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[V8SB] Three down, three to go..
by Sean Henshelwood
Three down, three to go..
Review: 2011 Tyreright Australian Superboat Championships
16 August, 2011
We might be into the eighth month of the season, but we’re only at the half-way mark of the 2011 Tyreright Australian Superboat Championships and we’re about to come out of a lengthy mid-season break to tackle round four at Cabarita later this month (August 27-28).
It will be back-to-back rounds for the [normally] popular Tweed Coast circuit, although last time around it contributed to some stunning results and some sensational accidents, with the tight and twisty layout catching the bulk of the teams by surprise..
That was last time out though, as the season had kicked off in April with a double-header at Hi-Tec Oils Park Temora, with two rounds in two days on a circuit which changed hands immediately prior to the season opener, the AFJSA voting to take the circuit on as promoters to ensure a guaranteed future for the popular central-western NSW facility.
“We didn’t really want to become promoters,” AFJSA President Greg Harriman admitted, “but a number of our existing promoters were struggling to make the figures add up and keep providing the kind of facilities we need to compete at a national level, so we thought we’d give it a go and see what it takes first hand.”
With new series sponsor Tyreright on board, and an impressive field entered for the opening round of the season, the championship kicked off at Easter, with the first two rounds back-to-back.
UNLIMITED SUPERBOAT
From the outset the Unlimited Superboat class has been a battle of champions, past and present, with reigning dual-national champion Daryl Hutton (2009/2010), Phil Dixon (2008) and Dean Finch (2007) all in the thick of the action.
Hutton is intent on ‘three-peating’ to add the 2011 title to his title victories over the last two seasons, and at the mid-point of the year, is comfortably on top of the points, ahead of surprise Cabarita round winner, Phil Dixon.
“I surprised even myself,” the two-time Unlimited class champion admitted after a return to the wheel having spent 12-months running the Temora facility. “At Caba I could see that if I pushed too hard early, I’d play my hand, so I took it easy, got the rotation right in my head, and went for it in the finals - it was a satisfying result.”
Sadly for Dixon, he discovered a cracked head post-race which is being repaired ahead of the August 27-28 Cabarita national round.
Despite that he sits second to Hutton in the points, with the man that dominated the opening round of the season, and took top points in round two - Dean Finch - lurking in third.
One of the big surprises of the season has been Phonsy Mullan, who after persisting with a pro-charged (driveshaft mounted supercharger) LSX Chev over the last two seasons, has switched to twin-turbo power and been quick at various stages, but has had continuing misfortune. The new unit had injector issues as round one, forcing his retirement, but a run in Phil Dixon’s ‘Auspro Logistics’ machine saw him knock Dixon out of the final, giving Mullan third behind Finch and Hutton.
At Cabarita, the run of ill-fortune continued, the ‘RAM-JET’ machine struggling to complete a run on the trying 50+ second rotation.
“We’ve been having dramas with fuel-tank size and pickup, and that cost us a heap of time at Cabarita, because we couldn’t complete a lap,” he admitted with frustration. “It’s not what we were hoping for this early in the series, although we know the boat is good after taking the AFJSA Cup win earlier in the year, so it’s just a matter of time before we nail the setup.”
After maximising his points haul early, Dean Finch struggled at Cabarita with the tight twisty layout not suiting the awesome twin-turbo horsepower, but it was an error of judgement in the end that cost him a strong points haul, and not the nature of the circuit.
“Unfortunately during one of the final qualifiers Demi [navigator and daughter] hurt her neck when we hit the spinout pool - we were doing about 115kmh as we came in and she hurt herself. We took it easy for the next session, but it was too much, so I swapped navis with Tyler [Finch]. I told the ramp marshall, but in all the running around and prepping for my run after Tyler’s, what I should have done was tell the Superboat driver representative, but I didn’t, so in the end we were disqualified.
“I’m okay with the decision, although disappointed..”
That left the door open for Hutton to take the championship lead, but he didn’t do it without some level of drama, the ‘Team Solo’ entry out in practice with a holed piston, leaving Hutton temporarily without a drive.
Despite a number of offers, the cunning Hutton elected to ‘B’ drive Tremayne Juke’s 400 Class ‘Stingray Stealth’, which on the face of it looked to be an unusual option, but with so many Unlimited Class boats failing to finish, or indeed lap in the correct rotation, Hutton hung on to finish second, despite being down 1000 horsepower on some of his opponents - he was all smiles at race end..
“I said at the start of the year that we wanted to three-peat,” he grinned, “so consistency was what it was all about.. 12 months ago the team did a number on me and turned the wick down on the ‘Team Solo’ boat and wound back the power, and that was the right move.
“Today it was much the same, it wasn’t about horsepower, it was about consistency and maturity, you had to drive this rotation smart. Thanks heaps to TJ too for letting me jump in alongside him, that has really saved the day and kept our championship alive.”
With many of the leading Unlimited boats at Cabarita struggling to get the power down, it looked like experience was going to be the major factor, with drivers like Hutton, Dixon, Finch and ‘veteran’ Greg Mercier coming to the fore.
Mercier loves the tight twisty Cabarita layout, and he showed it by being quick early in the day, after finally getting on top of a fuel issue that has plagued him for 18 months..
“We couldn’t find the solution [to the problem], so I did some research, and discovered that the problem was the fuel tank was too far from the engine, and the pump was struggling to keep the pressure up to the injectors, so I relocated the tank and the problem looks to be solved.”
Solved it may have been, but Crusty soon had other issues on his hands in the top 12, clipping a submerged bank in the closing stages of the lap which threw ‘the shark’ upside down and then over and back onto an island, his weekend, and a certain podium [if not victory] was run.
“Perhaps [I was] trying a bit hard, but vision was starting to get tough too as the sun began to set. No excuses because it was the same for everyone else, but that was that - it’s a pity though, if we’d kept our noses clean that may have been win number one in the Unlimited class.”
Some serious panel readjustment and some more serious engine work by Brian Cassar [Moe Engines] has Crusty back on track for the fourth round where he will be hoping for a track rotation similar to last time out.
“I loved it, I really did, it suited me perfectly.”
Like Mercier, the ‘Jackhammer’ team have had a tough initiation into the Unlimited class, and despite showing great turns of speed at various stages, were plagued by mechanical gremlins last season, whilst at Temora it was electrical.
The Cabarita round though suited the ex-Dixon Stinger and they were on course for a podium before team-boss Jody Ely clipped a bank and flipped off the circuit, landing at the very spot he’d finished his 2010 run with engine failure.
“In the top 12 I saw how I could shave some time off the corner I hit with the line I was taking, trouble was on that last lap, I came in off line and tried, but it was too wide and too late, and over she went,” Jody recalled.
“Fortunately damage was minimal because it threw us backwards back into the channel before it bounced up the bank and rolled, the biggest drama we had was spinning around so quickly, that was a bit hard on the neck, but it saved the boat
“I’m just dirty it cost Adam [Raverty – team-mate] valuable championship points. I bet him that I’d beat him this round, and whilst I was quicker early, and I got more points this time, it wasn’t a fair fight after I cost him the final, so I’ve handed across the $100, he deserved it this weekend..”
Whilst all the drama at Cabarita was going on, the West Australian mother and son combination of Cheryl and Jamie Welch were just biding their time, and as the others faltered, they stepped up. Fifth after the first two rounds at Temora, after coming back from a limited campaign in 2010, turned into second at Cabarita, Jamie toppling the Group A mounted Hutton in the final, with Cheryl mere hundredths off her maiden championship podium.
But where was Slade Stanley I hear you ask?
In the carpark having taken over from Phil Dixon, directing traffic for fans… Actually Stanley was at the opening two rounds as ramp attendant for the round, whilst he waits for the all-new ‘Hazardous’ to be completed. Sadly that’s not going to occur before the August round, however he’s hoping that all will be concluded by October in readiness for the final round of the championship.
And how about Mick Carroll?
The popular South Australian ended his 2010 season at Temora hard into the bank, leaving navigator Yolanda Low with a fractured foot, and ‘Excalibur’ very second-hand, and both without a ride for the first half of the 2011 season. They’re not entered for Cabarita’s second round, but expect to be back at the season finale..
Unlimited Superboat Championship Points (after three rounds of six)
1. Daryl Hutton - Team Solo (179 points)
2. Phil Dixon - Auspro Logistics (149)
3. Dean Finch - Loose Cannon (136)
4. Jamie Welch - Skywest Racing (134)
5. Greg Mercier - AzUDo (120)
6. Jody Ely - Jackhammer (111)
7. Adam Raverty - Jackhammer (105)
8. Phonsy Mullan - RAM-JET (102)
9. Cheryl Welch - Skywest Racing (100)
10. Tyler Finch - Loose Cannon (53)
11. Glenn Roberts - Blown Budget (37)
12. Paul Burgess - Canberra Floorcraft (30)
13. Louise Dixon - Auspro Logistics (28)
14. Andrew Page - Kamakazi (24)
15. Peter Freckleton - Team Solo (10)
INTERNATIONAL GROUP A
International Group A (400 Class) might appear to be a case of situation normal, with reigning champion ‘Triple X’ back on top, but it hasn’t been a cake-walk for the high profile Victorian team, as Cabarita’s most recent round revealed after rising star Jake Garlick took the ‘321Ignition’ team to its maiden victory.
The 2011 season started much the way the 2010 season finished, with an outstanding battle between the Sygidus brothers and the talented Brooke Dixon [Hi-Tec Oils Racing], the championship result settled in the final run of the year, with all three of them still in the points chase. In the end it was Ted Sygidus who came out on top, by just a single point over brother Darek.
The duo battled through the opening two rounds, with Darek swapping to a lighter navigator for round two (Excalibur’s Yolanda Low) and a tenth of a second disadvantage turned into a massive [in Superboat terms] advantage, Darek at times more than a second faster than his brother.
In the end, Ted had to dig deep to stand on the second step of the podium, but his very best was still half a second slower than his jubilant younger brother.
And what of Brooke Dixon? The reigning world#2 was third on day one, but only fifth on day two with a weary engine.
“It’s done a lot of work,” team-boss Phil Dixon lamented. “And Brooke really worked it hard in chasing last year’s championship. She doesn’t ease herself into the pace any more, she’s right on it from the first practice session and with Louise also campaigning the boat it’s put a fair share of load onto the engine.”
In the end her top six lap was within hundredths of her best on the day, and her consistency showed that outside of the first qualifier (41.736), her next four laps were within a tenth of a second at 100% throttle…
With their primary engine off for a rebuild, Brooke was forced to campaign a spare borrowed from Greg Mercier for round three, where despite her consistency and ability to match the pace of the Triple X team, she failed to make the top six, the first time in more than 18 months that had happened.
With the team’s #1 engine returning from a re-fresh and a serious tune by Tracksport in New Zealand, the Sygidus boys might have their work cut out for them second time around at Cabarita, so too round three winner Jake Garlick.
After campaigning the Garlick family’s ageing ‘Grumpy’ boat in their maiden season of 400 Class competition, Jake Garlick stepped into AFJSA President Greg Harriman’s ‘321Ignition’ for the 2011 season, finishing in the top six on day one at Temora, and top four on day two.
At Cabarita though, the former 350 Class champion was unstoppable, taking ‘321Ignition’ to its maiden round win, and putting himself within striking distance of the championship lead.
Second at Cabarita was Superboat veteran Rob Colman, the Mildura native continuing on the form that saw him in the running for the 2010 Group A title, right up until the final round, his consistency again ensuring he was in a position to challenge should any of the outright favourites falter.
Despite the expected title stoush between ‘Triple X’ and ‘Hi-Tec Oils Racing’, the big surprise has been the 2011 performance of ‘Stingray Stealth’s’ Tremayne Jukes.
Quick from the opening session at Temora, the Stingray boats manufacturer had changed his mind-set for the new season, and it was clearly paying dividends.
“In past years I’ve spent the bulk of my time helping my clients go fast, and that’s impacted my results,” he admitted. “So this year, it’s all about me..”
Comfortably in the top five early at Temora, an off in the top 12 final, whilst on target for a top three finish saw heavy contact with a safety fence retaining post, bending the nose of the gorgeous black Stingray.
Some serious panel beating and a fair bit of internal reflection saw TJ back in the thick of things on day two, the Victorian completing the top six just quarter of a second in arrears of reigning champion Ted Sygidus.
In the end he’d fail to record a time in the final after pushing just that little bit too hard and pulling out mid way. At the first timed checkpoint though mid-lap he was within a tenth of Ted, but it wasn’t to be.
“I had a rough run through the top corner, and once that happened I knew it was all over because the lap had to be faultless,” TJ shrugged. “It’s a nice recovery from the dramas we had yesterday [crash which badly bent the nose of the boat], and shows we have the boat to do the job, just have to get the driver 100% and I think we’re a certain chance at victory.”
After setting the second fastest qualifying time at Cabarita, and offering reigning Unlimited Superboat champion Daryl Hutton the ‘B’ drive alongside him in ‘Stealth’ [to keep Hutton in the points after ‘Team Solo’ was eliminated in practice] Jukes was all smiles at the end despite narrowly missing second.
“Our aim this year was to make people sit up and take notice, and I think we achieved that again this weekend,” he grinned, clearly happy to have his boat inside the top three in both the international classes.”
The big news at Cabarita though was the performance of ‘321Ignition’ with rising star Jake Garlick at the wheel.
“It looked at one point like Jake was going to be out of a drive after Mark [Garlick] announced they would only run a limited campaign this year,” AFJSA President Greg Harriman confirmed. “So I offered him a drive knowing that he could take the package a step further than me and [that] I’d have a second driver from whom I could bounce ideas and setup solutions.
“The difference having two of us working on setup and tuning makes is incredible, and we’re continuing to learn what the boat is capable of. I’m looking forward to watching Jake continue to take the fight up to the leading boats, because there’s no doubt in my mind that both he and the equipment are up to the challenge.”
Another team that stepped up in 2011 was Shane Loughnan’s ‘Vicious’ team, the Melton regular doing some serious homework in the off-season to stun his 400 Class peers at Temora by comfortably making the top six on day one, then coming close again on day two. He like South Australia’s Damian O’Leary [Kryptonite] have been real revelations in 2011, consistently inside the top six, and promising the series regulars that by seasons end, they will seriously threaten for podium finishes.
International Group A Championship Points (after three rounds of six)
1. Darek Sygidus - Triple X (165 points)
2. Ted Sygidus - Triple X (153)
3. Tremayne Jukes - Stingray Stealth (143)
4. Jake Garlick - 321Ignition (137)
5. Brooke Dixon - Hi-Tec Oils Racing (136)
5. Rob Colman - Tunna-Gut’s (136)
7. Damian O’Leary - Kryptonite (120)
8. Rodney Krause - Soak’n Fused (97)
9. Shane Loughnan - Vicious (63)
10. Kieran Krause - Soak’n Fused (65)
11. Greg Harriman - 321Ignition (63)
12. Mick Manini - Cool Bananas (58)
13. Brooke Lucas - Our Toy (49)
14. Kevin Laugesen - SpaNET (31)
15. Nathan Dickenson - Witch Bank (13)
16. Brad Marsden - Air8ted (10)
350 CLASS
With reigning champion Daniel James (Stingray Racing) sitting out the bulk of the 2011 season, the new year looked to promise last year’s #2 an opportunity of a lifetime, but whilst Daniel deVoigt (DEVO 2) started the new year as favourite, he’d done plenty of homework in the off-season, and has been the comfortable pace-setter all year.
He hasn’t had it all his own way, with challenges from 2008 champion Mark Garlick behind the wheel of Col Bellert’s ‘Evil As’ at Cabarita, the two drivers trading top times before Garlick prevailed in the final, whilst rookie-sensation Brett Thornton (Obsession) continues to improve with every run, the Queenslander currently holding down second in his first full year of competition.
With so many drivers in recent years graduating to the 400 Class, or retiring their boats, 350s looked at the close of the 2010 season to be heading for extinction, but that has turned around this year, with new additions to the field, and increased interest from all corners of the country.
“350’s forms the cornerstone of the sport,” AFJSA President Greg Harriman acknowledged, “it’s where so many drivers started, so it’s nice to see a resurgence with new competitors entering the sport.”
350 Class Points (after three rounds of six)
1. Daniel deVoigt - DEVO 2 (194 points)
2. Brett Thornton - Obsession (158)
3. Troy McKenzie - Predator (150)
4. Shane Allen - Predator (99)
5. David Blake - IGA Racing (69)
6. Robert Hallum - IGA Racing (65)
7. Mark Garlick - Evil As (64)
8. Betina Dickenson - Witch Way (37)
9. Michael Darween - Under Suspicion (34)
10. Lauren Dickenson - Witch Way (26)
11. Ed Owen - Under Suspicion (26)
12. Shane Brennan - Miztabanks (20)
13. Daniel James - Stingray Racing (10)
The Tyreright Australian Superboat Championships will return to the Cabarita venue on the Tweed Coast - August 27-28 for round #4 of the six round season. For more information to keep you up to date in the interim, please keep an eye on www.v8Superboats.com.au
2011 Tyreright Australian Superboat Championships
Rnd#1 - Temora, NSW (April 22)
Rnd#2 - Temora, NSW (April 23)
Rnd#3 - Cabarita, NSW (June 26)
Rnd#4 - Cabarita, NSW (August 27-28)
Rnd#5 - Temora, NSW (October 30)
Rnd#6 - Temora, NSW (October 31)
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