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[BOATS] Az-U-Do claim world #2 in NZ
by Sean Henshelwood
(Archived)
pic: Theo Spykers
Az-U-Do makes world championship podium..
UIM World Superboat Championships
Featherston, North Island, New Zealand – 10/11 January 2009
After claiming the runner-up position in the 2008 Australian Championships, Greg ‘Crusty’ Mercier and wife Dorinda were full of anticipation for the forthcoming world championships.. “I think we’ve peaked at the right time of year,” the laconic Victorian smirked.. “I can’t wait to get there..!”
One of a handful of boats to contest the NZ championship round at Wanganui the week prior to the world titles opener, Mercier all but dominated the other Australian teams at the event to set the pace heading into the final, only to be beaten by nemesis Brooke Dixon in the shootout. “Bloody typical…”
Fresh from Wanganui and with some more data ‘on board’ the Mercier’s settled in for a strong run at the opening round of the world titles at Mememere, but were soon joined by Slade Stanley in Az-U-Do, after the former world champion suffered a terminal engine failure in his boat during practice..
“What was I gonna do..?” Mercier shrugged. “He’s such a great bloke, and a top driver, at least this way he has a chance to continue his campaign, and I get a chance to pick his brain about setup..!”
For Stanley a slow start ultimately led him onto the podium, whilst for the Merciers, a loose coil lead ended any chance they had of making the final pack.
“I can’t believe it,” Mercier said afterwards, “the bloody coil lead came off during my best run.. typical!”
Sadly that dropped the Melbourne skylight manufacturer to 16th in the overall points, the boat though claiming an all-important podium with Stanley’s efforts.
“Slade was clearly quicker in the end, but I reckon I could have gotten to within a second of his time, so well inside the top eight. I’ve got a few ideas for Featherston, so we’ll take the boat away and work on it between rounds.”
Whilst an improvement, it wasn’t enough to elevate the popular husband and wife pairing onto the podium, although in typical Az-U-Do fashion, the ‘team’ did claim P2 in the official rankings, with Slade Stanley and Vanessa Wright taking ‘the shark’ to fourth for the round and second outright in the points behind fellow Aussie Nathan Pretty.
“I was obviously pretty disappointed not to be able to compete in my boat,” Stanley admitted, “but I was more than happy to accept Greg’s offer to drive Az-U-Do. I know from the Australian domestic season that his boat has plenty of pace, and it was very nice to drive. If we’d had more time we may have been able to dial out the push that it had on the fast corners, and potentially drag Greg into the lead pack, but we just didn’t have the gear to do everything we wanted in the timeframe we had available.
“At the very least he’s got some serious knowledge for the Australian championships, and from what I can judge of the boat, he’ll be a real threat once he gets it right..”
Despite the modifications to the boat, Greg and Dorinda were unable to gain too many positions at Featherston and were forced to settle for ninth, having improved to under a second and a half off Stanley’s pace. “It was better,” Mercier acknowledged, “but it wasn’t good enough! It’s a cop-out I know, but the quality of the field in a world championship is certainly higher than that in a domestic series, and there were as many as 12-15 boats good enough to win the event outright with their pace, us included, but you have to get everything right on the day against a field of this quality, and we just weren’t there this time.
“We’ve learnt a lot over the two weeks we’ve run here, and have a good idea of what we need to do, so once the boat arrives back home in Australia, we’ll go away and get stuck into it and be ready for the season opener at Melton in March.
“Then it will be feeding time for the shark…!”
The Az-U-Do Racing team now prepares for the 2009 Australian Championships, with the season opener scheduled for Melton on the March 6-7 weekend.
Az-U-Do Racing are proudly supported by; ACOL Creative Skylight Solutions and Moe Engines.
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2008 UIM World Jetsprint Championships
International Group A - Championship positions
(after two rounds of two)
1. Nathan Pretty (Australia 80 points)
2. Slade Stanley/Vanessa Wright (Australia - 75)
3. Peter Briant (New Zealand - 74)
4. Bevan Muir (New Zealand - 73)
5. Ted Sygidus (Australia - 69)
5. Rex Briant (New Zealand - 69)
7. Reg Smith (New Zealand - 68)
8. Brooke Dixon (Australia - 67)
9. Simon Campbell (New Zealand - 62)
10. Shane Wood (New Zealand - 59)
10. Greg Mercier/Dorinda Mercier (Australia - 59)
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2008 UIM World Jetsprint Championships
International Group A (Rnd#2, Featherston, NZ - January 10-11, 2009)
1. Nathan Pretty (Australia) – best 50.307
2. Ted Sygidus (Australia) – best 51.128
3. Rex Briant (New Zealand) – best 51.185
4. Slade Stanley/Slade Stanley (Australia) – best 51.307
5. Bevan Muir (New Zealand) – best 51.510
6. Peter Briant (New Zealand) – best 51.947
7. Brooke Dixon (Australia) – best 51.979
8. Reg Smith (New Zealand) – best 52.078
9. Greg Mercier/Dorinda Mercier (Australia) – best 52.608
10. Dean Allen (New Zealand) – best 52.700
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2008 UIM World Jetsprint Championships
International Group A (Rnd#1, Meremere, NZ - January 3-4, 2009)
1. Nathan Pretty (Australia) – best 48.517
2. Peter Briant (New Zealand) – best 48.832
3. Slade Stanley/Vanessa Wright (Australia) – best 49.664
4. Bevan Muir (New Zealand) – best 49.526
5. Shane Wood (New Zealand) – best 50.772
6. Reg Smith (New Zealand) – best 50.704
7. Simon Campbell (New Zealand) – best 51.158
8. Brooke Dixon/Amy Harriman (Australia) – best 50.381
9. Garry Smith (New Zealand) – best 50.914
10. Rex Briant (New Zealand) – best 51.772
16. Greg Mercier/Dorinda Mercier (Australia) – best 51.880
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