After a season so far plagued by less than perfect weather – the third round postponed completely after persistent rain set in early in the day – Temora provided a welcome relief, although somebody spun a little too hard on the thermostat, yet despite 37 degrees and brilliant sunshine, it did little to deter the fans, Lake Centenary packed to the brim to enjoy one of the best events in recent years.
Not surprisingly it was the reigning Champions who set the early pace, Phonsy Mullan, Brendan Doyle and Bastian Mullan qualifying for the finals as quickest, but despite a feeling of deja-vu, Temora continued to deliver, the Unlimited final presenting a result that few could have predicted, reigning World Champion Phonsy Mullan defeated by second-generation driver Tyler Finch, a result that had the big Temora crowd on their feet screaming.
It wasn’t their only highlight either, Bastian Mullan continuing to dominate LS-Class with a victory that even he couldn’t have predicted – such was his pace, whilst for former Champion Kyle Elphinstone, he made the podium for the first time this season, in the process, claiming the coveted Colin Parish Memorial Trophy.
400-Class was always expected to provide plenty of entertainment, especially off the back of two rounds where the reigning Champion failed to deliver, and with that reality in mind, Brendan Doyle delivered another impressive performance to again relegate reigning World Champion Ollie Silverton to the second step of the podium, round two winner Jody Ely claiming third, the three of them locked in a titanic battle for Championship honours at the mid-point of the season.
UNLIMITED SUPERBOAT
With reigning New Zealand Champion Rob Coley electing to forgo his Australian title assault and return home, there was some question about just who might take the fight to nine-time AUS#1 Phonsy Mullan, but very quickly a new challenger emerged, ‘Loose Cannon’ and Tyler Finch
Having resolved the issues that sidelined him at Keith and Cabarita with an onboard fuel fire, the team had regrouped, Finch admitting that he was still shy of where he wanted to be, but with some ongoing development, that they’d be in the ballpark – and what a prediction that turned out to be.
Quick from the opening practice session, Finch and Mullan were rarely separated by more than a few tenths through the qualifiers, Mullan emerging quickest at the end of the five sessions with a 43.131 to Finch’s 43.426, the reigning World Champion admitting that the twin-turbo units were making good use of their extra punch on the new rotation, and Finch was taking full advantage.
Behind them local favourite Scott Krause was embroiled in another great battle with Daryl Hutton, the two former Champions battling over a position on the podium, Hutton this time getting the better of his long-time rival to close to within three quarters of a second of Tyler Finch at the close of qualifying, and a similar distance clear of Krause.
Sadly for Hutton, his strong run came to an abrupt end during the Top 6 final, the internals of the jet unit obliterated during the run, the popular expat Kiwi crawling across the line to record a time in the hope that his rivals might face setbacks – they didn’t, the ‘Victorian American Imports’ team missing the final for the first time this season, Krause filling the void.
For Glenn Roberts, ‘Blown Budget’ was buoyed by the support of Temora’s Narelle Pellow-Djukic who jumped up to the Unlimited category as navigator after the withdrawal of her regular ride, Hugh Gilchrist having elected to sit out the round. With an experienced navigator alongside, Roberts was impressive under lights, his 49.841 in the opening final just over a second off his best in the daylight giving him great confidence heading back to Griffith later in the month.
Arguably the crowd favourite with the kids with the mighty ‘Hulk’ displayed across the deck and sporting an impressive fluro green and black livery, was Cabarita veteran Peter Monger. Campaigning a package he’d been working on for at least five years, Monger debuted his naturally-aspirated machine at Cabarita only to strike teething issues leaving him unable to turn any serious laps. Sadly his run of bad luck looked to have continued Saturday morning, but with help from his rivals, the team returned the boat to the water allowing him to turn laps where despite some navigational setbacks and an ultimately uncompetitive time, the wide smiles Saturday night suggested their fortunes had changed. It will be interesting to watch this journey unfold across the remainder of the season.
Having sat out the final qualifier to give the team some time to work on development, Phonsy Mullan went into the final confident he had the measure of his rivals, but a slight setback during the Top 6 saw him card a time a full 1.7-seconds slower than his best, whilst for Tyler Finch, he too went slower, but by just four tenths, his 43.819 though giving him P1 heading into the final, Scott Krause joining the pair after Hutton’s demise.
With priority into the final, Finch elected to be last out the gate, Scott Krause out first in ‘KAOS’. The local driver delivered another exciting lap extracting the absolute maximum he could, but coming into the final corner the engine shut down, spinning him to a stop within metres of the line, the crank sensor coming off the flywheel – eliminating any chance of a restart. Sadly, they would become a DNF.
Mullan was next out the gate, the reigning World Champion turning in his traditional best, shaving 14 one hundredths off his quickest of the day to drop into the 42s, the mark set at a 42.989.
As fastest into the final Finch was last out the gate, ‘Loose Cannon’ rocketing off the line and into the opening 180-degree left-hander, admitting afterwards that if he’d managed to make the boat stick through the first corner, he felt he could take the fight to Mullan, and to the roar of the huge Temora crowd, he achieved just that, crossing the line to the cheers of the fans with a stunning 42.773 to take the win, in the process ending Mullan’s 10-race winning streak.
Whilst a popular win with the fans, the result was also tinged with controversy, questions about Finch’s start technique quickly emerging, Mullan himself pointing out that Finch had left the start pool with some momentum heading to the start line, Finch explaining that due to changing the ignition timing on their twin-turbo powerplant, that they’d increased their idle speed coming to the line. Regardless, the result was declared official, Finch claiming his first win in more than ten years to declare himself a challenger heading back to Griffith for round five.
400-CLASS (GROUP A)
With both the Unlimited and LS-Class title races seemingly locked up by the reigning Champions, 400-Class has provided the perfect focal point for the fans with the current season delivering a number of unpredictable results.
The opening round saw setbacks for both Brendan Doyle (that setback also sidelining the #1 ‘PULSE’ machine at Keith for round two) and Jody Ely, whilst for 2021 Champion Justin Roylance, delays with his new ‘PULSE’ package saw him sit out the first event before returning to throw his hat into the ring for round two.
The second round saw the recovery of Jody Ely from a damaged boat at Temora to be standing on the top step of the podium at Keith, although he was forced to use the props out of Doyle’s #1 machine after Doyle was again sidelined early before making a tilt at the top step in brother Simon’s boat.
It was Danny Knappick who stole the spotlight at Temora back in September, the reigning AUS#3 suffering a setback in Keith with food poisoning, whilst for Roylance – who was right at the top of the timesheets at Keith – he made a rare error in the opening final, pulling out of a less than perfect lap thinking it was his final qualifier, and that was game over.
All the top Australian teams suffered some kind of setback during the opening rounds as all the while, reigning World and New Zealand Champion Ollie Silverton just methodically went about his business, acknowledging that he didn’t have the outright pace of the Australian teams, yet two rounds in, he shared the Penrite Series points lead with Ely..!
With the Christmas break now firmly behind them, the Australian teams knew that Silverton would present a greater challenge this time around, especially with the experience of night racing at Temora already in the memory bank – the fact that he’d also contested three rounds of the New Zealand Championship since the Australians last hit the water wouldn’t do him any harm either, and that experience showed straight out of the box.
Brendan Doyle was notably cautious to start with, at one stage shutting the engine down after a setback explaining that he felt like he’d run out of fuel. There were a few nervous moments getting the boat back onto the trailer, but once there it was clear an injector line had come undone, Doyle’s quick thinking preventing what could have been a much bigger problem with fuel running into the back of the boat.
Once sorted though it was clear the AUS#1 was looking to make up lost ground in the Championship, his Q5, 45.676 almost eight tenths clear of Silverton whilst Ely was lamenting the loss of Doyle’s props to be just third, over a second slower than his 2022/23 title rival.
Justin Roylance was fourth fastest, the former champion explaining that the focus for the weekend was development, admitting that three rounds in, he wasn’t really in title contention, but with the 2025 World Series fast approaching, that he wanted to get a better feel for his new ‘PULSE’ package and was looking to dial some more speed into the boat.
Behind them a great battle was brewing between round one winner Danny Knappick, Noel Verning in his ‘new’ ex-Brett Thornton, ex-Daniel James World#3 ‘Stingray’ and Simon Doyle in the former ‘Girlfriend’, the three drivers separated by very little through the qualifiers before Verning unfortunately suffered an off in the third round.
Having had little time behind the wheel of the new boat and with a new ‘JRE’ powerplant beneath him, Verning was looking to dial himself in, but ran wide on the run up to the top of the circuit, throwing himself out of the water and into the new Temora catch fence, sadly doing damage to the hull in the process bringing his weekend to a premature end, fortunately without any injury to driver or navigator.
Danny Knappick meanwhile was battling his own issues, fuel pressure problems and a broken prop early in the day keeping the round one points leader well off his game, allowing Simon Doyle to creep through onto the tail of the top teams after turning in the best laps of his career to date, the wide smile and high percentage throttle trace suggesting he was finally at ease with ‘The Mistress’.
Despite a comfortable advantage heading into the Top 6 final, Brendan Doyle actually dropped time on his lap, losing half a second to his Q5 best, although it was still good enough to qualify P1 into the final, Silverton falling short of his best to card just a 46.7 to Doyle’s 46.2, whilst for Jody Ely he could smell an opportunity after falling just four one hundredths shy of Silverton.
Simon Doyle’s fantastic weekend continued with fourth, Danny Knappick continued to struggle to find maximum revs, whilst for Justin Roylance, he admitted that the sunset dinner break had taken his focus away from the task at hand, a rotational error dropping him to sixth – although on the pace of the leaders, he may well have had a hard time finishing on the podium.
Brendan Doyle elected to run first in the final to throw down a time for his rivals to chase and he wanted to make a statement. It was clear out of the box that the lap was going to be memorable, and it was, although on the final corner it very nearly all came undone, Doyle just managing to pull the boat in as it ran wide towards the bank – the time, a staggering 45.133.
Ely was out next but despite another tidy lap, he could only find four tenths of a second to card a 46.369, a time which eclipsed Ollie Silverton’s best of the day, but the New Zealander wasn’t done. With Jess Little sitting alongside (daughter of Justin Roylance’s navigator Tracey Little), Silverton dug deep, finding almost half a second on his best to record a 46.051, an epic lap, but frustratingly for the reigning World Champ, almost a second slower than Doyle who with his first win of the season, moved into a position to battle for back-to-back titles.
LS-CLASS
Despite missing a couple of regulars, the LS-Class provided another great spectacle for the fans with battles right through the order, whilst at the pointy end of the field, Bastian Mullan was dishing out a masterclass with some epic performances that put the whole field on notice, and certainly rang bells across the Tasman as we head to the 2025 World Series with LS-Class now a part of the program.
Whilst his older brother was always expected to turn in some stunning laps, it was actually Nate Mullan who held the top spot for much of qualifying, the reigning AUS#2 setting a 47.195 in Q2 although he was under fire from former Champion Kyle Elphinstone through much of the day, the pair rarely separated by more than a few tenths, Elphinstone quickest in three of the five rounds before Bastian Mullan locked in the top spot in Q5 with a 46.349.
Behind the leading trio Matt Malthouse was perhaps lamenting the loss of son Mitch to push the team’s development a little further, the opening round podium finisher unable to revisit his early season form to be fourth ahead of New Zealander Matt Hareb who was locked in a great battle with ‘Drop Bear Racing’s Lawrie Howlett.
Behind the top six it was very much a lottery, with the three ‘Disturbed Racing’ entries of Darren Pollard, James Machan and Jade Atchison battling for position, Pollard having ironed out the bugs in his boat to be able to deliver his best performance in more than a season, whilst for Machan, who had taken on a new ‘Mackraft hull over the Christmas break, he showed great pace to be right in the fight with his team-mates.
After a stunning debut at Temora earlier in the season, Jodie Cottam was keen to build on her past experience but was faced with a charging Rodney Norton who was starting to find the sweet spot with his ‘new’ ‘Stinger’ the pair closing out qualifying separated by just six one hundredths of a second, both qualifying through to the opening final.
Sadly for the ‘Agro-Vation’ father-and-son duo Ron and Tyler O’Day, their return after missing the Keith round was plagued by an electrical issue, the team unable to fix the alternator issue at the circuit leaving them to run around at the tail end of the top ten.
That left them out of the final for the first time in recent memory, although Tyler did qualify, the boat though unable to get off the ramp with their ongoing issues.
Joining them in early retirement was Karen Howlett who turned in one of her best performances to continually improve across the day, although despite the fact her driving duties were done, she was still set for the finals as navigator for husband Lawrie.
Ultimately Bastian Mullan continued his Q5 form to card the top time in the opening final, his 46.317 the benchmark for his rivals to chase, brother Nate getting closest with a 47.267 with Kyle Elphinstone continuing to hold station in his battle with Matt Malthouse to be third, the pair separated by just over two tenths of a second, Matt Hareb and Lawrie Howlett joining them in the Top 6.
Darren Pollard might have missed a berth in the final six, but he was all smiles having taken the top spot in the inter-team battle with ‘Toxic’ and ‘Twisted’, his 50.616 six tenths quicker than James Machan, with Jade Atchison a little off her customary pace, but only two tenths slower than Machan, the trio classified seventh, eighth and ninth for the round, Jodie Cottam, Rodney Norton and Tyler O’Day rounding out the 12.
Not surprisingly, Bastian Mullan maintained his pace in the Top 6 to go fastest with a 46.126, Nate Mullan also dropping into the 46s to guarantee his place in the final, although with more than eight tenths of a second to find to his brother – whilst in the battle for third, Kyle Elphinstone maintained his pace, getting to within 15-one hundredths of Nate Mullan, but importantly, staying clear of Matt Malthouse to ensure his place in the final.
Malthouse was again comfortably clear of New Zealander Matt Hareb, whilst a navigational error for Lawrie Howlett saw him classified sixth for the round.
Consistency has been the hallmark of Bastian Mullan’s performance to date, and there was no reason to think the final would be any different, but this time he had something special in store. Confident that he could maintain his unbroken run of wins, he charged out the gate with a message for his World Series rivals, and by the close of the run, his message was clear.. The lap time a stunning 44.661, a time that surprised even the driver himself, and a time that was only beaten by his father and Tyler Finch across the course of the day, to say it was epic would be understating just how impressive it was, and for his rivals, beyond what they were capable of catching.
For Nate Mullan, he too found some extra speed, but was stunned by Bastian’s pace, his 46.583 almost two seconds slower, whilst for Kyle Elphinstone, he’d found another tenth of a second, but you could feel the frustration of knowing just how big a step he’d need to take in order to return to the top step of the podium.
Junior Development
Sadly a late withdrawal from the round left Koby Bourke as the sole entry in the Junior category for Temora, where the former Champion was forced to retire early in the day with a spark issue in the engine, the team unable to rectify it through the day, they’ll be back for Griffith and looking for some more valuable miles as Bourke prepares for his LS-Class debut in the not too distant future.
So that concludes the fourth round of the 2023/24 season, next up we’re still in the New South Wales Riverina, with a return to Lake Wyangan on the outskirts of Griffith for a day-night event on Saturday, February 24.
For fans of the Penrite Australian V8 Superboats Championship, they can catch all the action on 7mate and 7+ during the year (check local guides and search V8 Superboats). Updates will be posted on social media channels with respect to on air times, however episodes from the 2022 season are available ‘on-demand’ on 7+.
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Rnd#4 2023/24 Penrite Australian V8 Superboats Championship
Kennards Hire Park, Temora, New South Wales
03 February, 2024
TOP 3 FINAL
Unlimited Superboat
1. 32. Tyler Finch/Jarrod Ballard (Loose Cannon) – 42.773
2 1. Phonsy Mullan/Leigh Stuart (RAMJET) – 42.989
3 37. Scott Krause/James Parsons (KAOS) – DNF
400-Class (Group A)
1. 1. Brendan Doyle/Holly Small (PULSE) – 45.133
2 31. Ollie Silverton/Jess Little (PSP Racing) – 46.051
3 33. Jody Ely/Brooke Tanner (Rampage) – 46.369
LS-Class
1. 1A. Bastian Mullan/Tahleah Mullan (RIPSHIFT) – 44.661
2. 1B. Nate Mullan/Kirstin Jane (RIPSHIFT) – 46.051
3. 219. Kyle Elphinstone/Jacob Bellamy (Blackout Racing) – 47.010
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TOP 6 FINAL
Unlimited Superboat
1. 32. Tyler Finch/Jarrod Ballard (Loose Cannon) – 43.819
2 1. Phonsy Mullan/Leigh Stuart (RAMJET) – 44.841
3 37. Scott Krause/James Parsons (KAOS) – 46.914
4 888. Glenn Roberts/Narelle Pellow-Djukic (Blown Budget) – 49.841
5 28. Daryl Hutton/Mick Parry (Victorian American Imports) – 60.773
6 96. Peter Monger/Matt Host (Mongrel) – DNS
400-Class (Group A)
1. 1. Brendan Doyle/Holly Small (PULSE) – 46.220
2 31. Ollie Silverton/Jess Little (PSP Racing) – 46.721
3 33. Jody Ely/Brooke Tanner (Rampage) – 46.761
4 99. Simon Doyle/Cael White (The Mistress) – 51.380
5 45. Danny Knappick/Cliff Bamford (Tuff’n Up) – 51.482
6 67. Justin Roylance/Tracey Little (The Outlaw) – 57.184
LS-Class
1. 1A. Bastian Mullan/Tahleah Mullan (RIPSHIFT) – 46.126
2. 1B. Nate Mullan/Kirstin Jane (RIPSHIFT) – 46.960
3. 219. Kyle Elphinstone/Jacob Bellamy (Blackout Racing) – 47.109
4. 69. Matt Malthouse/Leighton Collins (NoodNutz Racing) – 47.873
5. 22. Matt Hareb/Em Goard (No Limits Racing) – 48.333
6. 14A. Lawrie Howlett/Karen Howlett (Drop Bear Racing) – 79.036
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TOP 12 FINAL
LS-Class
1. 1A. Bastian Mullan/Tahleah Mullan (RIPSHIFT) – 46.317
2. 1B. Nate Mullan/Kirstin Jane (RIPSHIFT) – 47.267
3. 219. Kyle Elphinstone/Jacob Bellamy (Blackout Racing) – 47.741
4. 69. Matt Malthouse/Leighton Collins (NoodNutz Racing) – 47.973
5. 22. Matt Hareb/Em Goard (No Limits Racing) – 49.247
6. 14A. Lawrie Howlett/Karen Howlett (Drop Bear Racing) – 49.665
7. 77. Darren Pollard/Steve Muhvich (Disturbed) – 50.616
8. 7777. James Machan/Louis Borg (Toxicity) – 51.287
9. 777. Jade Atchison/Erin Kearney (Twisted) – 51.406
10. 199. Jodie Cottam/Will Cartwright (Steady Eddie) – 52.405
11. 267. Rodney Norton/Pam Moran (Hot Shot) – 53.082
12. 29A. Ron O’Day/Paris O’Day (Agro-Vation) – DNS
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2023/24 Penrite Australian V8 Superboats Championship – Series Points
Unlimited Superboat (after round three of six)
1. Phonsy Mullan (RAMJET) – 105-points, 2. Scott Krause (KAOS) – 93, 3. Daryl Hutton (Victorian American Imports) – 89, 4. Tyler Finch (Loose Cannon) – 88, 5. Glenn Roberts (Blown Budget) – 76, 6. Rob Coley (Poison Ivy) – 48, 7. Chris Edmonds (Hazardous) – 26, 8. Sam Everingham (Excalibur) – 24, 8. Peter Monger (Mongrel) – 24
400-Class (Group A) (after round three of six)
1. Ollie Silverton (PSP Racing) – 99-points, 2. Jody Ely (Rampage) – 96, 3. Danny Knappick (Tuff’n’Up) – 90, 3. Brendan Doyle (The Girlfriend) – 90, 5. Simon Doyle (The Mistress) – 76, 6. Noel Verning (Quiet Time) – 74, 7. Hugh Gilchrist (Mattrix) – 48, 8. Justin Roylance (The Outlaw) 44, 8. Andrew Medlicott (Gone Nutz) – 20
LS-Class (after round three of six)
1. Bastian Mullan (Ripshift) – 108-points, 2. Nate Mullan (Ripshift) – 99, 3. Kyle Elphinstone (Blackout Racing) – 86, 4. Matt Malthouse (NoodNutz Racing) – 74, 5. Matt Hareb (No Limits) – 72, 6. Mitch Malthouse (NoodNutz Racing) – 56, 7. Jade Atchison (Twisted) – 54, 8. Lawrie Howlett (Drop Bear) – 48, 9. Luke Walters (Borrowed Time) – 38, 9. Darren Pollard (Disturbed) – 38, 11. Jodie Cottam (Steady Eddie) – 36, 12. Mike Hessell (Borrowed Time) – 34, 13. Lance Edmonds (Solid Gold) – 30, 14. Tyler O’Day (Agro-Vation) – 28, 15. Adam Sulcs (Steady Eddie) – 20, 15. James Machan (Twisted) – 20, 15. Rodney Norton (Crackers) – 20, 18. Ron O’Day (Agro-Vation) – 16, 19. Karen Howlett (Drop Bear) – 8, 20. John Verry (Blackout Racing) – 0
Junior Development (after round two of five)
1. Koby Bourke (Lil Psycho) – 36-points, 2. Harry Jay (Lil Psycho) – 0-points
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2023/24 Penrite Australian V8 Superboats Championship
Rnd#1 – Temora, NSW – 09 September, 2023
Rnd#2 – Keith, SA – 14 October, 2023
Rnd#3 – Tweed Coast, NSW – 05 November, 2023 (postponed – weather)
Rnd#4 – Temora, NSW – 03 February, 2024 (Colin Parish Memorial)
Rnd#5 – Griffith, NSW – 24 February, 2024
Rnd#6 – Keith, SA – 23 March, 2024
Rnd#7 [FINAL] – Tweed Coast, NSW – 04-05 May, 2024
About Penrite
Founded in Melbourne in 1926 by – then – 16-year old Les Mecoles, Penrite Oil utilised high-quality lubricants from Pennsylvania [USA] base stocks, hence the name ‘Pen’ from the base stock and ‘rite’ for the right oil. In 1979, due to ill health, Les sold the company to John and Margaret Dymond.
Almost 100 years on from those early beginnings the Dymond family have built Penrite into one of Australia’s most prominent and recognised brands. The iconic Australian-made and owned lubricants company has a simple philosophy: ‘the rite product for the application’.
Penrite Oil Company produces a large range of high-quality products suited to the Australian conditions including the exciting 10 Tenths Racing Oils range which offers a superior package of performance and protection for both competition and high performance engines.
For more information about the extensive range of Penrite Oils available, visit www.penriteoil.com.au
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For the 2023/24 season, the Penrite Australian V8 Superboats Championship is again aired free-to-air on 7mate, and ‘on-demand’ on affiliate 7plus providing fantastic access to the sport not just in Australia, but through networks all over the world, each program going to more than 1-billion homes in every corner of the world.
For more information about the Penrite Australian V8 Superboat Championships, please visit http://www.v8superboats.com.au
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