Round four of the PSP New Zealand Jetsprints took place on Sunday, March 8, held at the Riverside Jet Racing Track in Crownthorpe, 30km west of Hastings. This track has now been up and running for four seasons. One of the things to know about the Crownthorpe track is that there is a nasty corner at the far end, frequently making things get pretty exciting — pair that with more than 30 boats competing across three different classes, and the day always looked like it was going to be a big one!
The three classes include the Biolytix 400, which is limited to cast-iron blocks and displacements no larger than 412ci — nothing too fancy. Ross and Shane Travers took out the Biolytix class honours in their ‘Radioactive’ sprint boat, with Patrick and Jay Haden the runner-ups for the class, in ‘Skitzo’, their boat. Third place for the class went to Hayden Wilson and Chris Hausman in the ‘White Noize’ boat.
Turning the heat up a notch was the PSP Suntuf Group A — still limited to 412ci, but larger carburettors, wilder camshaft profiles, and larger jet units were permitted. Top of the podium was awarded to Blake Briant and Kate Hoogerbrug. Sam Nedwick and Glenn Mason placed second in the bright orange Suntuf unit. Si Gibbon and Paul Thompson, in the Novus Auto Glass–sponsored blue beast, rounded off the class podium in third.
The top dogs are the Suzuki Grand Vitara Superboats. These are the big boys, where just about anything goes — no displacement limit, forced induction is allowed, as is fuel injection, and most in this class run on methanol, making for very exciting racing. Class honours here went to the Wanganui-based duo of Rob and Tony Coley in ‘Poison Ivy’, closely followed by Glen Head and Darren Todd’s ‘Overtime’, which took out second place. ‘The Hulk’, piloted by Pat Dillon and Steve Edmonds, took third place in this class, rounding off a day of fantastic racing.
