More than two years on from their first win in the championship series, Justin Roylance and the Forbes-based Outlaw V8 Superboat team have secured the Australian title.
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After their six rounds were spread across two years of COVID cancellations and delays, the team won their final round in Keith, South Australia, last weekend and are celebrating a victory that hardly seems believable.
"It still really hasn't sunk in," a thrilled Roylance said this week.
The racing season was cancelled after one round in March 2020 just in time to see COVID-19 shut everything down, and started again 12 months on only to face further cancellations.
Surely sport could go ahead in 2022? The first of the three final rounds was scheduled for February 26 and this time it was Mother Nature who hit with the whole northcoast was devastated by flooding and the second day of racing cancelled.
It's a real testament to the team that they were able to maintain their momentum - while also managing businesses and keeping their families going - across that extended period
Roylance is the first to acknowledge it's been difficult, not only mentally but because it's hardly a sport you can practice in the backyard.
"We had to rely on muscle memory (after the lengthy delays)," he said.
"We had one test at Temora - we were lucky that was only a couple of hours away."
He paid tribute to his team of Grant Howell, Peter Hodge, Michael Little, and navigators Tracy Little and Michelle Hodge - and of course his wife Bree.
"We've had a lot of hold-ups, a lot of meetings postponed, we've had cancellations - we've had everything thrown at us," Roylance said.
"It would have been easy to give up but we sat down as a team - and we do have a fantastic team of Forbes people.
"My wife Bree manages the team and makes sure we have got our heads in the right space.
"We are extremely prepared before we go to meetings and we have got our process pretty much down pat."
They have a tight maintenance schedule and they also have a fantastic engine builder - and sponsor - in JRE Race Engines in Shepparton. And that brings us to the boat.
Outlaw is a New Zealand-manufactured jetboat, about 4m long and producing about 730 horsepower.
It's propelled forward not by a propeller but by water being sucked in from underneath and forced out the back, which makes it capable of racing in the sport's tight and comparatively shallow tracks.
"We will accelerate to 120 clicks in under two seconds," Roylance said.
Now 120km/hr might not seem like an excessive speed but these 1km tracks have 30 to 40 changes of direction, some of those 180 degrees.
"The top speed might not seem that exciting but what's exciting is the way they can change direction and accelerate away from the corner," Roylance explains.
"It's quite physical, the G-forces on your body are high. In a 180 degree direction change it can be 5g.
"The channels are only 3.5 to 4m wide, you need pinpoint accuracy on where you point the boat - it needs to be an extension of your body."
As pilot Roylance has got that track memorised before he gets on the water and his navigator - Tracey and Michelle alternate in the role - is right there.
"You really need to block everything else out," he explains.
"The mental game is the biggest thing.
"You need to be super prepared, you have to be in the zone."
Each weekend away - and they travelled as far as Keith in South Australia for the last round - the competitors complete four qualifiers before moving into sudden-death eliminations with final 12 cut down to six and then three.
The Roylances got into the sport in 2013 and they've had their share of crashes and bad luck in the years since.
They still love it.
"It's an amazing sport," Roylance, now president of the national association, says.
"You don't do it for money - there's no prize money in it, it's really a test of your own nerve and endurance."
In an example of the community that the Superboats have, the Roylance team actually offered their boat to their main rival for the championship when their boat had issues on the weekend.
Justin is just so grateful to everyone who has made it possible for them to get to this point, through some seasons that have been tough.
"Thank you to our families and our sponsors - without you we can't do it," Roylance said.
"But also all the people in the town, it's been unbelievable.
"The SOYA (Senior Sportsperson of the Year) accolade really came out of the blue, I was flattered and humbled.
"We're extremely happy and really proud to represent our town."
