Eventful final round of NZ Jetsprint Championship in Whanganui

A fire broke out in River Rogers and Cole Keats' boat in the second qualifying round but the duo went on to win the championship in the MTW LS Class. Photo / Jeremy Ward, Shot360 Photography

A boat fire and surprise winners marked the end of the New Zealand jetsprint season at the Shelter View Track near Whanganui.

Sunday was the final round of the NZ Jetsprint Championship and finale of the 2024/25 jetsprint season.

New Zealand Jetsprint Association president Julia Murray was pleased with the final day of a busy season.

“It went well, it ran very smoothly – we had a couple of accidents and a fire but nothing too major,” Murray said.

Murray was referring to an incident when River Rogers and Cole Keats' boat caught fire partway through the second qualifying round, thought to have been caused by a leaky fuel line.

The rescue team was able to remove the pair from the boat, extinguish the fire and try to fix the boat.

Surrounding crews helped clean the partly melted boat and replace the completely melted seat belts before the crew pulled off an impressive comeback.

“He was safety checked, went back out again and won – so that was a pretty cool story,” Murray said.

Rogers and Keats won the round and overall championship in the MTW LS Class.

There was another curveball in the Building King Superboat Class, with Christchurch couple Simon and Sarah Gibbon winning, despite sitting in eighth heading in the final.

Phonsy Mullan and Niketa Wells were unable to follow up on their win at the World Series and previous three rounds of the NZ Championship, experiencing technical faults and having to pull out in the latter rounds.

Christchurch couple Sarah (left) and Simon Gibbons pulled off a surprise win in the final round. Photo / Jeremy Ward, Shot360 Photography

Murray said she liked it when there were changes to the narrative.

“There were wee dramas which is awesome because it makes for entertaining races,” Murray said.

“I quite like it when you have changes in there.”

Ollie Silverton and Amanda Kittow won the QDC Group A Class after winning consistently all season.

Whanganui couple Rob and Ange Coley finished fifth on 92 points overall in the NZ Jetsprint Championship.

The competitors will next be in action around the start of December.

Murray said the season had brought more followers and competition as the sport continued to progress.

“We had three rookies get in the boat – when you get rookies, they bring another following,” she said.

“They get in and their friends see what they are doing and that is how it evolves and keeps running.

“As some come out and retire, the new ones come in and bring more followers into the sport.”

An ever-present complication in the sport was the lack of track availability due to geographic problems and obtaining water.

Murray said Whanganui was fine but tracks such as Meremere and Tauherenikau could be affected.

NZ Jetsprint Association’s July annual meeting will iron out dates and locations for next season.