Hamilton jetboat rider Ollie Silverton and his navigator Jessica Sit have won the NZ Jetsprints Championships four times.
Hamilton jetboat rider Ollie Silverton and his navigator Jessica Sit have won the NZ Jetsprints Championships four times.
Jetboats will be roaring in full force in the Waikato tomorrow when the PSP Jetsprint Championship celebrates its return to Meremere from a three-year hiatus due to Covid-19 and flooding events.
But the first time back at Meremere Sprint Bowl is also going to be thelast time the event is going to be held there as the land is going to be converted into a speedway track.
The event has been held in north Waikato since 2002, so the organisers and participants are in two minds about the weekend: Excited and sad.
Hamilton jetboat rider Ollie Silverton and his navigator Jessica Sit have been racing in the event since the start, taking home four wins in the group A class races.
Silverton said he was sad to see the track close its doors.
“Our lease for the land that the jet sprint track is on is not being renewed and the area is being developed into a speedway track.
PSP race team, Ollie Silverton and Jessica Sit, at the NZ Jetsprints championship in Wanaka for round three.
“My brother-in-law also races in the superboat class, and both of us have had a lot of involvement at the Meremere track. It’s where we both kicked off our careers.
“It’s a track that is the most readily available and it takes away that development and practice that we had available on our doorstep. It’s sad, but it’s also exciting [to be back after three years].”
Silverton said the last event was going to be big.
“This is the largest field of competitors that we’ve had enter for the whole series to date. There will be close to 35 boats, and a lot of boats that have come out of the woodwork, just to be a part of the final race at Meremere.
The PSP team after their win at Wanaka, for round three of the NZ Jetsprints Championships 2024.
“From a spectator point of view, the competition is going to be really exciting.”
Meremere holds the fourth round of the championship with another round remaining, and Silverton is ready to claim another win.
“Jessica and I are also competing in the Australian group A championship, and we raced there last weekend and came in second place.
“We have a little bit of work to do there, but we’re chipping away and we’re not far from a win.
“We’ve won the first three rounds in this competition, and we’re looking for another win to finish Meremere on a high at its last event.”
Although the track at Meremere will close down, Silverton said the Jetsprint Champs would continue.
“We hope to find another venue, [but] there’s a lot of costs involved with setting up a new track and all the political hoops you have to jump through for council consent.”
He said the event organisers had been hunting for a new track for a long time, but nothing had been confirmed yet.
“The biggest thing is finding a venue that has land available at a cheap rate, but we also need a water supply that’s readily available to fill the track.”
The 2024 New Zealand Jetsprint Championship will kick off at the Meremere Sprint Bowl tomorrow from 10.30am.
Spectators at the event are asked to get ready to have their hair blown when the jetboats take off at a speed of 135km/h in under two seconds.
Tickets for the event can be purchased online via Eventfinda.
Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.
