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Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Jet sprinters power on to podium in US

By Jared Smith
Whanganui Chronicle·
1 Sep, 2014 06:46 PM3 mins to read

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The South Islanders claimed the two world crowns and Wanganui earned a round trophy as the 2014 World Jet Sprint Series concluded at Lebanon, near Portland yesterday afternoon.

Finishing on Sunday evening, United States time, the boats were still being scrutinised yesterday but the preliminary results from Round 2 showed Canterbury's Peter Caughey had taken out his seventh world championship with a drive of 57.718s in the Top 3 superboat final, followed by Australians Phonsy Mullen and Greg "Crusty" Mercier.

It meant Caughey finished first overall for the combined scores of Portland and Round 1 of the series at Poplar Bluff, Missouri, with Mercier and Mullen sharing second-equal in the overall standings.

In the Group As, Wanganui's Richard Murray and navigator Ian Carter came third in Lebanon, with Wanaka's Dave Hopkins winning the round and the world title with a 63.979s time in the final, after doing a "double drive" in his new boat with Taupo veteran Reg Smith.

That result meant Murray got up from sixth to finish fourth in the series, with Australian Brooke Dixon second overall and Smith third.

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"We're pretty happy with that, had a lot better day than in Missouri," said Murray. "We'll be taking a podium trophy home with us."

Wife Julia Murray, who assisted with the organising of the event, said the track was very difficult and a lot of jetsprinters struggled to get their rotations right in the practices on Saturday and Sunday morning qualifiers.

"We're absolutely stoked [with fourth]. He was sixth previously so making up to fourth was awesome. It's hard racing in the States so to take a trophy home is good."

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In a previous email, Julia Murray had said the track was very stoney as the water levels were low, which caused "heaps of carnage", she wrote.

"[Kiwi] Graeme Hill crashed [Saturday] doing a lot of damage to his boat, they are anticipating an all-nighter to fix it.

"Leighton [Minnell] is also struggling with the rotation and also came out on an island, but didn't suffer any damage to the boat."

Wanganui expat and defending world champion Minnell would eventually be eliminated in the Top 8 of the superboats.

"He kept getting caught on one of the sweepers," said Julia Murray.

Hill would recover to come fourth on the day, while Wanganui's Rob Coley and navigator Ricky Lee went out in the Top 8.

However, Coley and crew deserve a mention in dispatches after their bad crash at Missouri, where Coley broke his fibula.

Julia Murray said after the crew's running repairs on the boat, Coley took another navigator out with him on the final qualifier while Lee was getting a medical check, so they would not be disqualified.

Coming back to Portland, the tough-as-nails Wanganui competitor had trouble twisting his foot for the accelerator.

"He got a medical certificate so he was able to race," Julia Murray said.

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The team had a few more problems in Portland, such as a DNF for not switching on their boat's transponder.

Hill would finish fourth, the highest-placed Kiwi behind Caughey.

Julia Murray said ultimately, the home American and Canadian crews were not able to keep up with the New Zealanders and the Australians.

However, they had been very interested in how the Anzacs ran their boats and there has been talk of a few of them coming down for the national series this summer.

The prizegiving was being held this afternoon, NZT, and then most of the Kiwi crews will be coming straight home, although the Murrays are off to visit Vancouver.

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