NZ Jetsprint Final Round Sunday March 3rd
NZ Jetsprint Championship 2023/24 – Final Round Wanganui, Sunday 3rd March
The Shelter View Jetsprint track in Wanganui is preparing for a large crowd on Sunday March 3 to watch the final day of racing in the 2023/24 NZ Jetsprint Championship. The racing will be on the edge as teams push hard to get themselves out of qualifying and through the runoffs to the top 3 finals for this championship showdown.
With a course layout which looks to be fast and flowing there could be incredibly fast times for the Building King Superboats which have 15 boats all vying to come out on top on the day.
Building King Superboats
In this closely fought class, who will take 1st , 2nd & 3rd in the Championship? PSP Racing, Sam Newdick & Shama Putaranui are sitting pretty having won 4 from 4 so far on 120 points. The battle for 2nd and 3rd is super close. Building Kings Rob & Ange Coley are on 106, Link ECU Blue Flame are on 105 and 2JZ Rueben Hoeksema & Jacob Wood are on 104. It will come down to who keeps their cool and gets around the quickest on the day. Outside of the NZ Championship there are also some great packages running alongside on day licenses, All the way from the USA, Jolly Rogers Eric Werner & Jen Farmer are hoping to back up their success at Meremere. The X, the second 6-clylinder boat to take on the V8s, the Ford Barra driven by super experienced Richard Burt, showed that they had class at Meremere, coming out in the Top 3 and will also be a team to keep an eye on.
Sprintec Boats Group A
Current 1NZ PSP Racing Ollie Silverton & Jess Sit have won four from four this season and are looking comfortable to retain their title. Competing in Australia last weekend they took the win in the Penrite Oil V8 Superboats competition in Griffin, so will be hoping that their form continues in New Zealand. The battle for 2NZ is between current 2NZ Radioactive Ross Travers & Amanda Kittow on 112 points, and TNT’s Brett Thompson & David Toms on 110 points.
MTW LS Class
He has come all the way from the USA to race us kiwis in the newly formed LS Class and has not put a foot wrong all season. 19-year-old River Rogers looks like he will take the title at Wanganui with the support of his family who have been at every event cheering him on. It is too hard to pick who will make up the next steps on the championship podium. David Hopkins who is back racing after a break of several years is sitting in 2nd on 112 points and close behind him on 108 points are current 1NZ Link ECU John Verry & Declan O’Brien, tied with the Skitzo team of Paddy & Jay Haden.
MTW Group B
After a season he wanted to forget last year, Venom’s Kris Rasmussen is back with a vengeance this season, winning 4 from 4. As long as he starts Round 5 he will take the NZ1 title. Rookies Hamish Clarke & Vanessa Phillips are in the hunt to end up 3rd for the season, they’ve pushed hard at each round, having the “best time” in the process.
The Shelter View Jetsprint track is celebrating 20 years of racing, built back in 2004 with a “Shakedown” to test whether the track was up to National standards; it has had plenty of improvements over the years.
Racing for the Final Round of the Championship starts at 9am, check out the boats and meet the teams in the lunch break, with eliminations starting after lunch.
For event details head to www.v8jetsprints.co.nz and www.jetsprint.co.nz for live coverage.
