By Faith Macale
Melton father-and-son duo Phonsy and Bastian Mullan secured not one, but two world championship titles at the UIM World Jetsprint Championship in Whanganui, New Zealand.
Bastian, and his navigatorTahleah Mullan, are the first world champions in the LS Class, a new class raced at the world championships this year.
“I feel so good,” he said.
“A lot of people were somewhat expecting me to be at the front of the field.
“I didn’t want to let them down.”
Bastian said despite the pressure he felt, he was confident with the “absolute rocketship of a boat”.
“I basically just had to be cool, calm, and confident, and steer the boat around the truck as best I could,” he said.
Phonsy kept his Building King Superboat Class world champion title after a nail-biting run.
Phonsy, and his navigator, Narelle Pellow-Djukic, recorded a run of 43.262 seconds, beating their opponent by only 0.6 seconds.
“We ran in the finals under low water conditions, meaning the tracks actually got slower,” he said.
“For us to pull that time is pretty amazing.”
Bastian said he didn’t face as much competition as his dad.
“The biggest battle I had to face was myself,” he said.
“I had to just not listen to everyone, and not fall to the pressure.”
Phonsy faced 22 boats from all over the world in his class, with three teams eliminated each round.
By the top six, Phonsy’s boat was damaged, leaving him sure they weren’t going to make it to the finals.
“With the water levels dropping, we took off crucial parts under our boat,” he said.
“Our team worked relentlessly to fix the boat in between the top six, and top three runs.
“Our competition had a brand-new boat, so we were against the odds.
“We ran our original boat that was about three and a half years old.”
Phonsy said world titles in the same event was a dream come true for himself and Bastian.
“It was an absolutely amazing, and historical achievement for father and son to do it in the same team,” he said.
“The pressure we’ve had, we’ve been building for at least a year.
“Winning the world titles, and winning it at the same time maybe was just the cherry on top, but that wasn’t our focus.
“Our focus was to be the best in the world at what we do, and we are the best in the world now at what we do.”
The duo said the credit is also due to their team, and the locals who have supported them in their journey to become world champions.
