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[BOAT] Az-U-Do makes world titles podium
by Sean Henshelwood
(Archived)
Az-U-Do makes world championship podium..
UIM World Superboat Championships
Meremere, North Island, New Zealand – 3/4 January 2009
“I can’t bloody believe it,” Greg Mercier admitted from the opening round of the World Championships from Meremere in New Zealand, “the bloody coil lead came off during my best run.. typical!”
After being pipped narrowly by Victorian nemesis Brooke Dixon during the NZ championship round a week earlier in Wanganui, Greg and Dorinda Mercier were fired up for the two-round world titles and convinced they’d peaked at the right end of the season.
“This is what it’s all about,” the laconic Aussie quipped. “We’ve been working towards this all year.”
Some extra work on the hull prior to Meremere’s opening round suggested that ‘the shark’ would be a tough contender, but early practice proved otherwise. “We made some pretty interesting changes after Albury which we expected would make a difference to the performance of the boat,” Greg admitted, “but as yet they haven’t made a huge impact.”
Despite quietly working away at the boats setup, Az-U-Do soon became the focus of attention after former world champion Slade Stanley strapped himself into the silver shark for qualifying. “Slade’s engine let go in his boat during practice and he had nowhere to go, so I offered him the seat as the ‘B’ driver,” Greg confirmed.
Like Mercier, Stanley struggled early but came on strong towards the end of the event to put Az-U-Do on the bottom step of the podium.
For the Merciers though it was cool comfort after a coil lead failure in Greg’s last qualifying run kept him out of the finals.
“We’d been working on setup all day, and had nailed it towards the end, but whilst I was full of confidence and sitting very pretty (pardon the pun) during my last run, the lead came off, I couldn’t believe it. In the end I don’t know that I would have matched Slade who just broke into the 49s to claim third, but I’m convinced I would have made the top eight, and perhaps the top four with a very low 50. I haven’t looked at the MoTeC data yet to confirm how the lap was, but it felt very good.
“Data during the heats showed we were pulling just under 120 km/h on the back part of the circuit which is almost unheard of in a Group A, so we had plenty of sniff.. I’ve still got a few more tricks up my sleeve and will head to a workshop during the week to make some modifications for Featherston.
“I’m not happy with the overall result because I know we’re better than what we got, so I plan to prove it.. So far it’s been a great event though, but boy are the kiwis tearing up some gear trying to knock us off – I’ve never seen bigger accidents in my life, fortunately nobody was hurt, but you’ve got to give it to them, they’re trying… very (laughs)..”
The Az-U-Do Racing team now prepares for the second round of the 2008 UIM World Championship in New Zealand, at Featherston (north of Wellington) next weekend (January 10-11).
Az-U-Do Racing are proudly supported by; ACOL Creative Skylight Solutions and Moe Engines.
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2008 UIM World Superboat Championships
International Group A
1. Nathan Pretty (AUS), 2. Rex Briant (NZ), 3. Slade Stanley (Az-U-Do, AUS)
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