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Getting Ready for the next round at Grafton
All our running gear and engines have been taken back to the Gold Coast to Jason’s place, ready for a complete overhaul of all equipment. Jason has been working on rebuilding our engines and also arranging our gear boxes to be refreshed. Jason should have all the engines re-built for the weekend before Grafton, ready for us to break them in. Shane will head up to the Gold Coast on Friday April 13th to meet Jason and spend the weekend breaking in all the engines ready for Round 3 at Grafton.
Shane would like to thank Jason, Matt and the boys for the massive effort that has been put in over the last 6 weeks to hopefully get ‘Lindenvel’ #61 back on the podium.
Round 1 - Taree 2012
The team has made a late decision to join the round at Taree. The boat is not fully prepared at this point, but we are happy to run the round and get points. After the round, we will then refresh the running gear of ‘The Lindenvel Group’ #61. Shane and Matt headed to Taree early Friday morning to work on the boat and prepare it for the round. The boat hasn’t been in the water for 12 months, and there is some slight work to be done to keep it on track.
We only have one engine at this round, so we will need to be conservative to get through. The boat was prepared and set up ready for Saturday.
Saturday
The team arrives – Shane, Matt, and Brendan – the other team members, due to short notice, already had commitments and could not be part of this round. We sent the boat out for practice, and it was obviously it was not right on the money initially. Matt worked hard to try and find some extra speed and better lap times from ‘The Lindenvel Group’ #61. But unfortunately what we had is where the boat was going to stay.
Qualifying
The boat went out for practice 2 and qualifying, and unfortunately could only qualify in 2nd position, close to a second behind Damien McKenzie in pole position.
Race 1
We had a great start. We lead the field for the majority of the first straight, but Damien had pole position, took the turn on the inside and lead the race from start to finish. The boat did not perform that well, we had some slight issues and we did not finish that race.
Race 2 - Sunday
We had a good start off the line, but again unfortunately had some engine issues and did not finish the race. We thought this may be the case as the boat hasn’t been used for a number months . Good luck to Damien McKenzie in winning the round. We will now head back and regroup, and work right through the boat to get it ready for the round at Grafton.
Penrith 2011 - Friday
Jason and Matt arrived early Friday morning to pick up the transporter and head down to the pits and set up the SVR outfit for the first time in 12 months. The transporter was all completely set up, and the guys slowly but surely worked on the boat as it has not been in the water for 12 months. There were some minor issues that they dealt with at the time, and by the end of the day they had the boat prepared to go in the water for the first practice session on Saturday.
Saturday
We all arrived at the pits Jason, Matt, Cam, Brendan…unfortunately Luke couldn't make it. At the last minute, he ended up in hospital with an ear infection. It was great to see all the guys together to get the boat ready for the first practice. Shane was slightly nervous as he hadn't been in the boat for over 12 months. The guys set the boat up as they did 12 months ago and sent Shane out for the first practice session. It only took a few laps for him to get back into the swing of things and he was right back on the money as he left 12 months ago.
Lap times were down this year due to the course being 250m shorter than the previous year. Slowly but surely, Shane ticked away lap after lap and got faster and faster until the practice session finished.
The team changed the engine went to a different set-up due to the course being shorter, and sent Shane out for the second practice session. The change made a massive difference to the lap times and was only a few hundredths of a second off Damien McKenzie's fastest time.
All of the team were happy when they brought the boat back in after that practice session. The Qualifying session was done slightly different to what Shane is used to. All boats went out together, and the quickest time in that session will take pole and so on.
Shane gave it his best, and was getting quicker as the time went on, but unfortunately could not quite get to Damien McKenzie's time. He missed out by 0.005 seconds and finished in pole 2, with Damien in pole 1.
Race 1
The team prepared the SVR race boat back to its best set-up for the first race. All boats are lined up at the dock, Damien McKenzie in pole 1, Shane Vella in pole 2 and two other boats in pole 3 and 4 completing the field. The flag dropped for the first race, and as normal, Shane got a rocket start off the dock lead by 2-3 boat lengths into the first corner. As the great sportsmen he is, he never closed the door on pole 1 and left an ample space for Damien to come through. Shane and Damien raced the whole way through the first race. Unfortunately Shane could not quite get around Damien but was hot on his heels the whole time and finished in second position.
Race 2
All boats are lined up at the start line, with Shane coming out of pole 2. The flag dropped and Shane got a great start again and led by 2-3 boat lengths into the top turn. He turned the SVR yellow fella hard into the top turn and came around slightly in front of Damien McKenzie by 50 metres. Shane led down the first straight away in front of the crowd and took pole at the second turn at the bottom of the course. He led the whole way pulling over half a straight on Damien. Unfortunately on the second last lap, he had a problem with the propeller by breaking a blade and didn't finish the race.
Race 3
Shane came out of pole 4 this time due to not finishing the race before. The flag dropped, again he got a rocket start, going around the outside of the three boats inside of him, to come out beside Damien McKenzie, slightly behind him in the first turn. Shane and Damien continued racing down the front straight side by side, Damien in pole and Shane in pole 2. They were at the second turn side by side and they diced all up the back straight. Coming into the top turn, Shane went inside and under Damien's radar and took pole down the front straight. Shane continues to lead the race until the last lap when a plug lead line came off which allowed Damien to take the lead and win the race.
Shane would like to thank all his team for a great job.