Mullans and Atchison win as V8 Superboats return to Victoria at Elmore

Phonsy Mullan, Bastian Mullan and Jade Atchison won the three classes at a sold-out opening round on Elmore's new jetsprint course, while New Plymouth's Matthew Hareb reached the LS final but was classified DNF.

Australian V8 Superboats racing came back to Victoria on Saturday 31 October, with the state's first championship round in 15 years sold out. The Elmore Events Centre, about 50km north-east of Bendigo, hosted the opening round of the 2026/27 season on a course it began building less than a year earlier.

https://goboating.nz/articles/how-elmore-field-days-brought-v8-superboats-back-to-victoria

Phonsy Mullan won Unlimited in Ramjet and Bastian Mullan took Group A in ASP. Jade Atchison and navigator Erin Kearney won LS in Disturbed by 0.347 seconds, the tightest of the three finals.

Victoria last hosted the sport at Melton, west of Melbourne, before that track closed around 15 years ago. Elmore, a town of about 850, is better known for its agricultural field days, equestrian events and tractor pulls. Derek Shotton, the not-for-profit venue's executive manager, told the ABC that building a jetsprint track had been a big risk, and that the response from competitors and spectators had been gratifying. Organisers have said 5,000 tickets were sold and that some people were turned away at the gate.

Mullans take Unlimited and Group A

Phonsy Mullan set the quickest time of any class final, stopping the clock at 35.494 seconds. American River Rogers was 0.819 seconds back in Pure Insanity on 36.313, with Daryl Hutton third in R&J Batteries on 38.478.

Unlimited allows the biggest engines and most freedom to modify them. Some boats run naturally aspirated V8s, while others use superchargers or twin turbos. According to the AFJSA team profiles, Ramjet has a 587 cubic inch LS engine producing a claimed 1,000hp. Hutton’s twin turbo R&J Batteries is listed at 1,300hp. Despite that difference on paper, Mullan had the quicker boat in the Elmore final.

Group A also went to a Mullan, though the final reversed the earlier order. According to the timing sheet, Brendan Doyle was quickest in the Top 6 round with 38.821 seconds in The Girlfriend, ahead of Danny Knappick and Bastian Mullan. In the final, Mullan ran 38.181 seconds to beat Doyle's 38.949 by 0.768 seconds. Knappick was third in Tuff N Up on 39.661.

Group A, known internationally as the 400 class, runs cast-iron V8s under tight engine and hull rules that the AFJSA says put the emphasis on the crew. ASP is listed with a Ramjet Pulse hull and a carburetted GM Motorsport 410 rated at 750hp.

The result picks up where last season ended. The Mullans swept all three classes at the Lake Centenary finale in Temora in May, with Phonsy, Bastian and Nate each taking a win. Nate Mullan, the LS winner that day, wasn't in the Elmore LS top three.

Atchison takes the closest final

Atchison was runner-up to Nate Mullan in that Temora LS final. At Elmore she went one better, posting 38.678 seconds for the NSW Central Coast-based Disturbed Racing Team. Stephen Muhvich replied with 39.025 in Send It, and Mitch Malthouse was third in Nood Nutz B on 42.623, in the second boat of the family team he races with his father, Matt.

LS boats run aluminium Chevrolet LS V8s from 5.7 to 6.2 litres with a control camshaft. Disturbed lists a Stinger hull with a 6.2-litre engine rated at 600hp.

Atchison liked the layout. "It was a bit of a go-kart track which I've kind of always preferred," she told the ABC, adding that on longer tracks the focus shifts more towards outright speed.

Hareb's quick run doesn't count

The LS final was a frustrating one for New Plymouth's Matthew Hareb. Racing Moist Az, with An Le Tran listed as his navigator, Hareb reached the LS final but was classified DNF, with the timing sheet giving the reason as "Wrong Way".

The sheet also shows an elapsed time of 36.775 seconds for his run, quicker than Atchison's winning time, but with the run classified "Wrong Way" it didn't count as a result.

Hareb is better known at home as a Group A driver. Last season he led Group A qualifying at Whanganui, and the Whanganui Chronicle reported that he and navigator Hayden George won the first two Group A rounds of the 2025/26 New Zealand championship.

A short course with little margin

Jetsprint crews race one at a time against the clock through a sequence of channels between islands, with the navigator directing the driver through the set rotation. Elmore's course is about 1km long, with channels 3m wide and 750mm deep, and Shotton told the ABC it was designed to test technical skill rather than maximum speed.

By his account there were plenty of mishaps, missed corners and boats ending up on islands during the day. All three finals were decided by less than a second.

Organisers are already planning improvements, including a third viewing bank for spectators, before Elmore's second meeting. The venue will host two rounds a season for the next five years.

Results and what's next

The championship calendar moves to Temora, NSW, on 28 November, then Griffith on 6 February 2027. Elmore returns on 13 March, when the ABC reports a tractor pull and lawnmower racing will run on the same day. Keith in South Australia hosts round five on 3 April, and the finals are at Dargle, NSW, on 15 May.