With high speed required, Ross Travers will go hunting for his first Group A victory of the season at the fourth round of the New Zealand Jetsprint Championships in Meremere.
With high speed required, Ross Travers will go hunting for his first Group A victory of the season at the fourth round of the New Zealand Jetsprint Championships in Meremere.
It is more likely to be pedal to the metal than heart in mouth when the 2019-20 PSP New Zealand Jetsprint Championships move to the "drag strip" at Meremere for Round 4 on Saturday.
After the events of Wanaka, the Whanganui contingent of drivers are virtually out of the runningfor the season championships, with superboat drivers Rob Coley and Richard Murray not on the announced entry list after engine issues this campaign.
It is a shame because Meremere is the unlimited power Superboats kind of track, with the 27 listed rotations being much longer and smoother to really ramp up the speeds.
"The rotation [plan] they've got, it's the fastest rotation they've had since I've been doing it," said Group A driver Ross Travers, who finished in the Top 5 in at the January round in Wanaka.
"We've got four straights, and they're unbelievably straight. It's a superboat track, so it'll be tough for the Group A and B's."
A former Group B national champion, Travers prides himself on his skill on the tighter courses, which are more of a mental test for the man behind the wheel.
"Sprint boats are built to go around corners at high speed."
Looking for podium placings for the rest of the season, one competitor Travers doesn't have to worry about this time is Canterbury's title contender Simon Gibbon, who is using up his one 'get out of jail free card' to be best man at the wedding of his former navigator this weekend.
The 2019-20 season saw the introduction of the 'drop round' rule, where drivers count their best five round results out of six to determine their final tally.
With Gibbon absent, his Whanganui navigator Donna Thomson is blowing the dust off her Two-A-Breast boat to enter the Group B competition, taking Tracey Thomson as her navigator.
Two-A-Breast will be making a comeback in Group B for this round.
Gibbon's absence opens the door a little wider for Hamilton's series leader Ollie Silverton to potentially open up a little more points advantage on his home track, although Travers would love to play the spoiler.
"We haven't had to do anything to [Radioactive] between meetings."
In the Group B's, former national champion Hayden Wilson is hoping for a much better weekend after his 30-hour return trip to Wanaka saw him have to withdraw after just two runs due to oil pressure issues.
Needing full speed to be competitive at Meremere with series leader and another Waikato local in Karl Beaver, Wilson can't afford to become a "chilly bin spectator" again.
"[Speed], that's what Meremere is.
"Last time we lost all pressure and it was game over. That's all fixed and ready to go."
Like Travers, Wilson will still commit to completing the whole series, which gets easier after this weekend with the fifth round just up the road in Waitara next month and then home track at Upokongaro to finish in April.
While the rotation format looks very easy and Wilson has had success at Meremere before, he is conscious that one wrong turn likely means handing a timing advantage to the rest field which you are unlikely to make back.
"Because it's a bigger track, fast track, the islands are bigger.
"If you go the wrong way, it's a lot longer to get back to the rotation."
Like Travers in Group A, Wilson hopes he can be a spoiler for series leader Beaver.
"I'd like to say yes, they're doing quite well this season, had a bit over us in Whanganui [in round 2].
"But judging on our two runs in Wanaka, we would have competed with him."
In the Superboats, Featherston's Scott Donald is looking to continue his strong season and hold off defending champion Glen Head on his home track.
