Ultimately, some teams – notably Jody Ely (#33), Brendan Doyle (#4), Brett Thornton (#53), Danny Knappick (#45) and Daniel Warburton (#81) – elected to run their 2021 packages, whilst reigning champion Justin Roylance (#67) went with cast heads, methanol injection.

Discussions pre-season saw a decision to take a vote on whether the new systems would be included within the outright 400-Class points, or whether those teams would contest a separate point score, a vote amongst competing teams on Saturday night seeing the majority call for all boats to be included in the outright points as performance differences were not judged to be a factor. Post-event however a decision was made to call the result provisional until all stakeholders (including those not present) were consulted, so at this stage, the result remains unofficial.

Not surprisingly, the season started much the way the 2021 season closed – with arch-rivals (and great mates), Jody Ely and Justin Roylance going head-to-head, before Roylance was side-lined late on Saturday with issues with his new system.

Methanol burning in the exhaust pipes at low revs melted data lines in the back of the boat, a hasty welding job in Sam Everingham’s nearby workshop extending the tailpipes beyond the top of the boat to allow the team to carry on into Sunday’s finals.

Sunday morning saw Roylance return to the top of the timesheets, his 44.481 ultimately the fastest of the day, Ely half a second shy with Brett Thornton and Brendan Doyle (#4) battling over the final place on the podium ahead of Thornton’s Q5 retirement.

With just six boats remaining, the first elimination final was dropped, teams instead going into the final six battling to make it into the final.

Daniel Warburton carded his best run of the weekend, with Danny Knappick (#45) showing ongoing signs of his improvement – the benefit of more miles under his belt since the June 2021 event – the former ski racing competitor finding four and a half seconds over his June best to join Ely, Roylance and Doyle in the final, officials extending the final to four boats to allow both 400-Class variants an opportunity to score points ahead of a final decision on the category’s future.

In the first elimination final Roylance grabbed too much bank and then suffered with a clogged jet unit in the final.

Ely was the last boat out, Roylance had posted a 44.864 to Doyle’s 47.345 and Knappick’s 49.295. It was Ely though who produced another stunning lap on a rotation that clearly suits his ‘Jetspeed’ hull, his 44.653 was a full half second faster than his June 2021 lap to put him two tenths clear of his rival and onto the top step of the podium.

2022 Australian V8 Superboat Championships

Rnd#1 – Tweed Coast, NSW – 23-24 July 2022
Rnd#2 – Tweed Coast, NSW – 27-28 August 2022
Rnd#3 – Keith, SA – 8 October 2022
Rnd#4 – Temora, NSW – 5 November 2022 (Colin Parish Memorial)
Rnd#5 – Temora, NSW – 3 December 2022
Rnd#6 – Griffith, NSW – 11 February 2023
Rnd#7 [FINAL] – Keith, SA – 25 March 2023

After falling agonisingly short of victory in the opening round twelve months prior Ely (33) came out the gate swinging in practice. Sadly, for the Victorian it was all downhill from there after an untraceable electrical issue side-lined him ahead of the elimination finals.

In a true show of comradeship, Roylance offered Ely a chance to ‘B’ drive the ‘Outlaw 67’ machine to keep his chances of winning alive. Ely though declined the offer in a hope the team could trace his problem. Sadly, they were unable to find it, leaving him to watch the finals unfold from the bank.

Ely may have missed a chance to take one final swing at Roylance to close out the season, but the points leader wasn’t without a challenger. Former Keith Unlimited winner Tremayne Jukes (4) once again took the helm of the ‘PULSE’ boat and pushed Roylance all the way into the final three after claiming the fastest time in the final qualifier. Despite all but matching his best time in his final run, Roylance dug deep to stop the clock at a 45.925 to take the round win.

Jukes ultimately fell half a second shy, with four-time AUS number 1 Mark Garlick (95) making a welcome return to the podium with ‘Apache’ regular Hugh Gilchrist alongside. The pair withstanding a late push from Brendan Doyle to claim third with his quickest time of the day, although that was still three seconds shy of Roylance, such has been the pace at the front of 400-Class this season. Doyle closed out his first full season having maintained a place in the top three right up until the second elimination final.

For Roylance (67) who claimed his sixth win from the last seven races (going back to the final round of the 2019 season), he could finally relax having prevailed across three years…

We didn’t know how we were going to go today; we weren’t feeling the best. We let the cat out of the bag a little bit early when we put a hot lap in straight away and we couldn’t better it. That last lap, I don’t know whether it was the weather-gods smiling or good luck, but we got around there and broke that forty-six second barrier.

For Jody Ely it was a tough end to a long season. One where he showed he is right back as a contender like he had been back in 2018.

I thought we were going through the fence on that last run. We don’t know what’s going on, it keeps shutting off. We obviously have an electrical gremlin which we can’t find. The boat’s got the pace, it just doesn’t have the guts to keep going, but it is what it is.

Now the Penrite Australian V8 Superboat Championship teams go into ‘off-season’ preparations ahead of the first official round of the 2022 season on July 23-24 at the Tweed Valley Jet Sprint Club’s Cabarita Beach facility

2021 Penrite Australian V8 Superboat Championships 400-Class (Group A) (after round five of five)

1. Justin Roylance (Outlaw67) – 144-points
2. Jody Ely (Rampage) – 135
3. Mark Garlick (Grumpy) – 112
4. Brendan Doyle (The Girlfriend) – 104
5. Greg Harriman (Apache) – 98
6. Danny Knappick (Tuff N Up) – 92
7. Hugh Gilchrist (Apache) – 84
8. Tremayne Jukes (PULSE) – 63
9. Brett Thornton (Still Obsessed) – 58
10. Darrin Kesper (44)
11. Ron O’Day (Agro-Vation) – 26
12. Daniel James (The Girlfriend) – 22
13. Daniel Warburton (Team Attitude) – 22
14. Tyler O’Day (Agro-Vation) – 20

This class features engines that are restricted in size to 412 cubic inches to ensure a reasonably fair playing field for all competitors and would see the Outlaw67 driver Justin Roylance continued his title battle with fellow Jetspeed driver Jody Ely. The pair sharing all three wins for the 2021 season with Roylance holding the upper hand up until the Penrite series returned to Cabarita last June, where Ely dished out a big hiding to his rival.

With that memory still fresh, Roylance and his team worked tirelessly to be ready for the weekend, and it showed. The points leader was just too good in the end, turning the tables on Ely to take a dominant win, almost two seconds clear at the top of the timesheets.

Third was the returning Tremayne Jukes, the experienced campaigner getting to within one, one thousandth of a second of Ely. He is in the process of working on developing the new PULSE hull alongside Daniel James. It’s showing a great deal of promise for team-owner Brendan Doyle who is expected to take the reins of the new machine for the 2022 season.

Sadly, for Doyle, he was an early victim after being blinded during his practice lap, a journey up the grass and into the tyres fortunately less dramatic than it looked. The Girlfriend was quickly back on the water and up to speed, although the weather setback didn’t allow him to challenge the leading trio. Instead, he became embroiled in a battle for position with veterans Mark Garlick and Greg Harriman over a place inside the top six.

Consistent as always, multiple champion Mark Garlick was shadowing the leaders and waiting for his chance to pounce. He conceded that unless one of them suffered a problem, he’d struggle to make the final three. In the end he was comfortably fourth and almost two seconds clear of Doyle, with Harriman rounding out the six.

Daniel Warburton on his return to the sport was seventh ahead of Danny Knappick, with Darren Kesper and Hugh Gilchrist rounding out the top ten. Former champion Brett Thornton was a no show after being trapped by rising floodwaters north of Brisbane.

400-Class (Group A) (after round four of six)

1. Justin Roylance (Outlaw67) – 141-points
2. Jody Ely (Rampage) – 135
3. Brendan Doyle (The Girlfriend) – 104
4. Greg Harriman (Apache) – 98
5. Hugh Gilchrist (Apache) – 84
6. Mark Garlick (Grumpy) – 82
7. Danny Knappick (Tuff N Up) – 64
8. Brett Thornton (Still Obsessed) – 58
9. Tremayne Jukes (PULSE) – 30
10. Ron O’Day (Agro-Vation) – 26

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.