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[BOAT] True Blue take dual QLD titles!
by Sean Henshelwood
(Archived)
pic: Theo Spykers
True Blue Racing take dual Queensland titles!
Cabarita, NSW - September 20-21, 2008
It was celebrations all round for True Blue Racing at Cabarita last weekend, after both the Superboat and Group A teams claimed Queensland championship trophies, but this time it wasn’t the boys; two mother and daughter combinations bringing home the silverware.
In Superboat, courtesy of a strong consistent pace throughout the year, Louise Dixon and Paula Arnold went into Caba with a good points lead over Superboat veteran Jim Bailey, whilst Brooke and Jess Arnold held the advantage in Group A over fellow Victorian Greg Mercier.
In the end though it was consistency and not brute speed that kept the girls in the hunt, prompting smiles all round in the pits..
“That’s an awesome result, I’m just stoked,” said multiple Australian champion, husband and father, Phil Dixon. “The girls have driven brilliantly all year and despite some pretty serious competition, including from me, they’ve weathered it all and won a championship apiece, it’s pretty special.”
“I’m pretty happy with that result,” the team’s long-standing motivator Col Parish beamed.. “For two mothers and two daughters to win in pairs the way they have is pretty sensational, they all well and truly deserve it.
“The competition was pretty hot too for Brooke. She was driving brilliantly and I couldn’t fault her, I just think that some of the other teams now have taken it up a notch, so I’ve got some thinking to do to find a bit more speed…”
“I can’t believe how fast they’re (the competition) getting,” Brooke agreed. “I was flat out everywhere, in fact if you look at my throttle trace (on the data-logger), it’s basically flat, so I know the boat can do it, and I know I can do it, we just need a bit more speed.
“Group A is so intense now with Slade (Stanley) and Phonsy (Mullan) and with guys like Greg (Mercier) and TJ (Tremayne Jukes) being as competitive as they are, there’s any one of eight boats, all separated by less than a second, that can win outright on the weekends.. It’s getting tough..”
The Cabarita round whilst a round of both the Australian championships and the Queensland finale, also gave the True Blue team an opportunity to gain further miles on their new Sprintec Superboat which made it’s debut a fortnight before at Maryborough.
“Sadly at Maryborough we had the camshaft failure, so we only got limited laps, but at Caba I got a really good run and it was awesome,” Phil confirmed.
“We did discover one unusual issue though.. We kept flooding water over the front of the boat..”
“That was an unusual problem which we’re still not quite sure about,” Col Parish agreed. “On some of the corners the water would come over the front of the boat, which rarely happens. It also happened to Phonsy (Mullan - who also campaigns a Sprintec hull).. All I can point to is that the wind was coming from an unusual angle; something we’ve not witnessed before.. It certainly didn’t happen at Maryborough.”
“In the end it cost Louise a possible run in the top three because in the first final she was swamped on one corner and blind, she just couldn’t see, so spun the boat so as not to potentially crash it into a bank,” Phil admitted.
“We fitted deflectors in the end,” Col said, “and that helped a little, but sadly we had to manipulate the setup a bit to get the nose out of the water, and that cost us time because it certainly wasn’t the ideal setup for the circuit, but despite that Phil set the fastest outright lap ever on that layout.. It’s fast.”
In fact, post event, not only had the Dixon girls won themselves trophies and bragging rights, but Phil had also won the round in Superboats, extending his Australian championship points lead with two rounds remaining.
The True Blue Racing team now heads to Melton for the penultimate round of the Australian Superboat Championships on Saturday, October 25. The Melton facility is located at the rear of McPherson Park, off Coburns Road approximately five kilometres north of Melton.
True Blue Racing are proudly supported by; Auspro Logistics, Parish Automotive, H2O Full Throttle Magazine, MoTeC, Sprintec, Lake Eildon Marina & House Boat Hire, Alexandra Freighters, Mansfield Express, Symes Transport, North-East Windscreens, Action Smash Repairs (Wangaratta) and SKIN Industries.
2008 Queensland Jetsprint Championships
Superboats (points after the fifth and final round)
1. Louise Dixon (207), 2. Jim Bailey (170), 3. Phil Dixon (158), 4. Andrew Page (150), 5. Mick Carroll (119), 6. Peter Freckleton (80), 7. Tony Gustozzi (73), 8. Glenn Roberts (44), 9. Paul Burgess (34)
Group A (points after the fifth and final round)
1. Brooke Dixon (198), 2. Greg Mercier (194), 3. Slade Stanley (182), 4. Kevin Laugesen (157), 5. Robert Coleman (137), 6. Rohan Smith (108), 7. Phonsy Mullan (97), 8. Greg Harriman (95), 9. Tim Howell (93), 10. Teresa Southern (79), 11. Tremayne Jukes (70), 12. Peter Monger (62), 13. Doug Fraser (58), 14. Ted Sygidus (52), 15. Jamie Green (40), 16. Derek Drummond (32), 17. Darren Watkins (28), 18. Steve Lackas (19), 19. Jo Shellcott (16), 20. Dan Walton (15), 21. Brett Shellcott (15), 22. Sam Everingham (9), 23. Jim Campbell (5), 24. Jeff Flemming (5), 25. Dave Evans (5), 26. Gerard Elphinstone (5)
2008 Australian Superboat Championships
Superboats (points after round#5 of 7)
1. Phil Dixon (224), 2. Louise Dixon (185), 3. Jim Bailey (146), 4. Andrew Page (145), 5. Tony Gustozzi (197), 6. Peter Freckleton (104), 7. Mick Carroll (99), 8. Paul Burgess (79), 10. Dean Finch (46), 11. Jody Ely (31)
Group A (points after round#5 of 7)
1. Slade Stanley (237), 2. Phonsy Mullan (234), 3. Greg Mercier (188), 4. Rohan Smith (187), 5. Ted Sygidus (153), 6. Kevin Laugesen (130), 7. Brooke Dixon (128), 8. Robert Coleman (103), 9. Teresa Southern (71), 10. Steve Lackas (55), 11. Greg Harriman (40), 12. Tim Howell (39), 13. Brett Shellcott (24), 14. Adrian Kemp (23), 15. Peter Monger (23), 16. Ged Elphinstone (17), 17. Damien O’Leary (15), 18. Darren Watkins (15), 19. Jeff Flemming (10), 20. Jo Shellcott (10), 21. Simon Zarb (9), 22. Kim Legerski (5), 23. Matt Legerski (5), 24. Shane Loughnan (5)
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