Young American River Rogers Scores First win In NZ
19 year old American Student River Rogers has claimed his first win on NZ Water in the MTW LS class at Featherston. Rogers was unknown to the other kiwi competitors but stated that he had come to win. It was a close battle in the class which saw boats powered by Chevy V8 LS engines. Rogers trailed NZ Champion John Verry through the qualifying and heats, but in the final top 3 he managed to beat Verry for the win by just 0.01 seconds, Verry had been faster at the split, but lost milliseconds when he ran wide at the hairpin.
It was a part of the track which was to prove difficult for many of the 28 competitors. In the Building King Superboats, which put out 1000+ horsepower, only 3 of the top 6 went through to the final with a clean run. Aaron Hanson, Chris Edmonds and Rob Coley all crashed out. Reuben Hoeksema had been the fastest qualifier, but his engine spluttered through the final to 3rd place. Dave Simmons then posted his fastest time but it wasn’t enough. Sam Newdick took the win but admitted to being disappointed not to post the fastest time of the day.
Kris Rasmussen won MTW Group B and Ollie Silverton continued their domination of the Sprintec Group A boats.
The Championship now moves to Wanganui on Dec 27, a track which is popular with drivers and attracts a huge crowd each year.
