Mat Humphrey: Powerboat Champion!

Mat Humphrey and Simon Isherwood have just been crowned 2009 Australian Superboat outboard champions. The Doug Wright designed 30-ft racing cat “SUV Dodge Ram” has dominated the 7 race series across the Australian east coast.
 
The smaller cousins to Class 1 Superboats, the Superboat outboards have two engines with a maximum of 600 hp and and minimum weight of 1800 kg. The sleek twin hull design creates a wing effect that traps air under the boat and gives aerodynamic lift allowing them to reach speeds over 170 kph even in the roughest conditions. Throttle man, Simon Isherwood, a 20 year veteran of the sport, puts the teams domination down to meticulous preparation and a singular focus on the big prize.

“We set out to win the championship, and to do that you need to get as many points as possible. It sounds simple, but you need to know your limits and when to protect your equipment. We opted to run the older style Mercury 2.5 offshore race engines rather then the newer more powerful optimax engines. Although down on torque, the older higher revving engines are a pure race engine. They are built to race and that’s what they do best”.
 
SUV Dodge Ram was the only boat in the entire “Superboat” fleet to finish every race and was never off the podium.

Owner and driver Mat Humphrey says it was a supreme team effort. “First of all we had a great sponsor. Conn Salloumidis from SUV was fantastic. He transported the boat around the country and allowed us to use his workshop. Sean Edward’s from South East cat Co. Well he is the boat building magician. He modified and reinforced the American hull to cope with the more extreme Aussie conditions. Jason Warmsley from Zigs Marine did an awesome job preparing the boat in conjunction with Race Marine to  ensured we finished every race. Denis Hoffrichter from Race Marine was great support at every race changing props and making last minute adjustments to set up. And finally looking after all of us was Simon Isherwood. To be honest he was the X factor. Every body thinks it’s about top speed and horsepower, well its not. An experienced throttle man can win you races especially in the rough, and they don’t get much better then Simon”.
 
The team are now looking towards the lucrative X Cat race series in Dubai, which has attracted competitors from all over the world with huge prize money. “It’s an identical class to us with similar rules, but racing overseas is expensive, so we’ve got this boat up for sale and are hoping to lease a boat in Dubai” says Humphrey. “At this stage its just a dream,  but so was winning the Australian championship so you never know”.
 
For more information of the The Superboat championship go to the AOPC website.

By Bob Wonders