Radioactive. .May 2014 Wanganui Chronicle Photograph by Lewis Gardner WGP 29Dec14 - GOOD REWARD: Having invested in a new 400 series boat this season, Ross and Shane Travers won
WHANGANUI'S jetsprinters got to see all sides of the track their former townmate Leighton Minnell built them on Sunday - both right way up and upside down.
It was a mixed bag for the local drivers at Round 3 of the PSP NZ Jet Sprint Championship at the new Methanex Aquatrack in Waitara, with the highlight being defending Group B national champion Ross Travers getting his groove back to win his first round since Featherston at the end of last season.
Travers with navigator son, Shane, discovered at the start of the day that their jet unit, bent in a crash at the Tauranga round of the UIM World Series in January, had not been detected when repairs were made in Foxton.
"At nine o'clock in the morning I was looking for the nearest beer tent," said Travers.
"We went to put it in the water and it was like there was a fountain in the back."
Finding the fault in the unit, they sealed it with silicon, although they missed the first qualifying run as now their steering was switched around.
"When I turned left, it would go right," said Travers.
Getting the boat going, the crew would swap the blades, which made a huge difference, although there was nearly calamity on one run when Ross Travers missed a turn and went over an island.
Travers laughed that his son didn't miss a beat with the near crash.
"All I was hearing from Shane was, "well, we're in the water, Dad, floor it!
"[The course] wasn't too bad, it was pretty tight, but suited our class pretty well.
"In the top five, we were about 1.7s quicker than anyone else."
The Top 5 eliminator race was run as the final instead of a Top 3, due to time constraints, and Travers put down a 38.166s lap - breaking the two round winning streak of Te Awamutu's Patrick Haden (39.882s), while Owhanga's Tim Edhouse was third in 40.115s.
Whanganui's former national champion Hayden Wilson was also getting back into form to make the Top 5, and looking good for a podium placing until the second split of his lap.
"I ran out of channel. I rolled over a couple of times," he said.
"[The track] was definitely interesting - the rotation was more of a hairy one, going back over your own wash."
Both Travers and Wilson will now look to the next round in Hastings in two weeks, although it will take Haden and Edhouse having significant failures to allow them a sniff of the championship.
"That's what would need to happen to retain our title. I think if Patrick even got third the rest of the way he'd win it," said Travers.
"But anything can happen."
In the Superboats, where the extra horsepower made a challenging day for drivers, Whanganui's Richard Murray made the Top 5 final but was unaware a blower belt in his Ford engine powered Mean Machine had snapped.
Wife Julia Murray said the belt had half stayed on until the second split of the final, and so when it came free the engine was dead.
"He had a really good split time, would have come second."
Richard Murray had also avoided calamity early in the day after staff had removed a floating water tank from the area around the finishing chute and the launch bay, causing him to head the wrong way and nearly crash into another boat being put in the water.
"He misindentified an island, you could say," said Julia Murray.
"Pretty scary because they're sitting ducks in that launch ramp."
It was a bad day for other local hope Rob Coley.
Previous navigator Kellie Minnell had rejoined husband Leighton to run their own track together, while Coley's wife Ange joined him, but the Poison Ivy boat had problem after problem and managed only one qualifying run.
Coley ran in the Top 12 eliminator, but with little practice time had a rotation error to end his day.
Canterbury's Peter Caughey continues to gather momentum as his 34.849s time in the Top 5 final made him comfortable winner, ahead of Wanaka's Dave Hopkins (36.269s) and Hamilton's Graeme Hill (37.276s).
"It's the most technical track we've raced in modern times, and hugely demanding - very like the early tracks dug out of river banks," said Caughey.
"It was very small, with nowhere to go and with diminishing water levels and increasing reefs and shallows throughout the event, but it was the same for everyone, and we knuckled down and got on with it."
Series leader Glen Head crashed in the Top 5 final, which lets Caughey close to six points behind him on the overall table, tied in second with Minnell, while Murray sits in fourth place with another six points gap.
"It's closing the gap with a few wee changes over the weekend," said Julia Murray.
Like Travers in the Group B division, Richard Murray will be sweating on those ahead of him having a bad round through either mechanical errors or mistakes, while he tries to be consistent to remain in contention.
"Everything has to be right for you to win, half of the time."
As the Murray's built their own Shelterview track at Upokongaro, Julia Murray said they understood and appreciated the effort Minnell and his supporters had gone to by creating their aquatrack.
"It's the uncertainty - you don't know if you're doing it right, if the track's going to hold.
"It was quite tight for the Superboats especially.
"It was very busy in the middle of it - created a bit of wash."
Working in the timers box, Julia Murray said they were looking down the track instead of alongside like at Shelterview, which meant they had to adjust how they followed the course map.
With 37 boats and crews to get in and out of the water, there was also limited space in the paddock, but these matters can be straightforward to correct after actually getting to see how everything worked on the day, Julia Murray said.
Certainly, the large crowd and big turnout of corporate supporters made it a commercial success.
Round 4 will be on March 13 in Hastings.