we just can’t get any ‘grip’.”
After working feverishly Saturday night on a blade combination that would allow the jet unit to perform at its best, Sunday dawned with both drivers finding improvement, although TJ admitted that the fix still wasn’t right.
“It’s better, but it’s an area we still need to work on,” he shrugged.
Despite their frustrations, both drivers continued to improve their times and although at times positions three through twelve were separated by mere tenths of a second, both of them made it through to the top ten.
TJ’s first run of the morning appeared to be more about impressing the amassed crowd in the Continental corporate tent than setting a time after he rode across the bank in the first section of the circuit, bringing the entire corporate gathering to their feet. “After we made some adjustments to the boat last night it made it turn more directly and I wasn’t quite ready for it,” he grinned afterwards. “It didn’t make much difference to the lap time, but it got my attention.” By the close of the weekend, the corner had affectionately been renamed by the commentators as ‘TJs’ corner.
Whilst TJ was wowing the crowd with his antics, Chris more than made amends for missing his maiden 400 Class top ten at Maryborough by comfortably qualifying in tenth, albeit just three quarters of a second off the time set down by the third fastest qualifier, and just half a second off Jukes. From the wider than normal grin on his face, you could tell he was rapt.
In the top ten Chris found an additional six tenths of a second which on any other day would have gained him ground, but such was the pace of the leaders and the close proximity between positions three and nine, that he was unable to make an impression. It didn’t matter though, in his third race in the 400 Class against the toughest field in the world, he’d made the top ten. “That’s awesome,” he beamed afterwards. “I can’t wait for the world championships now, I reckon as a team we’re in with a great chance.”
Chris was ecstatic, but TJ was more subdued believing that he could have achieved more with extra time spent on the boat. “I have to keep reminding myself that we’re still in a development stage, so to be just mere tenths off a podium this early is pretty impressive, especially against teams that have been playing this game for years.
“We’ve gained some pretty serious data for the world championships, but I’ve also learned some pretty good lessons for the development of our next boat which we’ll start immediately after the close of the world titles, so we’ll see what transpires next season. One thing is for certain though, we’re getting closer all the time…”
With the Australian championships now over, focus now turns to the internationally sanctioned world championships in November, 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.
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 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 (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.v8superboats.com.au
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