Maryborough set to crown inaugural Continental Tyres Superboat champions!
Preview: Rnd#4 Continental Tyres Superboat Series
Maryborough, QLD - May 11
Sean Henshelwood - 321Ignition

Maryborough will provide the venue for the final round of the inaugural Continental Tyres Superboat Series on May 11 [Sunday], where Australia’s best drivers will fight for outright and championship honours over a day of intense competition.

In Superboats, multiple Australian champion Phil Dixon will be looking to continue his strong run after winning all three rounds, the last at Cabarita in mid-April. “We’ve been pretty lucky so far,” Phil agreed, “and have a handy points lead, but anything can happen in this sport, and there’s some strong competition in this series..”

At Cabarita Albury’s Jim Bailey made his series return and pushed Dixon all the way to the final, only slipping up in the final lap. “It was close, but we made it in the end. If Jim heads to Maryborough and Tony Gustozzi shows the form he had at Melton [Melbourne] two weeks ago, anything could happen..”

Former national champion Slade Stanley continues to lead the popular Group A (400) Class and should take out the maiden Continental Tyres title, although his season to date has been plagued by assaults from Victorians Phonsy Mullan and Rohan Smith, Smith actually taking the opening round of the series at Albury in late February. Stanley though has a good lead in the championship but will need to retain his ‘silky smooth’ style in order to ensure victory.

Whilst the Continental Tyres Series continues to set new boundaries for the sport (with national media exposure and a major corporate sponsor), Cabarita’s third round also provided a world first with two women making the podium for the first time in international Superboat history. With a boat that had been freshly rebuilt after a huge crash at Griffith during a round of the Australian Championships over Easter, Victorian sensation Brooke Dixon took ‘True Blue Too’ to second place in the final at Cabarita, with team-mate and the first women to strike a podium in a world championship event, Teresa Southern third.

“It was a fantastic result,” Brooke beamed afterwards, “not just for the team, but for the sport, and I’m especially glad that Teresa could recover so strongly after the Griffith accident.”

Whilst the results in the Superboat and Group A classes are almost set in stone, it’s the competitive 350 Class that will have the crowds on their feet as reigning Australian champion and local star Mark Garlick battles Brisbane husband and wife duo Brooke and Kim Lucas, Brooke holding the advantage heading into Maryborough with a 13 point lead over Garlick, with Kim just four points behind in third.

So far it has been all Brooke Lucas’ way, winning all three rounds to date, but a home crowd seems to always pull out the best in competitors so keep a close eye on the Garlick team which now includes rising teenage star Jake who narrowly missed the Cabarita podium..

Another driver looking forward to a ‘home’ round is young Brisbane pilot Chris Bollins in the appropriately liveried Conti-RACER. Whilst possibly not an outright contender, Bollins and his team have had a big impact on the profile and professionalism of the sport during 2008 and continue to improve in every round, expect to see them too figure in the outright results in the very near future.

Teams next return to Maryborough for the fourth round of the Queensland Jetsprint Championships on September 7.

Maryborogh May 11

Gates open 7.30am, racing starts 8.30am. Adults $20.00 each, kids 15 & under are free as long as they are accompanied by an adult. Located on the Maryborough/Hervey Bay Rd at Susan River Homestead. (Thanks to Stingray Boats it will be well sign posted, and we also have a big Coates sign out the front!!!) The usual no animals, alcohol, glass etc

Continental Tyres Superboat Series
Superboats (points after round#3)
1. Phil Dixon (143), 2. Jim Bailey (107), 3. Louise Dixon (105), 4. Peter Freckleton (100), 5. Paul Burgess (71), 6. Dean Finch (46), 7. Andrew Page (38), 8. Tony Gustozzi (34), 9. Mick Carrol (26), 10. Jody Ely (20)

Group A (points after round#3)
1. Slade Stanley (145), 2. Greg Mercier (114), 3. Rohan Smith (107), 4. Phonsy Mullan (91), 5. Kevin Laugensen (83), 6. Brooke Dixon (83), 7. Robert Coleman (72), 8. Ted Sygidus (66), 9. Steve Lackas (49), 10. Tim Howell (42), 11. Greg Harriman (38), 12. Teresa Southern (38), 13. Peter Monger (35), 14. Gerard Elphinstone (22), 15 Brett Shellcott (19), 16. Damien O’Leary (10), 17. Darren Watkins (10), 18. Jeff Flemming (10), 19. Simon Zarb (9), 20. Adrian Kemp (9), 21. Sam Everingham (9), 22. Jamie Green (6), 23. Kim Legerski (5), 24. Matt Legerski (5), 25. Jo Shellcott (5), 26. Shane Loughnan (5), 27. Jim Campbell (5), 28. Doug Fraser (5), 29. Dan Wolten (5), 30. Dave Evans (5)

350 Class (points after round#3)
1. Brooke Lucas (145), 2. Mark Garlick (132), 3. Kim Lucas (128), 4. Glenn Roberts (98), 5. Tremayne Jukes (93), 6. Darryl Squires (88), 7. Jake Garlick (61), 8. Sheldon Clark (48), 9. Brenton Maher (44), 10. Glen Arundel (33), 11. Nathan Dickinson (29), 12. Darren Wade (19), 13. Troy McKenzie (19), 14. Daryl Dickinson (18), 15. Chris Bollins (17), 16. Daniel DeVoigt (17), 17. Robert Hallum (6), 18. Shane Allen (5), 19. Derek Drummond (5)

For further information on the True Blue Racing team, please contact Sean Henshelwood on 0419 143 267 or email: 321ignition@austarnet.com.au

www.v8superboats.com.au