There will be no night racing and no Meaner Machine in action on their home track when the fourth round of the national jetsprint series is held at Upokongaro on Saturday.
There will be no night racing and no Meaner Machine in action on their home track when the fourth round of the national jetsprint series is held at Upokongaro on Saturday.
From the first time two men who owned horseless carriages decided to see which of them could drive the fastest, there has been politics in motor racing.
The watersport versions are no different, as the Whanganui contingent in the Mouthfresh 2018-19 NZ Jet Sprint Championships have had to face up to heading into the crucial fourth round on their home track at Shelterview on Saturday morning.
Morning is the sore point, as the New Zealand Jetsprint Association committee announced at the previous round in Hastings, earlier this month, they would do away with the iconic "night round", which had been scheduled to return after two seasons absence.
The racing in the evening under floodlights at Shelterview has always been an anticipated fixture on the season calender and pulls very healthy crowd numbers to the Upokongaro farm of Richard and Julia Murray.
However, some out-of-town drivers, especially in the entry level Group B division, have often voiced their discomfort racing under lights, which has a different depth perception.
This was most obvious back in 2014 when Waitotara's Duncan Wilson crashed into a fence after his steering wheel came loose, which put one of the light poles out of commission.
Despite expat Whanganui driver Leighton Minnell rigging up a portable light for that section of the track, there were some loud voices at the driver's briefing wanting to stop for the night, which were ultimately out-voted.
However, this time around the Murray's were told they had to run a second daytime round to follow the season opener at Shelterview on December 27, which created a late headache in sorting out a new course rotation, as the event staff usually leave that call until they've tested under lights in the weeks before the event.
"Not really happy about it, but the JSA told us it had to be a day event," said Julia Murray.
"I'm trying to put this all nicely.
"There's a small minority of racers that don't like night racing. Squeaky wheels."
Murray said rather than making such a late call, it would have been better if a final decision had been confirmed at the AGM before the season started, because they would have planned to host the round on a Sunday, so it did not conflict with other events in Whanganui.
"There's so many other things on. You've got the [club] rugby season starting."
As far as the Murray's are concerned, having worked with health and safety experts, a night round is often safer than day events, especially in the late afternoon when the final pressure races are being held and "sun-strike" – aka glare off the water from a low-hanging sun – affects driver vision.
The Top 3 finalists in all divisions had to contend with sun strike on one part of the track during the December round.
"We had to pull a day [rotation] out of the hat," Murray said.
"It's actually the one where Rob went out into the neighbours property."
Local Superboat star Rob Coley and then-navigator Kellie Minnell had a horrific crash in their 1050hp Poison Ivy craft in December 2015, when the boat drove over the finishing line spin-out pool and barrel-rolled 15-20m through the air to land in scrub on the opposite side of the boundary fence.
Both walked away, with Minnell's broken nose the worst injury, and the course was changed from that season onwards so the finishing line is now down in front of the main commentary tower.
A good job as well, given Coley now has a 1200hp Poison Ivy, built for him by retired multiple-time national and world champion Peter Caughey, and is in a neck-and-neck race with Hamilton rival Glen Head for this season's unlimited power Superboat title.
Coley beat Head by just 0.049s in the Top 3 final at the season opener at Shelterview, and will be hoping for more of the same after the Waikato racer has finished ahead of him at the next two rounds in Meremere and Hastings.
With Coley and Head swapping 1-2 finishes all season, they have a clear points advantage on the rest of the Superboats field, which will likely be extended with a couple of other contenders unavailable.
Adding to the track frustrations, fifth-placed Richard Murray will not be able to run Meaner Machine after the engine kept cutting out at Hastings, leading to a couple of prangs into the tyre walls.
Murray and his crew stripped the engine apart looking for the fault.
"It's fuel issues and he found the fuel pump was buggered," said Julia Murray.
"Hastings put the kibosh on it."
While the fuel pump may not have been the main problem, it was definitely a contributing factor, and with Murray now likely out of contention for the Top 3 finish this season, he will probably not run the final round at Oxbrow Aquatrack in Wanaka either.
It is a shame, because Murray would have had the chance to overtake fourth-placed Blake Briant, with the Gisborne driver attending a wedding this weekend.
In the other divisions, there are two Whanganui drivers looking to make a definitive statement on their home track in their quest for the season titles.
Group A driver Ross Travers, who shares the Radioactive boat with his son Shane in his rookie season, sits four points behind Hamilton's defending champion Ollie Silverton and needs to make up most of that to have a shot at claiming the title in Wanaka.
Whanganui's Hayden Wilson could just about wrap up the Group B title with one round remaining if he has a strong afternoon on his home course.
Having had a excellent season so far with two victories and a third placing, the only class driver to make every podium, former Group B national champion Hayden Wilson could just about make the title safe if he can maintain or extend his eight point lead at Shelterview .
Qualifying races start at 8.30am, with the doors open to the public at 11am, aiming for a 6pm finish.
Points Table
Group B: 1. Hayden Wilson/Aaron Greeks (Whanganui) 88 points; 2. Bevan Schuler/Grant Gibson (Eltham) 80; 3. Tim & Debbie Edhouse (Owhango) 80; 4. Daniel Reade/Jasmine Webster (Waitara) 79; 5. Kellie Minnell/Sherie Patterson (New Plymouth) 77.
Group A: 1. Ollie Silverton/Jess Sit (Hamilton) 89; 2. Ross Travers/Amanda Kittow (Whanganui) 85; 3. Neil Marshall/Jay Haden (New Plymouth) 80; 4. Sean & Fay Rice (New Plymouth) 77; 5. Clayton & Mandy Tisdall (Tapanui) 75.
