On track for world jetsprinting title

ON THEIR GAME: Gisborne driver Blake Briant and navigator Kate Hoogerbrug have set a hot pace in round 1 of the UIM world jetsprint championships. The pair won the group A division at Meremere yesterday and will look to complete the job in the second and deciding round at Baypark this weekend. They also lead the New Zealand series after two rounds. Picture by Ian Thornton

HALFWAY there. Gisborne jetsprinting duo Blake Briant and Kate Hoogerbrug head to the second and deciding round of the UIM world titles with one hand on the group A trophy.

A dream series of runs in the opening round at the Meremere Sprint Bowl south of Auckland yeterday saw the pair continue from where they left off at the national championships.

They had a significant edge over the competition throughout the day and ended up winning the top three run-off for round honours by around 0.80 of a second.

Chasing them all day were arch-rivals Sam Newdick (Hamilton) and Glenn Mason (Gisborne), who remain their main threat going into round 2 at Mount Maunganui’s Baypark this anniversary holiday weekend.

But their team will need to find something that has eluded them, and has the Briant combination firmly in the box seat.

Navigator Hoogerbrug told The Herald this morning that they were “quietly confident” but certainly not looking too far ahead.

Dream runYesterday’s performance was a dream run and they were always around about a second ahead.

Their top five run was their fastest time of the day — 46.265 — when Briant and Newdick upped the tempo from the earlier rounds.

“They pushed it to the absolute limit,” said Hoogerbrug.

Extreme heat at Meremere saw them having buckets of ice on hand.

The mercury level, competitively at least, is sure to rise this weekend as the chasing pack desperately search for answers to combat Briant’s Harvest Transport package.

Should they finish the job at Baypark this weekend, Briant would join father Pete (five-times superboats) and uncle Rex Briant (group A) as a world champion.