Bay of Plenty rafters in clash for top spot

Bay of Plenty rafting crew Ghost Chips are in a tight battle for top honours at the white water rafting champs.

That was the story as the New Zealand White Water Rafting National Championships moved to the Tarawera River, in the Bay of Plenty for the second day of competition yesterday.

Rotorua crew Ghost Chips took top honours on day two of competition which featured the slalom on a tight and technical course on grade 2 and 3 rapids, just minutes from the centre of Kawerau.

This weekend's event is a crucial event for the Kiwi crews. Selection for the 2013 IRF Rafting World Championships in Rotorua and Kawerau is up for grabs.

Ghost Chips had a rough start to the event. In the Sprint on the Kaituna on Friday, crew member, Paul Roozendaal broke a paddle. A five-man Ghost Chips crew still managed third behind the powerful Czech crew, Team Bestie.

On Friday afternoon, they were second in the Head to Head and moved up to second overall.

Their excellent form continued yesterday as they won the Slalom ahead of the classy Team Teikei squad from Japan. Both crews showed superb technical skill, but it was the Kiwis who took the maximum 300 points in a best time of two runs of 2.53.17, with Team Teikei under a second behind.

One of the Ghost Chips crew is Sam Sutton who won his third consecutive world extreme title in Austria a couple of weeks ago, beating 150 of the best extreme paddlers on the planet. He's traded in the kayak for a 6-man raft for the Nationals and a possible place at another sort of White Water Worlds.

After dominating Friday's Sprint and Head to Head on the Kaituna, just north of Rotorua, Team Teikei were in fine form again in the Slalom. They retain first place overall just nine points ahead of Ghost Chips with a maximum of 400 points on the line in today's Down River on the Rangitaiki River, south of Rotorua.

Team Bestie from the Czech Republic were third in the Slalom to retain third, overall.

In Masters Men, the ding-dong battle between local crew, Aotearoa Paddlers and Team BTA from the South Island continued in the Slalom. They are still separated by just a handful of points with only the Down River to go tomorrow.

The Rotorua-based 'Okere Ladies' won the Open Women's Slalom to add to the Sprint and Head to Head on Friday.

The Pre-Worlds and National Championships are being raced on the same river and in the same Incept rafts as the World Championships, in just over a year.

Competition wraps up today with the Down River race on one of the North Island's classic white water rivers, the Rangitaiki, south of Rotorua.

"The Down River is worth 400 points," Raewyn Larcombe from New Zealand Rivers Association said.

"It's a race of strength and stamina that often decides championship titles."

In November, next year around 50 international crews will travel to New Zealand for a 10 day festival of rafitng in one of New Zealand's top tourism destinations.

Overall picture after day two with combined points from Sprint and Head 2 Head on the Kaitunaon Friday and yesterday's Slalom at Kawerau:

Open Men

1) Team Teikei Japan (JAP) 564 points

2) Ghost Chips (NZL) 355 points

3) Bestie Czech (CZE) 483 points

4) Team Doric Sydney (AUS) 432 points

5) Team Cairns (AUS) 414 points

6) OCP (NZL) 396 points

Masters Men

1) Aotearoa Paddlers 588 points

2) BTA 540 points

Open Women

1) Okere Ladies 600 points