Australian Superboat Championships - Record Superboat entries

by Sean Henshelwood on 7 Jul 2010 Australian Superboat Championships - Round Mountain Raceway at Cabarita Beach will come alive this weekend to the sound of the biggest field in V8 Superboat history as 47 teams from all over the country converge on the sleepy coastal hamlet for what promises to be one of the best events on recent record.

Leading the charge will be the Unlimited Superboat class where all but 2008 champion Phil Dixon and multiple 2009 race winner Tony Giustozzi will line up looking for outright victory.

Dean Finch returns from a disastrous start to his 2010 campaign after engine failure ruled him out of the opening round at Temora and the following round at Griffith. The popular former champ will be back to make amends and starts Cabarita as the winner of Cabarita’s final round of the 2009 championship and favourite for this round in his awesome twin-turbo, 1600+ horsepower ‘Loose Cannon’.

Of the drivers most likely to threaten Finch, reigning Australian champion Daryl Hutton [Castrol Edge] tops the list, whilst the winner of the Queensland round at Cabarita in early May, Greg ‘Crusty’ Mercier [Az U Do] will be hoping to carry his current form as winner of the two opening rounds of the state championship, through to the national title round.

'We might have been on top for the two Queensland rounds, but my competition was predominantly the clock,' Crusty admitted after taking victory at Maryborough just two weeks ago. 'The real test though will be this weekend when all the ‘big boys’ come out to play, it will be very interesting - I can’t wait!'

Of the contenders, reigning Australian number two Mick Carroll will be working hard to get his title challenge back on track in ‘Excalibur’ whilst 2008 Group A (400 Class) champion Phonsy Mullan too will be looking to fire his season up after a solid result at Griffith last time out.

One man who may struggle to match the pace of the leaders though, is the man who stunned the Unlimited field with his speed at Griffith, round winner, and reigning Group A Australian and World champion Slade Stanley.

On a ‘restrictive’ program in his maiden season in the elite Unlimited class, Stanley suffered a rare engine drama at the opening round in Temora and was forced into ‘B’ driving ‘Canberra Floorcraft’ alongside Paul Burgess.

Always exciting to watch, the Canberra boys admit that they’re there for the thrill of the sport, and accept they’re often on the trailing edge of the top contenders in the class, so even they were stunned when Stanley took their boat to a commanding win in Griffith.

With just over half the horsepower of the Canberra Floorcraft boat, and as much as 1000 horsepower less than Mullan and Finch, Stanley may struggle at Cabarita with his trusty 400, but he can never be discounted, especially on a tight technical circuit like Caba.. Whatever happens, it will certainly be a tight battle at the top!

In the Group A class the big battle will be between the Sygidus brothers – Ted and Darek, and former class champion Rohan Smith who has found a great turn of speed in a new hull he was still building at the opening round of the championship.

Despite the difficulties of piecing together a new package in record time the decision paid dividends at the second round with Smith displacing pre-season favourite Ted Sygidus in the final by a mere four one hundredths of a second.

One driver they will all be watching carefully though is Brooke Dixon. Driving a newly re-liveried ‘Hi-Tec Oils’ boat for the True Blue Racing team, Brooke will be hoping to mirror her 2009 Cabarita form where she won the mid-season round in emphatic fashion.

Her 2009 season was pretty impressive, as she was the only driver outside of Slade Stanley to win a national round (she won two) before ending the year as equal world number two at the UIM sanctioned world championships.

Throw in Mildura veteran Rob Colman who is fresh from his first 400 Class win at Maryborough two weeks ago, rising star and reigning 350 class champion Jake Garlick, and Adelaide duo Daniel Walton and Damian O’Leary, and you have all the ingredients of another show stopper…

They may be the junior class in the championship, but expect too that the 350 class will be contested just as strongly as the senior categories.

As the home of DEVO 2’s Daniel deVoigt and the playground of a number of Queensland drivers, you can expect the ‘locals’ to feature strongly. DeVoigt has been fast this season, and after a number of recent modifications to his boat, will improve again this weekend.

The returning David Penfold though is likely to be the big threat, the former series regular is back in the national championship after a sizable sabbatical, and the dual state championship round winner could surprise a few, including championship points leader Daniel James [Stingray Racing]. Add in Deniliquin’s David Blake and Melbourne’s Troy McKenzie and choosing the round winner becomes a lottery.

Whilst the results across all three classes is particularly unpredictable this time round and will surely come down to the final three in each class, the big winner at the event will be the crowd, who will witness some of the best action anywhere on the planet amongst a group of people who are ‘super’ serious and passionate about one of the most exciting forms of motorsport in the world! Don’t miss it…

The third round of the Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships gets underway at Round Mountain Raceway with the DASH 4 CASH on Saturday July 10 (gates open 10:00am, entry $20 (adults), kids under 12 free) with the Australian Championship round on Sunday July 11 (gates open 10:00am, entry $20 (adults), kids under 12 free).

For more information, please visit www.v8superboats.com