Round 4: 2014 Hi-Tec Oils Australian V8 Superboat Championships, Tweed Coast NSW.
Melton’s Phonsy Mullan topped the 28 entrants for the weekend’s fourth round for the 2014 Hi-Tec Oils Australian V8 Superboat Championships, by being the only driver to dip below the 50 second bracket at the Tweed Coast venue.
The purpose built Round Mountain Raceway water jet sprint track located near the New South Wales and Queensland border tested teams in the six round series – with many succumbing to navigational errors while attempting a top time.
That included Mullan, who took navigator Kelsie Gill for a rough ride during one of Saturday’s qualifying rounds when their unlimited category boat skidded across country before returning to the water.
However consistency and a new twin turbo engine put Ramjet backed Mullan ahead of the competition, for the elimination shoot-out competition. Setting a fastest time in the top-three final of 49.655 seconds put them ahead of Victoria’s Greg Mercier with Daryl Hutton third.
Camaraderie kept Victoria’s Brooke Dixon in the points after the boat she share drives with father Phil blew a piston during Saturday’s qualifying runs. Queensland’s Brooke Lucas offered her boat – which Dixon wrestled to steer a time ahead of fifth placed Paul Burgess.
“It’s an amazing sport to be part of, everyone helps each other out and we really appreciate Brooke’s gesture,” said Dixon. She now trails Hutton’s overall title lead of 201points by eight. Still in third, Mullan has however narrowed the gap to Hutton – 18 points adrift.
In the 400 class – an internationally governed restricted category for boats with a maximum engine of 412 cubic inches, the competition was much closer – particularly between father-son duo of Mark and Jake Garlick.
The Queensland based duo continued their season-long battle despite each of them having ‘incidents’. Elder, Mark, was lucky to resume racing after leaving the water in the weekend’s fourth qualification session. Admitting to not quite having his head on right he ensured Sunday’s elimination runs were faultless – despite finishing second.
Saving his best for last Jake Garlick set a time of 54.216 seconds in the top-three final – securing an additional 60 points to his season tally.
Third was Brooke Lucas – despite struggles to get the boat’s water jet pump tuned to the venue. Overall Damien O’Leary retains his title lead of 189 points with Jake Garlick closing the gap to nine points with Kevin Laugensen third on 167.
Of the eight teams in the restricted 350 class Victoria’s Jeremy Kincaid topped the standings – and even set a time sub the one minute mark. However the results were very nearly reversed by Queensland’s Brett Thornton, whose consistency left him a mere 0.059 of a second away from the round win. Third was Queensland’s Shane Brennan – delivering a solid and consistent result.
Kincaid has further extended his title position to rest on 234 points – 20 ahead of Scott Roberts with Brett Thornton third, a further 15 behind.
Despite the high weekend attrition, mechanical matters ran second to navigational blunders. Robbie Coleman surprised the unawares when he pointed his unlimited category boat down the start shoot during the top-12 elimination run.
Teams have three weeks to the season’s penultimate round of the Hi-Tec Oils Australian V8 Superboat Championships – being held under lights on Sunday 9 November. The inland New South Wales location of Temora is ‘home’ to many of the championship teams and becoming a familiar location for night racing.
ENDS.
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Image: Phonsy Mullan takes the Chequered Flag. – photo: Pureart Creative Images
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Hi-Tec Oils Australian V8 Superboats 2014 Championship Calendar
Round 5: Saturday 8 November – Temora, NSW.
Round 6: Saturday 29 November – Temora, NSW.
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Hi-Tec Oils Australian V8 Superboats 2014 Championship Points (After 4 of 6 rounds)
Unlimited Class
1 Daryl Hutton 201
2 Brooke Dixon 193
3 Phonsy Mullan 183
4 Greg Mercier 150
5 Phil Dixon 126
6 Paul Burgess 116
7 Andrew Page 94
8 Tony Giustozzi 85
9 Daniel deVoigt 81
10 Darek Sygidus 80
11 Ted Sygidus 72
12 Tremayne Jukes 72
13 Mick Carroll 65
14 Robert Coleman 62
15 Dean Finch 54
16 Tyler Finch 33
400 Class
1 Damien O’Leary 189
2 Jake Garlick 180
3 Kevin Laugensen 167
4 Mark Garlick 159
5 Shane Loughnan 148
6 Justin Roylance 124
7 Brooke Lucas 119
8 Greg Harriman 107
9 Paul Kelly 75
10 Daniel James 73
11 Nathan Walker 56
12 Peter Monger 46
13 Shane Andrew 43
14 Tony Whalan 32
15 Justin Castelluzzo 21
350 Class
1 Jeremy Kincaid 234
2 Scott Roberts 214
3 Brett Thornton 199
4 Shane Brennan 92
5 Troy McKenzie 90
6 Shane Allen 87
7 Brad Marsden 73
8 Ed Owen 53
9 Lin Thornton 39
10 Ben Hathaway 38
11 Brett Elsworth 38
12 Blake Highland 37
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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
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For further information or images on the Australian Superboat Championships, please contact Clark Marshall via:
email: clark@bluedogdigitalmarketing.com.au
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Originally published at v8superboats.com.au.
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