Saturday provided a brief weather window that saw three rounds of qualifying in the LS Class contested allowing the event to be classified and points awarded. The LS Class allows competitors to race any LS engine with a controlled CAM making it an affordable class to run.

With Keith’s Matt Malthouse side-lined due to delayed engine parts, it freed up two-time 2021 winner Bastian Mullan to extend his advantage at the top of the championship. He may not have expected though to play second-fiddle to the reigning champion, Kyle Elphinstone who was finally finding form after a challenging start to his title defence.

In the end, Elphinstone topped every timed session, although rookie Bastian Mullan – who stunned the field with his pace the last time the series competed at Cabarita – was improving with every session. The margin in the end just 42 one thousandths of a second, setting up what promises to be a tantalising final at Keith once Malthouse returns to the fold.

Third fastest in the end was local driver Paul Hill, although like his rivals, he couldn’t get to within four seconds of the leaders.

The battle for fourth position was the closest of the day, with the ever-improving Matt Riley getting the nod ahead of Jim Beaman and Mike Hessell. Riley at one stage running third, although on countback Hill was more than a second faster overall to take the final step on the podium.

As he did last time out at Cabarita, Nate Mullan very much played a secondary role to his older brother to support Bastian’s championship bid, but he was improving with every session and expected to make a challenge in the finals. The weather though impacted that opportunity as it did for Robert Westerink, a driver with solid LS-Class credentials who just couldn’t perfect the challenging rotation and was unable to record an official time.

LS-Class (after round four of six)

1. Bastian Mullan (Ripshift) – 135-points
2. Kyle Elphinstone (Blackout Racing) – 108
3. Nate Mullan (Ripshift) – 103
4. Matt Malthouse (NoodNutz Racing) – 102
5. Jim Beaman (JB Racing) – 90
6. Chris Edmonds (Solid Gold) – 76
7. Paul Hill (Slicer) – 60
8. Matt Riley (Toe Cutter) – 60
9. Dwayne Mezzadri (Unleashed) – 42
10. Robert Westerink (The Contractor) – 42
11. Mike Hessell (42)

In the Junior Development category Koby Bourke had a solid weekend in Lil Psycho though not without his own challenges after the long break. The teenager is growing so much (vertically) since he was last in the boat, that he may well need to relocate the seat for the coming ’22 season. Despite that he turned in progressively faster laps through qualifying and actually managed to card a time for a final ahead of the onset of the rain.

Junior Development (after round four of six)

1. Koby Bourke (Lil Psycho) – 144-points

The Penrite Australian V8 Superboats Championships season continues at the Spitwater Arena in Keith, South Australia on Saturday 26 March and the organisers will certainly be hoping for better weather.

Unprecedented weather conditions bringing a huge coastal front into the Cabarita Beach, NSW region of Australia would ultimately deliver record rainfall, forcing the cancelation and then evacuation of the circuit.

Despite the weather forecast changing by the minute, the Australian Formula Jet Sprint Association (AFJSA) and the Tweed Valley Jet Sprint Club elected to press on with the event. Saturday provided a brief weather window that saw three rounds of qualifying contested allowing the event to be classified and points awarded.

One of the big talking points ahead of the round surrounded the debut of an all new Australian-made PULSE hull for points leader Phonsy Mullan. The seven-time champion took the bold move to change boats mid-season, and from the smile on his face after the opening qualifier the move had been more than justified. Mullan was now relishing the opportunity to close the performance gap to reigning champion Slade Stanley.

Stanley though was lamenting a lack of performance. The Hazardous team were not one hundred percent comfortable through the opening two qualifiers despite setting the pace in Q1 before missing the rotation in Q2 whilst chasing the setup. Mullan meanwhile came out swinging in Q2 to top the timesheets with a best of 50.555 (to Stanley’s Q1 best of 51.684). The pair then traded blows in the final session where Stanley returned to the top of the time sheets with a 49.535 whilst Mullan could only manage 49.912 as the rain set in on Saturday afternoon.

Whilst the championship points leaders continued their tousle, behind them the former title holder Daryl Hutton continued his own development with his twin-turbo American Automotive machine. In the end a 51.208 classified him third ahead of fellow former champion Scott Krause who produced a 53.033 in the final session after failing to record a time in the first two timed runs.

Fifth place went to the Unlimited Superboat debutante Chris Edmonds. The LS-Class graduate was running a 900-horespower LSA powerplant originally built by JRE Race Engines for Slade Stanley. For Edmonds though this engine was his backup plan, as he has a twin-turbo small block Chevy was still under development. His 64.171 opening lap time was his only recorded time, although experience showed him that any time on the board is important.

With rain fall as much as 150mm per six-hour window Sunday dawned wet, leaving the AFJSA and the Tweed Club conceding that there was no alternative other than cancelation. This saw teams racing to pack up their gear in torrential rain to move to higher ground as floodwaters slowly cut all access roads out of the region.

Unlimited Superboat (after round four of six)

1. Slade Stanley (Hazardous) – 136-points
2. Phonsy Mullan (RAMJET) – 135
3. Scott Krause (KAOS) – 118
4. Daryl Hutton (Phoenix Lubricants) – 107
5. Glenn Roberts (Blown Budget) – 86
6. Ben Hathaway (NoodNutz Racing) – 80
7. Mitch Roylance (BlackJack) – 72
8. Mick Carroll (Excalibur) – 28
9. Chris Edmonds (Solid Gold) – 26
10. Daniel de Voigt (DEVO Racing) – 24

The Penrite Australian V8 Superboats Championships season continues at the Spitwater Arena in Keith, South Australia on Saturday 26 March and the organisers will certainly be hoping for better weather.