Jetsprints come to Tauherenikau

One of the world's most spectacular forms of motorsport comes to Wairarapa on Sunday, with round two of the 2008-09 World Jetsprint championships being staged at Trust House Aquatrack at Tauherenikau.
The top 50 boats from Australia and New Zealand descend on the purpose-built track within the confines of the racecourse for a day of adrenaline-charged racing.
Jetsprinting is one of the world's most popular contests, and television feed from Tauherenikau will be beamed to up to 180 million homes throughout Australia, Asia, the United States and Europe in coming weeks.
And it comes with all the fanfare you'd expect from a major sporting event like this. National president Garry Smith, of Featherston, who is also a competitor, says there will be not one but two public parades of competing boats, one through Wellington today. Tomorrow, there will be scrutineering of boats at the Horseshoe car park in Masterton from 9am to noon. This is a good opportunity to see the boats and meet the Australian and Kiwi drivers. At around noon there will be a motorcade from Masterton to the track.
Tomorrow afternoon is a good time to get a cheap taste of the action. A donation will get fans into the circuit, where crews will be busy with practise and qualifying.
"It might be a bit higglety-pigglety, with hold-ups and no commentary, but it's a good chance to see some action," Garry said.
On Sunday it will be all on. In addition to the racing, there'll be activities for the children including lolly scrambles and a big finale in which a monster truck is scheduled to munch a japper or two. Cost is $20 an adult, $10 for 5 to 15s, $50 for families. Under-5s get in free.
The gates open at 9am and racing goes from 11am till 4.30pm, an amazing day's entertainment, especially if our fine weather continues.
All action
A large part of the appeal of jetsprinting is the rapid-fire action.
One by one, boats line up at the start, leaping from the water as the driver unleashes anything up to 800hp. The top drivers keep their V8 engines at top revs throughout the 50-odd seconds it takes to complete a narrow and shallow course that winds and twists within itself.
It's easy to get lost in the noise, spray, wash and confusion, despite crews having walked the course before-hand. The driver relies on hand signals from his navigator to stay on course.
Each competitor has three qualifying runs, with the fastest 16 in each class progressing to the elimination rounds that are raced on the "sudden-death" principle.
The field is halved in each round, reducing from 16 to 8 to 4, down to the two crews that contest the finals.
Accidents happen when racing on narrow, shallow waterways, and it's not uncommon to see boats cartwheeling off the course. Marshals are on hand in seconds to ensure nobody is hurt and the track cleared for the next runner.
NZ advantage
The Kiwis have the advantage in Superboats, after round one of the world series at Meremere last weekend, but watch out for the Aussies in the ultra-competitive Group A, Garry Smith said.
The methanol-fuelled Superboats have no limit on horsepower, 1000hp being a starting point and some going as high as a whopping 1500hp. Boats can be supercharged or turbocharged.
The Kiwis dominated this class at Meremere, with several-times champion Peter Caughey, from Christchurch, taking the honours from Palmerston North driver Richard Burt and Duncan Wilson, from Waitotara.
A measure of the extremes teams can go to is Lower Hutt-domiciled Wairarapa members Ray and Nicky Ferguson, who are running the biggest engine in the sport, an 11,500cc big block. To put that into perspective, each of the eight cylinders has the same capacity as a Toyota Corolla!
None of the Aussies, headed by husband and wife team Phil and Louise Dixon, made the top four in Superboats.
The family struck gold in Group A, with daughter Brooke, 20, guiding V8 Supercar ace Nathan Pretty, pictured, to victory, ahead of top Kiwi Peter Briant, of Gisborne, and Aussie world champion Slade Stanley. Briant is the reigning world Superboat champion, but stepped down to Group A for the closer racing.
Pretty is proving as fast on the water as on the track. He has raced 11 times at Bathurst for six top-10 placings. He and Jack Perkins, driving for the Jack Daniels team, were eighth last year.
The group A boats, with fuel and induction restrictions, generally put out around 650hp. There is a third class, Lites, but these introduction-level boats do not compete at World Championships.
Track name
The Tauherenikau jetsprint circuit has a new name, Trust House Aquatrack, recognising the generosity of the funding organisation, which provided a $35,000 grant for the 2008-09 World championship meeting.
The venue was previously named for Oldfields, the company that carved the track out of farmland inside the racecourse. Water for the facility is pumped from the adjacent Tauherenikau River.
Garry Smith acknowledged the contribution of Oldfields, which this year decided against renewing its contract with the club. He said the decision to change the name recognised Trust House's outstanding contribution.
The Wairarapa club is now extremely well set up, including use of the old tote building as a headquarters.
In the past three years the club has poured most of its income into development of the track. This work has included lengthening the track, installing a concrete launching ramp and buying their own pump to get water from the river to the track.
All they need now is their own tractor to drive the pump (until now they have hired the equipment).
It's a remarkable achievement for a small bunch of volunteers and a wonderful extra attraction for Wairarapa, now firmly on the international jetsprinting map.