Rain reins in the jetsprinters

Rob Coley and his fellow Superboat drivers did not get to sort out a clear winner on Saturday after heavy rain saw racing abandoned in Waitara.

It was a damp and anticlimactic start to the Altherm Window Systems 2016/2017 NZ Championship after a downpour swept the Methanex Aquatrack in Waitara on Saturday.

Race controller Eric Hoeksema made the call around 3pm that conditions were too dangerous to continue, making it the first national jetsprints round to be called off early for weather in many seasons.

Governing body the JSA will now decide how points are allocated as the Group B and Stinger Group A divisions had reached the Top 8 eliminator section of their competitions, while the Mouthfresh Superboats were only up to the Top 12.

Track owner and expat Whanganui national champion Leighton Minnell said he and his fellow superboat drivers were likely to get 10 points each.

"We'll just all be allocated the same points. All the superboats will start [Round 2] on even. It's a fresh start."

"Can't control the weather. The drivers were raving about the track changes, everyone was complimentary.

"It was technical and fast."

Whanganui contender Rob Coley said the points should be allocated amongst the 11 crews who were still running in the Top 12, more than those who could not continue and certainly not those who had declined to make the opening round.

"If they turn around and give everyone zero, then anyone that didn't attend [gets] an even playing field. It feels like we haven't started."

Coley said he nearly missed the round himself as the Poison Ivy boat was still on it's side last Wednesday getting it's motor sorted.

"We got the boat together, literally, on Thursday night."

On Saturday, they had to use a second spare motor as the rods inside the primary engine could not be done up, while the first qualifier race was missed with a fuel leak and the second saw Coley hit the bank.

However, the third qualifier run went smoothly and Coley was feeling confident heading into the eliminators.

"I was looking forward to a good day."

The crew will now use the long break till the February round in Auckland to put in a new motor, which arrives in six weeks.

Things had been looking up for the other Whanganui connections as well.

"Kelli made it, she was going fourth or fifth, driving well," said Leighton Minnell about his wife, who debuts as a Group B driver this season after being a navigator for her husband and Coley.

Moving up to Group A racing, former Group B champion Ross Travers had the fastest time coming out of the Top 12, having overcome a fuel pressure problem earlier in the day.

"It will be brought back to Top 12 [for spreading points]. We knew [with the weather] we had to get in the Top 8."

It was just a matter of sorting out the "catch 22" for giving some points to drivers who clapped out before the eliminators, ahead of crews who did not attend, Travers said.

"Everyone that turned up there should get points. Especially the three South Islanders."

Travers was still encouraged with the performance of his Radioactive boat in his first round of Group A racing.

"With our motor, we've definitely got the pace."

Second round of the series will be on February 5 at the Meremere Sprint Bowl in Auckland, followed by a return to Waitara for Round 3 on February 25.