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[V8SB] Finch takes Unlimited title #2
by Sean Henshelwood
Finch wraps up Unlimited title #2 in emphatic fashion
REVIEW: FINAL, 2011 Tyreright Australian Superboat Championships
Hi-Tec Oils Park, V8 Superboats Temora
1 November, 2011
How is it that with every passing year of V8 Superboats, the series provides an even bigger spectacle than the season before.. The 2011 Tyreright Australian Superboat Championships was no different, with two of the three classes again undecided until late on the final day of competition at Hi-Tec Oils Park in Temora (October 29-30).
After the mist had settled, it was Dean Finch (Loose Cannon) who prevailed for his second Unlimited Superboat crown (the first in 2007), dual reigning champion Daryl Hutton (Team Solo) unable to make any impact on the Mildura locals points lead in the end despite some inspirational laps.
And whilst the Unlimited class saw Finch pushing as hard as he needed to on the challenging Temora layout, it was the Group A class that [again] came down to the final race, and the very same protagonists as 2010 lining up one more time, with the title still undecided. Sadly on this occasion, Hi-Tec Oils Racing’s Brooke Dixon was outside of the points leaving the battle to brothers Ted and Darek Sygidus, but that didn’t stop her taking a dominant round win, the title though, going to Darek Sygidus, the Triple X team’s third Group A crown in four years..
And in the 350 Class, it was all but a foregone conclusion heading into the final round with reigning AUS#2 Daniel deVoigt (DEVO 2) having all but sealed the title prior to the season final. That didn’t mean he had it all his own way at Temora though, with reigning title holder Daniel James (Stingray Racing) returning to battle the champion-elect, the two going at it all day, with each taking a win; James on the day and deVoigt, the coveted 350 Class title.
Unlimited Superboat;
In the end the title went to the most deserving team, something outgoing champion Daryl Hutton was quick to acknowledge.
“Look I’m disappointed we couldn’t three-peat and take a third consecutive title, but at the end the day we just weren’t good enough,” the popular kiwi admitted. “This was Finchy’s year, he’s been quick from the outset and if not for a hiccup at Caba in June, may have wrapped the title up earlier. It’s seriously starting to look like the only way you’ll compete now is to have twin-turbo injection..”
One man who would agree would be Phonsy Mullan, who was hot off victory at Melton during the AFJSA Cup with his [now] twin-turbo Chev LSX.
Quick throughout practice, Phonsy and team-mate Darek Sygidus were about the only boats to put a foot wrong all weekend, both thrown out of the water during the first practice session as they tried to negotiate the tricky hairpin that led back onto the front straight, fortunately neither suffered any serious damage.
Day one was slated for practice and two rounds of qualifying, with Hutton grabbing the advantage early in the ‘Team Solo’ entry to be quickest, half a second clear of Mullan (RAM-JET) and Jamie Welch (Skywest Racing).
Dean Finch’s title assault started with a scare, the points leader pulling out of the throttle in the closing stages of the opening qualifier to coast across the line. That saw plenty of discussion in the pits, and perhaps a momentary sign of hope for Hutton before it was revealed a turbo hose had come loose. A quick inspection revealed no dramas, and Finchy was soon back to business, topping Hutton’s opening qualifier by more than a second to sit on top of the timesheets at the close of the day (31.664).
Mullan remained second ahead of Hutton, Welch and a struggling Greg ‘Crusty’ Mercier (ACOL Skylights). “There’s something not quite right,” he admitted, “we’ll have a look at it tonight and see what we can find.”
What they found in the end was a screw had come loose in the butterfly of the throttle body for the #6 cylinder, which wasn’t allowing it to fully open. “We’re on about seven and a half cylinders at the moment,” Crusty laughed, “and fortunately the screw doesn’t seem to have done any damage.”
Across in the Skywest Racing camp though they were not quite as lucky.
“We had a simlar thing happen,” Geoff Welch admitted with a frown, “but the screw has made a mess of the piston, so we’re keeping an eye on the damage and hoping we can hang in there until the finals, it’s not pretty..”
By Sunday morning Finchy was back on top, with Crusty recovering to be second, just three tenths off the pace, jumping Mullan in the process. Jamie Welch continued to hang on to fourth, but was under attack from another Finch, Tyler showing that all those years alongside his father were paying off, very reminiscent of the Garlick family..
For Tyler his result wasn’t doing anything to aid Daryl Hutton’s demeanor as the kiwi was relegated back to sixth, the younger Finch very happy with his efforts with another former champion - Phil Dixon (sharing ACOL Skylights with Mercier) - also qualifying behind the teenager.
Mullan and Mercier continued to battle over P2 and P3 in the final rounds of qualifying, but neither could match Finch’s best time; Q4 - 31.202, Mullan the next best with 31.914, Mercier 32.078, Hutton 32.630, Jamie Welch 32.849 and Dixon 32.987.
Behind them Tyler Finch was battling with Jody Ely (Jackhammer) who this time was without team-mate Adam Raverty (the 2010 rookie-of-the-year was the team’s crew chief for the weekend), Cheryl Welch, Glenn Roberts and Louise Dixon, although Roberts and Louise were soon out.
“I’m just not comfortable in the 400 boat,” Louise admitted, the matriarch of the Dixon clan forced to share daughter Brooke’s boat whilst Phil joined the Mercier’s in an Unlimited machine, Louise admitting to not enjoying a lack of horsepower.. “The Unlimited boat is just so good to drive, you can use the horsepower and torque to get you out of trouble - driving the 400 is a whole different discipline, and with Brooke doing so well, I don’t want to jeopardise her chances.”
In ‘Spider’ Roberts case his retirement sadly came as a result of metal in the oil after just the opening round. “We’ve just had it rebuilt.. again!’ He stuck with it through the final rounds, but didn’t realise the full potential of the injected big-block project that promised so much when he debuted it more than two seasons ago.
By finals time the title battle had come down to Finchy’s consistency, as his dominance in the heats had all but put the title out of Hutton’s reach, all he needed was to make it through the Top 12 in one piece and the title was his.
“In the past he’s made mistakes when under pressure,” Hutton admitted, “so I just have to keep applying more of the same and putting down the quick laps..”
Without needing to do anything dramatic, Finch put the title out of reach with another blistering time, 31.324 to Hutton’s second placed time of 32.188. Mullan grabbed third, with Tyler Finch a sensational fourth, less than second and a half off his father’s benchmark time, topping Mercier and Dixon in the process.
Due to his ‘restricted’ status, Tyler was unable to progress past the first final, elevating Jamie Welch into the top six, but he was soon out with a DNF as a result of the team’s earlier issue, whilst Dean Finch again topped the timesheets.
By the close of the top six the ACOL Skylights team were the ones celebrating hardest, with both Mercier and Phil Dixon relegating Hutton outside the final three, Phil Dixon’s time just one one hundredth quicker than the outgoing champion.. that was it, the title belonged to Finch..
In the end the final was somewhat of an anti-climax with Finch setting his second fastest run of the day (31.293) to eclipse both Mercier and Dixon, Crusty putting in a blinder (31.950) to finish second and move into third in the championship, a rewarding end to a second frustrating season in the Unlimited class.
“Not bad,” he admitted, “but it would have been nice to start the season with all the bugs ironed out. At least we’ve got on top of things ahead of the world championships, so look out kiwis, here we come..!”
Post event Dean Finch looked like he’d been through the wringer, admitting he’d had to work pretty hard to keep on top of it all. The team also admitted that they’d run without their optimum jet unit setup after destroying a stata on Saturday.
“The boat was magic, we had to feather the throttle even in the last run, we couldn’t use all the power it’s got,” Finch admitted afterwards, and in a warning to his opponents he admitted there’s more to come.. “The boats great and it handles brilliantly, but we still haven’t reached the full potential of this engine, there’s plenty more to come yet..”
For reigning title holder Daryl Hutton the weekend sadly didn’t deliver the dream, but he admitted that there wasn’t much he could do about the ‘little’ man from Mildura.
“I take my hat off to him, he’s been the form driver this year, and whilst we were quick, we just couldn’t match the power of the twin-turbo unit,” he admitted with disappointment in his eyes. “Look I’d have loved to have given the team that third straight title because it’s as much about them as it is about me, they’ve worked tirelessly to extract the maximum from this boat, and even when we were down and having dramas they still rallied and got us back into the points.
“This has been the toughest of the three seasons and the competition has been tougher still, we seriously have the best Unlimited field in the world in Australia, so we’ll have to go away and do some homework, who knows, perhaps twin-turbo..”
For Greg Mercier the weekend provided the kind of result he’d been hoping for all season, and the normally wide smile was broader than usual post-race.. “How’s that hey, two old blokes end up on the podium displacing the Fonz and Nusty.. Look we were charging pretty hard all weekend and had done some serious work on the boat after Caba, so I’m not too surprised, and I’m happy that we could bring Phil [Dixon] through as well.”
From Dixon’s perspective it was a nice end to a season that promised much early, and delivered a stunning victory at Cabarita in June.
“Thanks to Crusty for letting me have the ride, but there’s nothing like driving your own boat, you never go quite as hard. I wasn’t comfortable either because Crusty is a lot taller than I am, so I had to reach for the pedal and stuff a heap of towels behind me to keep me forward, so it wasn’t perfect, but all in all it was a good result for the team.”
Now it’s world championship time with New Zealand hosting the two round world titles in February 2012, ahead of a full season of competition back in Australia with as many as seven rounds. Keep an eye on www.v8superboats.com.au or www.facebook.com/V8Superboats where all will be revealed..
Hi-Tec Oils
Hi-Tec Oil Traders Pty Ltd is a family owned Australian company with more than 200 years of total workforce experience in oil lubricants.
Through their Hi-Tec oils blending plant located in NSW, they are able to produce a range of high quality oil products using virgin base oils which meet and exceed the API and SAE standards.
Hi-Tec's range of products include oils for a wide range of automotive applications (coolants and brake fluids, diesel engine oils, petrol and light diesel engine oils, gear oils and automatic transmission oils), for agricultural purposes and for transport and heavy equipment applications.
For more information on a wide range of products that will suit almost any requirement, please visit www.hi-tecoils.com.au
Tyreright
Tyreright is an Australian-owned and operated company specialising in tyre sales and the fitment of tyres for passenger vehicles, agricultural equipment, industrial vehicles, light trucks and large commercial trucks.
Tyreright stores operate differently to regular tyre retailers. At Tyreright you can select tyres, purchase and book to have them fitted, all online, saving you a great deal of time and hassle.
In fact, when you book online at a pre-appointed time, you get your tyres fitted in 30 minutes or you get $30 cash-back. Sit back, relax and have a quick coffee on us while your tyre fitment is professionally carried out.
For more information about Tyreright visit their website; www.tyreright.com.au
2011 Tyreright Australian Superboat Championships
Championship points (adjusted points after five rounds of five)
Unlimited Superboat;
1. Dean Finch (Loose Cannon) - 268 points
2. Daryl Hutton (Team Solo) - 241
3. Greg Mercier (ACOL Skylights) - 219
4. Phil Dixon (Auspro Logistics) - 204
5. Phonsy Mullan (RAM-JET) - 199
6. Jamie Welch (Skywest Racing) - 190
7. Jody Ely (Jackhammer) - 153
8. Cheryl Welch (Skywest Racing) - 150
9. Tyler Finch (Loose Cannon) - 124
10. Adam Raverty (Jackhammer) - 115
11. Louise Dixon (Auspro Logistics) - 65
12. Glenn Roberts (Blown Budget) - 57
13. Peter Freckleton (Team Solo) - 31
14. Paul Burgess (Canberra Floorcraft) - 30
15. Andrew Page (Kamakazi) - 14
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