Whanganui's Hayden Wilson missed the Group B national championship by only 0.319s at the final round in Wanaka on Saturday.
Whanganui's Hayden Wilson missed the Group B national championship by only 0.319s at the final round in Wanaka on Saturday.
It has proved a season that might have been in the Mouthfresh 2018-19 NZ Jetsprint Championships for Whanganui drivers in all three divisions, as the titles slipped through their grasps at Wanaka's Oxbrow Aquatrack on Saturday.
In very cold and initially rainy conditions for the fifth and final round, Whanganui's Rob Coley (Superboats), Ross Travers (Group A) and Hayden Wilson (Group B) were all in either direct or mathematical contention to finish 1NZ for the season, but a combination of bad luck and the skill of their opposition would deny them.
After truncated qualifying runs due to the rain, all three Whanganui racers entered their respective Top 9 eliminators, and unfortunately for Coley in Poison Ivy, his near faultless season came unstuck right when it counted.
It was not a case of crash and burn, but rather burn then crash, as Coley and navigator-wife Ange had been fortunate to came through unscaved when there was a fuel fire right behind their seats during a qualifying run.
The crew successfully made repairs to continue but Coley, who had struggled with the course rotations, got into the Top 6 but then just turned a fraction early on a tight corner and caught the side of the bank, sending them crashing on their side off the course.
That DNF handed the title to Hamilton's Glen Head, who had been leading the series by only a point from Coley, and the Waikato driver went on an extended victory lap by still winning the round ahead of Auckland's Baden Grey and Featherston's Scott Donald, who only entered the Wanaka event.
Head was the only driver to break into the 50s mark, which he did twice, including a round-best 50.046s in the Top 3 final.
Travers, using a borrowed engine after his disasterous fourth round at Shelterview, finished second for Group A in Wanaka, which still left him in 3NZ for the season again.
His 51.892s lap in the Top 3 final was just bettered by Tapanui's Clayton Tisdall (51.614s), while New Plymouth's Neil Marshall finished third with a 52.071s drive, which still gave him 2NZ overall.
Hamilton's Ollie Silverton, who had a ten point lead heading into Wanaka, was a surprise early elimination in the Top 6 after also driving the wrong way, but having dominated the campaign previously it was more than enough.
"Ollie still won it, all he had to do was just get into the Top 9," Travers said.
"We ended up two points behind Neil at the end.
"The way the boat was going in Whanganui, before it blew up, we could have had a good result [there]. That would have been enough for 1NZ.
"We had a borrowed motor from Stuart Latham, who raced last season."
Travers surprised the jetsprint fraternity with his home-made disc mask, which he taped to the front of his helmet in a throwback to his kart racing days, as the disc spins around to wipe off the sleeting rain which can wreck havoc with driver vision.
"[The water] actually hurts and you can't see very well, [so] it definitially helps," he said.
"Bascially it's just a big plastic disc that goes onto the helmet."
Ross Travers wore a home made helmet disc alongside navigator Amanda Kittow to combat the wet conditions in Wanaka.
Travers did a double drive in the Radioactive boat with his rookie son Shane, who managed a 56.247s time in the Top 9 to be the fastest of the eliminated boats at that stage.
But the hardest luck story was in Group B as Whanganui's former national champion Hayden Wilson missed out on another title by just 0.319s, as Owhango's Tim Edhouse completed a brilliant late season comeback to finish 1NZ.
Wilson had taken a near-uncatchable eight point advantage into the fourth round, but his engine grille falling off in the Top 9 eliminator at Shelterview gave Edhouse, who finished runnerup, the chance to tie the scores leading into Wanaka.
On the day, the two drivers were neck-and-neck, being the only one's out of the ten Group B entrants to break into the 55s mark during the eliminators.
"There was one other [in qualifying] but he ended up going the wrong way in the Top 9," said Wilson.
"All I had to do was make the Top 6, then I knew it was me and him [for the title]."
In the Top 3 final, Wilson had an "ugly" start and finished with a 55.871s lap, slower than his 55.733s run during the Top 6 eliminator and behind what Edhouse had previously managed with 55.631s.
