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[BOATS] World #2 & #3 for True Blue
by Sean Henshelwood
World #2 and #3 for True Blue Racing
2009 UIM World Jetsprint Championships
Rnd#1 – Temora, NSW, November 21-22
Rnd#2 – Melton, VIC, November 28-29
Just weeks out from the 2009 UIM World Jetsprint Championships, former Australian Unlimited Superboat Champion and Temora Superboats promoter Phil Dixon made a surprise announcement. “I’m withdrawing my entry for the world titles to concentrate on promoting Temora,” the True Blue Racing team boss confirmed. “An event of this calibre requires your complete attention, so I’d be selling myself short by doing both. This is Australia’s first legitimate AFJSA run UIM sanctioned world title event, so it needs to be right.”
Whilst a surprise, the announcement was typical of the way in which the Dixon clan has conducted themselves in the sport in recent years, always leading by example. “Sure I’m disappointed not to be driving in a world championship event, but I’m serious too about putting the Temora venue on the map so it had to be one or the other.”
Just days later, Phil made his second surprise announcement. “We’ve decided that Nathan [Pretty] will replace me in the Superboat and drive alongside Louise with Ron [Dixon] as navigator, I think that combination is the best chance we have of taking the fight up to Peter Caughey [5x world champion].”
Nathan would line up as team-leader alongside Louise with Brooke heading the entry list in Group A with younger brother Shaun sharing the driving duties; a slightly different lineup to the team’s prior world championship assault, but a formidable team all the same.
From opening practice two things became apparent, one was that Nathan would force Caughey straight on to his ‘A’ game, and two, that Shaun Dixon was going to surprise more than just his team. “He’s doing a fantastic job,” True Blue crew-chief and engine builder Colin Parish admitted, “he’s very focused on what he’s doing and improving with every run, there’s absolutely no reason why he won’t make the final 12, and from there, well who knows, we know the boat’s capable of making the finals.”
Shaun typically was non-committal, but happy all the same. “I just want to ease into it, like Brooke does – there’s no sense doing anything silly early in the event, it’s just a matter of setting a time inside the 12.”
In the Unlimited class Nathan was quickly on the pace despite having had little seat time in the category in the past eight years. “Last time I ran an Unlimited boat I actually faced off against Caughey in a world championship final, but that was quite a while ago. Yes they’re different to a Group A because you’ve got more power, but the approach is very similar, smooth in, fast out, but you hit the wash a lot quicker than you do in a Group A, so there’s a few additional things you need to consider, but all up I’m very happy with the way it’s going.”
By the close of the qualifying rounds, Caughey remained on top of the Unlimited timesheets with a best of 39.700, Nathan though was less than three tenths behind, his 39.970 in the penultimate round of qualifying about all he felt he had. “I might be able to shave a tenth or two, but really, that’s about it. You have to remember that Caughey has an extra 40 cubic-inches over what we have [540ci to 500ci], and he does this for a living. He may not have been entered into a competition for eight or nine months, but his career is Superboats, so his job is to find extra tenths of a second for his customers. That said, to be this close after the way he dominated last year, is pretty good. It’s not over yet…”
Whilst Nathan was holding down P2, further back in the pack, Louise Dixon was battling a workload that included more than just driving. She wouldn’t admit it, but the toll of assisting Phil with the promotion of the Temora venue was affecting her pace which was much better than her times were suggesting, her consistent mid 45s keeping her outside the top 12 elimination final.
In Group A Brooke and Shaun worked their way through to the final round of qualifying swapping fastest times before Brooke finally nailed a good time in the fifth qualifier to take P3 with a 44.192. The big surprise though was P4; S. Dixon – 44.218, the siblings holding out Kiwi veteran Reg Smith.
Brooke was out early in the top 12 elimination round and improved again to 44.178. Shaun sadly slipped up during his run and admitted to a touch of nerves, his 44.708 dropping him to eighth and outside the final six. “I’m pretty happy with that, but I know if I’d done what Brooke had, I’d be inside the six. I’ll learn from that though and try to go better again at Melton.”
In the final six Brooke pulled her now customary lightning improvement to drop her best lap by seven tenths of a second, it was good, but sadly dropped her to fourth place; she missed the cut by just 13 one hundredths of a second.
“I’m pretty happy with that,” she grinned afterwards. “Perhaps if I’d settled into a rhythm earlier in the weekend I could have gone better again, but we were basically flat the whole way around, so it would have just come down to finding a few extra millimetres here and there, but that’s a great start.”
Heading into the finals of the Unlimited class the battle continued to rage between Caughey and Pretty, the two title contenders facing off in the final after reigning Australian champion Daryl Hutton failed to post a time. This was it.
Heading into the final run Nathan had improved again to a 39.902, Caughey maintaining his pace at a 39.621. Nathan was out first and his time of 39.888 meant that Caughey needed to be pinpoint accurate; he was, and after turning five runs over two days within 15 one hundredths, the five time world champion found an incredible seven tenths of a second to take the win [38.950] and the championship points lead. “That was awesome,” Nathan smiled afterwards. “We just didn’t have that little bit of extra power that Peter had at his disposal and I think that in the end was the biggest difference. It’s not over though, we’ve got Melton to go and anything can happen…”
At Melton one week later the action started again right where it left off in Temora, although this time, without the burden of promotion on her mind, Louise Dixon was quickly into the top 12 with Nathan, and Brooke and Shaun were hot on the heels of Stanley and local heroes Ted and Darek Sygidus.
It wasn’t all beer and skittles though, and there were some long faces in the True Blue camp on Sunday morning as the team struggled with an electrical issue on the Superboat. “We’re having trouble sparking the starter motor into life,” Col Parish confirmed. “Worse case we’ll just change it and the battery, and we should be right.”
Sure enough the solution was just that, and ‘True Blue’ quickly barked back to life.
At the close of qualifying Caughey was sitting on top with a best lap of 42.588, but it was Dean Finch who held down P2, the former national champion winding his twin-turbo Chev up to be just half a second behind (43.183). Nathan held on to third (43.290) with Hutton fourth. Most importantly for the True Blue team though was the fact that they had Louise back into the top ten, her 47.740 in the final round guaranteeing her entry into the finals.
Nathan was out early in the top 12, posting his best time of the weekend (43.084) to maintain third behind Caughey (42.475) and Finch (42.882). Louise too improved on her best, but admitted afterwards that the boat felt like it was going off in the final third of the lap. “It just didn’t feel right,” she explained to Col Parish at the completion of the run.
A quick diagnostic check revealed that there was a spark issue with the spark box off the magneto which was causing the engine to misfire. With Nathan through to the final six though there wasn’t time to effect repairs, and the result of the problem saw the popular Supercar part-timer drop to fourth and out of the final.
“That was disappointing,” he admitted afterwards. “It would have been just reward for the efforts of the team to take out second in the championship. At the end of the day we wouldn’t have beaten Caughey, but I felt we were consistent and quick enough to take second. We’ll take third though, that’s a good result, but I’d like to thank Phil, Louise and Col for putting their faith and trust in me and allow me to jump into Phil’s seat, it was a real honour. These things are seriously fun to drive and I love this sport, so to have the chance to run in such good equipment against the best drivers in the world is brilliant.”
Celebrations weren’t just confined to the Unlimited pits though, with both Brooke and Shaun working their way through the qualifiers to both make the finals. Slade Stanley again set the pace, although by the final qualifying round it was local star Ted Sygidus who held the top time (46.122) with Brooke third (47.071) and Shaun tenth (48.326). By this stage Nathan Pretty’s Group A world championship winning navigator and fellow driving instructor Lincoln Burns had arrived and was ‘coaching’ the younger Dixons through the pressure of finals competition.
It clearly worked on Shaun who completed the top 12 with the sixth fastest time having taken an incredible eight tenths of a second off his best. “I was so nervous beforehand, I just had to shield me eyes and focus on what Lincoln was telling me and concentrate on my lines. Now it’s down to the top six.”
As Shaun had done, Brooke improved again to move well inside the top six, retaining third by half a second as the battle between Stanley and Ted Sygidus raged at the front of the field.
Heading into the top six Shaun dropped almost half a second, but grabbed fifth outright, not a bad result in a world championship considering it was just your sixth start ever in a Superboat. “If I’d kept my rhythm from the top 12 I’d have finished fourth,” he frowned, the talented young footballers competitive nature coming to the fore.
As for Brooke she dug deep and found a full half second (46.476) to work her was comfortably into the final setting the second fastest time to displace a struggling Ted Sygidus.
In the final she dropped just a tenth of a second to record a 46.619, just a tenth shy of Darek Sygidus (46.513), both drivers holding their breath as Stanley started his charge; 46.445, leaving Brooke just 15 one hundredths shy of victory.
“That’s amazing, I would never have thought coming into the worlds that it would finish with me in second place. I’m so happy. Shaun did an amazing job too, and for him to finish sixth in the world shows just how good a job the team has done.”
What was more amazing for the Dixon team was that on final scrutineering of the title placegetters it was revealed that ‘True Blue Too’ had actually broken a valve spring on the number seven exhaust valve. “Looking at it, it happened somewhere between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, and yet both Brooke and Shaun went faster with every run to the finals,” Col Parish grinned. “It’s a tough little motor that one…”
With the Australian season now over, focus now turns to some much needed R&R after a hectic end to the year, the opening round of the 2010 season not scheduled until March 20-21 back at Temora
You can catch all the action from the 2009 UIM World Jetsprint 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 events.
True Blue Racing are proudly supported by; Auspro Logistics, Temora Superboats, Parish Automotive, H2O Full Throttle, MoTeC, Sprintec, Lake Eildon Marina & House Boat Hire, Alexandra Freighters, Mansfield Express, Symes Transport, Action Smash Repairs (Wangaratta), North-East Windscreens, 321Ignition Magazine, Powerbond Pulleys, Speedflow, SKIN Industries and One By One Clothing.
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2009 UIM World Jetsprint Championships
Unlimited Superboat
Championship points (points after two rounds of two)
1. Peter Caughey (80), 2. Daryl Hutton (77), 3. Nathan Pretty/Ron Dixon (76), 4. Dean Finch (73), 5. Mick Carroll (70), 6. Leighton Minnell (67), 7. Duncan Wilson (66), 8. Jamie Welch (65), 9. Tony Giustozzi (64), 10. Pat Dillon (61), 11. Andrew Page (60), 12. Phonsy Mullan (57), 13. Louise Dixon/Casie Lack (56), 14. Peter Freckleton (55), 15. Adam Raverty (53), 16. Jody Ely (52), 17. Richard Burt (51), 18. Cheryl Welch (50), 19. Paul Burgess (46)
International Group A (400 Class)
Championship points (points after two rounds of two)
1. Slade Stanley (80), 2. Brooke Dixon/Leanne Rake (75), 2. Darek Sygidus (75), 2. Reg Smith (75), 5. Ted Sygidus (74), 6. Shaun Dixon/James Snow (69), 7. Jake Garlick (68), 8. Chris Farr (64), 9. Greg Mercier (62), 9. Bevin Muir (62), 11. Rohan Smith (58), 11. Baden Gray (58), 11. Andrew Guthrie (58), 14. Daniel Walton (55), 15. Robert Colman (54), 16. Chris Bollins (49), 16. Mark Garlick (49), 16. Tremayne Jukes (49), 19. Rodney Krause (44), 20. Damian O’Leary (42), 21. Brooke Lucas (39), 22. Mick Manini (38), 23. Chris Kent (37), 24. Greg Harriman (34), 25. Kevin Laugesen (32), 26. Phil Wheelans (30), 27. Blair Gibbard (27), 28. Alan Carr (25), 29. Shane Loughnan (24), 30. Darryl Squires (22), 30. Kieran Krause (22)
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