Categories wide open in round two of national jetsprint champs in Whanganui

Whanganui's Ross Travers has found more speed as he enters round two of the national jetsprint champs at Shelterview today in his Group A boat Radioactive.

The 'big dry' of December will not rob the Murrray family's Shelterview track of any water for what is now the second round of the Altherm Window Systems New Zealand Jetsprint Championships on Wednesday.

After the dried out Tauherenikau Racecourse round was cancelled earlier this month due to water levels being too low, it was possible the Upokongaro track could regain its iconic night racing round in April on top of the rescheduled December 27 racing.

However, Julia Murray confirmed on Thursday that the NZ Jetsprints Association (NZJSA) has given the final round to expat Whanganui racer Leighton Minnell for his Waitara track in mid-April.

Nonethless, Julia and her Mouthfresh Superboats driver husband Richard will have their track up to scratch with deep enough water for competition, despite the drought-like conditions over the last 40-odd days.

"It's dry, the grass is brown not green," said Julia Murray.

"But otherwise we're all good, we haven't got any problems with the water anyway because it's off the farm."

Murray said their greatest concern was cigarettes and other lighted implements being used around the forest area where fans can watch the event from the shade, and she urged all guests to respect the fire safety rules.

In addition, in order to allow people working over the holidays to make it to the track, the schedule has been pushed out as the doors will open at 11am, but the qualifying races will be later, meaning the day time round should continue to around 7-7.30pm.

Super busy with the hay bales, Murray said her husband still needs to get his Meaner Machine out of the shed, where it has been since the opening round in Wanaka in early November.

"I think it's all good and ready to go. He should really study the rotations."
One who has had his boat out and fined tuned over the off-season is Whangaui's Rob Coley who caught himself out at Wanaka. He ended round one in the top six.

"We were crusing at Wanaka and racing my normal style, quiter early and faster as the heats go," Coley said.

"Unfortunately, they ended the meeting early and that caught us out, although in hindsight it may have been a blessing. We were waiting for parts to arrive and they hadn't so we ran without them. We were going pretty well and cruising."

Meanwhile, Whanganui racer Ross Travers has found extra speed since round one at Wanaka and aims to push hard to haul in Fowler Homes Group A series leader and defending champion Ollie Silverton on Wednesday.

Travers said his boat Radioactive was not at 100 percent in Wanaka, but subsequent testing and tinkering had squeezed another 5km/h out of the machine.

"It doesn't sound a lot but it's actually quite significant. I'm confident we've found and fixed the problem that dogged us in Wanaka," Travers said.

Travers and navigator son Shane are second in series one point adrift of Silverton.

"My favourite track is probably Hastings, but I do go well at Shelterview. Of the five times we've raced here, I've won four."

Whanganui's Hayden Wilson is hungry for the podium again after a season away from the game.

Wilson won the 2014 running of the Stinger Group B series in his boat White Noize and sits sixth after Wanaka. Te Awamutu's Patrick Haden leads the charge with expat Whanganui competitor Kellie Minnell in second.

"Wanaka was pretty much a day to get things sorted after being away for a season. It didn't go exactly as planned, but I'm confident we've got things sorted now and I'm hungry to taste podium finishes again," Wilson said.