Jack Lupton (left) and Ken Lupton with their winning trophies. Photo / Supplied
Jack Lupton (left) and Ken Lupton with their winning trophies. Photo / Supplied
Two Waverley brothers are the first New Zealanders to win a Grand Prix America Hydroplane series.
Jack Lupton won the Grand Prix (GP) Southern Nationals in Guntersville, Alabama, on June 26 and the following weekend his brother Ken won the Grand Prix America Hydroplanes Grand in Madison, Indiana.
No New Zealander has ever won a series in the Grand Prix America Hydroplane before.
Their boats were built in Ontario, Canada, and had engines supplied by Whanganui-based Grant Rivers and engine builder Paul Hewitt.
Jack Lupton's boat during his winning race of the Grand Prix Southern Nationals. Photo / Supplied
The brothers arrived in the US two months prior to racing to put the propellers, rudders and other hardware into the boats to be ready for the first race in Cambridge, Maryland.
During the first two races, the brothers had trouble getting their new boats dialled in, but after a check-up,the boats were passed fit to race in the next heat.
Neither brother had such issues in the last race.
In a heat of the GP Southern Nationals, Ken Lupton nearly flipped his boat.
Ken said he went into a tight lane into a corner which caused his boat to fly up in the air, luckily landing the right way up.
"I thought I may as well try and finish the race, but they made me stop and pulled up the red flag," he said.
The crash caused some structural damage to his new boat but was quickly repaired for last weekend's GP.
Ken Lupton's boat in the air during the Grand Prix Southern Nationals. Photo / Supplied
Hydroplane event organiser and the Lupton brothers' media manager Denise Preece said the biggest struggle for Jack and Ken had been the heat.
"It's been around 36C - 37C and they've been needing iced towels around them before getting into the boats," Preece said.
During the GP in Indiana Jack had a problem with his air mask so he struggled to race.
A single race consists of four laps of a 2km course. They can get up to speeds of 225km an hour and complete the race in around two and a half minutes.
One Grand Prix competition consists of three races and then the finals to decide the winner.
The next series they will both compete in is the Valleyfields on the second weekend of July, which brings 130,000 spectators each year.
