[BOATS] Colman takes Maryborough

by Sean Henshelwood



Mildura’s Robert Colman is one of the true characters of the Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships, so it was a rousing reception which greeted the popular 400 class driver as he accepted his winners trophy for outright victory at the second round of the Queensland Championships at Maryborough over the weekend.

Ten years in the making…
Rnd#2 Continental Tyres Queensland Superboat Championships
Susan River Raceway, Maryborough, QLD
June 26-27

Mildura’s Robert Colman is one of the true characters of the Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships, so it was a rousing reception which greeted the popular 400 class driver as he accepted his winners trophy for outright victory at the second round of the Queensland Championships at Maryborough over the weekend.

Since the season opener back in March, Colman has been threatening to take the top step, and after a string of podiums he finally nailed it. “It wasn’t easy,” he admitted afterwards despite topping the timesheets in all but the final five [due to reduced number, the finals were top ten, top five, top three]. “At Cabarita for the opening round of the Queensland championships I went the wrong way four or five times and it really did my head in. I was extremely nervous heading into the first run of the day, but once I had that it was all good, no dramas, although Jake got a little close in the final..”

“I thought I had him,” reigning national 350 class champion Jake Garlick shrugged. “It took a while to dial ourselves in, but we had a great setup for the finals and I thought I’d be able to keep that top spot in the final three, but Rob was just too good in the end.

“Don’t tell him that was all I had,” Colman laughed afterwards.

Another driver who returned to form at Maryborough, was Daniel Walton, who like Colman recovered strongly from the frustrations of Cabarita, the South Australian grabbing third in the final, the top three separated by less than seven tenths of a second.

Whilst Colman’s win was universally celebrated, one of the big features of the 400 class was the performance of Kieran Krause, the Wagga teenager getting to within 15 one hundredths of a second of his super experienced father, which impressively, saw both ‘Soak’n Fused’ drivers inside the top five. For Krause Snr it was a moment to savour, but notice too that he’d need to get his skates on for the forthcoming national round. For Krause Jnr it was a signal that the second half of his maiden season showed that he was past the grief of the opening rounds which saw him sidelined with engine failure and a heavy off course excursion at Griffith.

“I’m just so rapt,” Kieran beamed afterwards. “I was hoping to make the top ten, but to make the top five and get that close to Dad, was almost like a win. I can’t wait to come back here in September.”

It wasn’t just the 400 class that enjoyed a successful weekend, the venue itself, basking in brilliant sunshine, saw strong entries through the gate, and strong competition across all fields.

In the 350 class, it was great to see local driver Col Bellert back behind the wheel of ‘Evil As’ after a boat crunching end to his Griffith campaign back at Easter. It may have looked a little out of place with a raw aluminium rear end, but Col showed he’d lost little of his new found pace, running strongly towards the front of the field. Likewise Daniel deVoigt, complete with low-rider rollcage courtesy of a short back and sides during the mid-season break, was also well on the money, but both were forced to dig deep against the returning David Penfold.

Penfold had been on a serious sabbatical over recent years, but showed he’d lost none of his passion, nor his speed, by backing up his opening Queensland round win at Cabarita with a second win, a comfortable one and a half seconds clear of deVoigt and an ecstatic Darryl Squires in the final.

It was a popular result for Squires who is a seasoned Superboat veteran, his third placed result his best in recent years, and the best result by his debut navigator, Mark Garlick.

“Big Darryl was without a navi for the weekend, and I decided to have a break [from driving], so I agreed to give him a hand.” Not content with telling the big bloke where to go, Darryl also got the demon tweak from Garlo who settled the boat (and the driver) down to the point where they were strong contenders for a podium. To say the big fella was over the moon post race would be an understatement, his grin was wider than the Nullarbor..

In the Unlimited class the result was rarely in question, although whilst in a league of their own, Greg [Crusty] and Dorinda Mercier had their own private battle to wage.

“It’s great that Paul [Burgess] and Spider [Glenn Roberts] have made the trip north,” Crusty acknowledged. “And whilst they’re both competitive, we’re not looking to them as our big threats, our main aim is to try to match the times that the leaders set here last year during the national championship round, because the rotation is the same.”

In the end ‘the shark’ came very close, setting a best of 45.152 during qualifying to fall just six tenths short of Dean Finch’s best from 2009, although interestingly, half a second faster than Daryl Hutton’s second fastest time..

“At the end of the day, I’m not sure what that means,” Crusty lamented. “Every lap I do is important, because we’re really just rookies in this class. One thing I did learn though, is that ‘the shark’ was built to be a Superboat, not a Group A – it just performs brilliantly with the extra horsepower and goes exactly where I point it.”

After a break of more than 18 months it was brilliant to see big Spider [Glenn Roberts] back in the sport too, having repaired his ailing 572ci big-block. “There was some reasonably serious damage, but we’ve got it going now, although I use that term loosely, because we didn’t finish putting it all back together until Thursday night, then had to drive up here from Numurkah, and now we’re struggling to fire it.”

Sadly the ‘Blown Budget’ team suffered a litany of problems, but thanks to Steve Lewis from Maryborough’s Bob Jane T-Marts, they were able to use a workshop and solve a number of issues ranging from battery to starter motor, fuel pump and magneto. To a cheer from the amassed teams, the big Chev finally fired into life for the third round, and despite just ‘chugging’ around, Spider still managed to set a time in the mid 50s, before all but matching ‘Canberra Floorcraft’s’ pace in the final qualifier.

That would be his final run though, after failing to start the final with further electrical dramas. “We’ll be back here in September,” Glenn grinned, ecstatic to be back in the sport he loves, and hopefully we’ll be on top of all the issues. The boat’s too new and unsorted to head to such a tight track like Cabarita for its first big hitout since the rebuild, so we’ll wait until September to come back here and have a proper go.”

The next event on the Continental Tyres Superboat calendar will be the third round of the Australian Championships scheduled for Cabarita on July 10-11 (see www.v8superboat.com.au for more details).







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