[BOATS] Caughey/Stanley World Champs

by 321Ignition Magazine



Caughey and Stanley crowned champions at Melton
2009 UIM World Championshps
McPherson Park, Melton, Victoria
28-29 November,2009 

New Zealand’s Peter Caughey has claimed his sixth UIM World Superboat World crown today at Melton in Melbourne’s West in emphatic fashion, setting the fastest time of the weekend on his final run despite both his opponents crashing out in spectacular fashion.

The firm favourite coming into the weekend, Caughey faced a surprisingly easy task in the ‘final three’ run-off, as both Daryl Hutton and Dean Finch had failed to complete their runs. Hutton with a relatively gentle spin into the tyres and Finch,after going the wrong way, inverting then righting his awesome twin-turbo monster less than half a lap through.

Despite the bizarre circumstances, nothing could take away from the achievements of the ‘Jetsprint King’.

“People say we make it look easy, but I can tell you right now it isn’t,” beamed the Champ. “Our team works so hard to get these results, and as you know we take it very seriously. We were rapt to be able to get the fastest time on the final run, to give the fans something to cheer for. I thought we’d be able to break into the 41s, but it didn’t happen, but it’s been a great day.”

Whilst Hutton’s chances came to a sudden end when he spun up a bank in the final, making it into the top three was an impressive effort after his spectacular crash yesterday.

Showing his fearlessness, the reigning Australian champion gave it 100% right from his first run this morning.

Meanwhile, Finch’s championship assault came unstuck when he took a wrong turn in the final, before spectacularly flipping the boat whilst trying to ‘give it some gas and show the crowd what the boat was capable of’.

Earlier, the upset of the weekend occurred when True Blue Racing hero Nathan Pretty failed to progress out of the ‘top six’ session, due to his boat having developed an engine misfire.

“It’s just heartwrenching,” admitted Pretty afterwards. “We’ve worked so hard on the boat to make it faster and faster each time we’ve gone out. This team is such a professional operation, so we’ll just have to come back next year and fight again for the crown.”

Also eliminated in the ‘top six’ session were hard charger Leighton Minnell, and local hero Phonsy Mullan. The latter suffered from overheating problems in his final run, robbing him of crucial horsepower.

The Group A class produced a similar result to the Unlimited Superboats, with favourite Slade Stanley taking the title amongst surprising circumstances, with his engine failing as he crossed the line, for the second week in a row.

“I could hear the knocking start about half way round the lap,” admitted Stanley. “I thought it was over. We had to rebuild this engine at the last minute after the drama last weekend at Temora... I’m just so glad it hung together as long as it did.”

Stanley ended up beating fellow finalists Brooke Dixon and Darek Sygidus by less than two tenths of a second, leaving all three over-joyed with their performances.

Whilst Darek Sygidus was stoked to have made the final, it came at a cost; brother Ted. “When Dezi came in from his top six run, there was a drama with the chip in the rev-limiter. We had a look at it and thought we’d fixed it but I worked out pretty quickly in my run it was over,” a dejected Ted Sygidus shrugged. “Dezi was wrecked because he thought it was his fault. I just told him to go out and beat Slade; in the end he very nearly did…”

With a string of near perfect runs in the top 12 and top six eliminations, Dixon became the first woman to make it into the final of a UIM Jet Sprint World Championship event.

“I’m so happy to get this result for the team,” Brooke said proudly. “To have Nathan watching on in my final even after the bad luck he suffered with his boat shows the true strength of our team. It’s such a great sport, I’m really looking forward to having another go next year.”

With the World Championships coming at the end of the national Jetsprint season, the teams will now share stories over a special presentation dinner tonight, before beginning their preparation for the new season at Temora in March after a well deserved break. And if 2009 is any indication 2010 should be an incredible year.

2009 UIM World Jetsprint Championships
Championship points (after two rounds of two)
SBS Speedweek Unlimited Superboats

1. Peter Caughey (NZ) – 80 points
2. Daryl Hutton (NZ) – 77
3. Nathan Pretty (VIC) – 76
4. Dean Finch (NSW) – 73
5. Mick Carroll (SA) – 70
6. Leighton Minnell(NZ) – 67
7. Duncan Wilson (NZ) – 66
8. Jamie Welch (WA) – 65
9. Tony Giustozzi (SA) – 64
10. Pat Dillon (NZ) – 61
11. Andrew Page (NSW) – 60
12. Phonsy Mullan(VIC) – 57
13. Louise Dixon (VIC) – 56
14. Peter Freckleton(VIC) – 55
15. Adam Raverty (VIC) – 53
16. Jody Ely (VIC) – 52
17. Richard Burt (NZ) – 51
18. Cheryl Welch (WA) – 50
19. Paul Burgess (ACT) - 46

QTR Tyre Professionals International Group A
1. Slade Stanley (NSW) – 80 points
2. Reg Smith (NZ) – 75
2. Brooke Dixon (VIC) – 75
2. Darek Sygidus (VIC) – 75
5. Ted Sygidus (VIC) – 74
6. Shaun Dixon (VIC) – 69
7. Jake Garlick (QLD) – 68
8. Chris Farr (WA) – 64
9. Greg Mercier (VIC) – 62
9. Bevin Muir (NZ) – 62
11. Rohan Smith (VIC) – 58
11. Baden Gray (NZ) - 58
11. Andrew Guthrie (NZ) – 58
14. Daniel Walton (SA) – 55
15. Robert Colman (VIC) – 54
16. Chris Bollins (QLD) – 49
16. Mark Garlick (QLD) – 49
16. Tremayne Jukes (VIC) – 49
19. Rodney Krause (NSW) – 44
20. Damian O’Leary (SA) – 42
21. Brooke Lucas (QLD) – 39
22. Mick Manini (VIC) – 38
23. Chris Kent (WA) – 37
24. Greg Harriman (QLD) – 34
25. Kevin Laugesen (NSW) – 32
26. Phil Wheelans (NZ) – 30
27. Blair Gibbard (NZ) – 27
28. Alan Carr (WA) – 25
29. Shane Loughnan (VIC) – 24
30. Darryl Squires (QLD) – 22
30. Kieran Krause (NSW) - 22




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