Liam McNally
Star Weekly is taking a look back at 2023. Here’s one of our biggest stories from last year.
A Melton family are continuing their reign as Australia’s top V8 Superboat dynasty, cementing back to back victories in the Australian Championship, after winnings in each of their divisions in Griffith.
Bastion Mullan, with navigator Tahleah Mullan took out first in the LS division, securing their second consecutive Australian Championship on the weekend of February 11 in their boat, Ripshift.
Current World Champion Phonsy Mullan raced in Ramjet with navigator Leigh Stuart, the pair came back from a dramatic crash to take home Mullan’s 9th Australian title.
During the qualifying rounds Ramjet left the water at over 120km/ph, and spun into a wall.
Phonsy said the pair were “extremely lucky” to only suffer minor injuries.
With just 45 minutes to patch the boat up, the team were back in the water to finish the qualifiers.
Phonsy said after passing, they had the night for more extensive repairs and took out the final heat with a winning time of 36.8 seconds.
“It was a pretty awesome feat, it was a big comeback. We were basically down and out,” he said.
The Griffith round was sixth out of seven for the championship, but with Phonsy and Bastion both being undefeated all season, the titles are theirs.
The final heat will be at the Keith Diesel and Dirt Derby in March, where Phonsy said he doesn’t plan to take it easy after securing the win.
“I’d like to cement my victory, in Keith there’s a lot of spectators that come and see us so we want to put on a show… we’re not going to lay over,” he said.
Other drivers under Melton’s GM-Motorsport banner Jody Ely and Nate Mullans will be fighting to secure their own victories in Keith.
