A shortened New Zealand Jetsprints championship season came to completion at the Oxbow Adventure Aquatrack near Luggate last Saturday (April 3).

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the championship series of six events held throughout New Zealand was reduced to five, with the final being hosted by the Southern Jet Sprint Club (SJSC) in Wanaka during Easter weekend.

Twenty-three race teams and an estimated 2,800 spectators and supporters attended the one day event.

The series featured entry level Group B boats (around 500 horsepower), Group A boats (often over 600 hpw with bigger carburettors, wider cam shafts and bigger jet units than group Bs) and the Super Boat class, which run on injected methanol with no rules governing engine size.

SJSC member, event organiser and secretary for the New Zealand Jetsprints Association Mandy Tisdall said conditions were cold at the beginning, “but perfect for racing” and contributed to the event's success.

Ash Hey and Rowan Thornton spectacularly lose control of their superboat.

“The competition was tight and fast,” she said, adding the event benefited from the big turnout of competitors who might normally have been overseas travelling if it weren’t for the pandemic. 

The day’s action started with five qualifying rounds, then elimination races began with the top nine, whittling down to the top six and finally the top three from which the winner was decided.

The Super Boats class was won by Sam Newdick and Shama Putaranui, who cemented their places as the 2021 NZ Jetsprint Series championship winners for their class; second place went to Dave and Millie Simmons; and local club members Robert White and Lisa Glubb secured third, which also placed them third overall in the 2021 NZ series for Super Boats. 

In Group A boats, Hamilton-based Ollie Silverton and Jess Sit managed to head off series leaders Si Gibbon and Donna Candish to win their class but had to settle for second in the overall NZ series championship for Group A boats. Si and Donna Candish raced into second place but won the series; and Ross Travers and Amanda Kittow were third.

Also competing well for the first time in Group A class were SJSC members Hamish Murray and Richard Currie. 

The winners of the Group B event on the day, John Verry and Leila Burder, also won the championship title for their class; second went to SJSC members Clayton and Mandy Tisdall, who were racing on a day licence and not competing in the championship, and third were Tim and Dylan Edhouse.

Mandy said she and Clayton only decided last week to race after both being badly injured in “a massive crash” while racing at the Meremere jetsprints last year. 

They dedicated their race success last Saturday to their 23-year-old son Jake Bridson, who died just before New Year in a diving accident near Owaka Heads in the Catlins, she said. 

The Oxbow Adventure Aquatrack was built on Lloyd and Julie Ferguson’s property near Wanaka Airport eight years ago but has been modified since then with more grass, double fencing, wire ropes and a high standard catch fence, Mandy said.

It’s the only jetsprints track in the South Island but the Southern Jet Sprint Club, which was established in 2017, has a goal to build another South Island track in the hope of revitalising the sport in the south again, she said. 

PHOTOS: Jeremy Ward Shot360.