Ken Lupton arrives in Brockville as the reigning back-to-back North American champion, but his biggest threat this year may well be his own brother.
From June 26–28, 2026, Ken and Jack Lupton are set to shake the St. Lawrence River. The 1000 Islands Regatta is roaring back to Blockhouse Island in Brockville, Ontario. For locals, it is a massive summer festival filled with food trucks, kids’ zones, and evening rock concerts. Down in the pits, however, the atmosphere will be pure tension. It is a battleground where one question hangs in the air: “Who will be this year’s champion?”
The Lupton racing dynasty employs a dual-hemisphere strategy. GP-577 Lucas Oil Racing (Ken Lupton’s team) aims to defend their Hydroplane Racing League (HRL) title in Canada while both teams will be simultaneously chasing high-profile Grand Prix America (GPA) events across the U.S. By operating out of a central mechanical hub in Brockville, both teams execute a targeted, high-intensity summer campaign. They focus heavily on crown-jewel regattas like Valleyfield and Madison before shifting operations back to the New Zealand summer series.
Ken Lupton, piloting the GP-577 Lucas Oil machine, arrives as the back-to-back HRL Grand Prix Champion. He won the Grand Prix class in Brockville in 2023. Even when the Canadian weather went sideways during the 2024 weekend, Ken still laid down the law by clocking the fastest time trials of the event.
Then there is Jack. Jack with his GP-33 arrives fresh off dominating the GP leaderboard for the recent New Zealand season. He finished a razor-thin second right here in Brockville back in 2024, pushing Ken Brodie to the wire in a deck-to-deck thriller.
Brockville is also a place that tests Jack’s resolve. In 2019, he survived a horrific on-water collision on this very river when Canadian driver Mathieu Daoust tragically lost control and crossed his path.
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The New Zealand teams are flying into Canada on a wave of massive momentum, though their summer back home in Australasia wasn’t without its twists. Ken didn’t top the New Zealand leaderboard as he has in years past; instead, Jack showed unmatched consistency at home.
Still, Ken is fresh off winning the 2026 ANZAC Cup. He also spent the early part of the year chasing down the legendary E.C. Griffith Cup, Australasia’s holy grail of powerboat racing. While he didn’t manage to bring the Griffith Cup home this time around, the near-miss has only added fuel to his fire as he pivots back to North American waters.
Meanwhile, Jack is bringing a literal secret weapon to Canada: a brand-new, state-of-the-art Henderson Grand Prix hydroplane hull. Built by the legendary builder Bert Henderson, this boat represents the absolute bleeding edge of hydroplane design. If Ken thinks he is just going to cruise to another North American title, his own brother’s new ride is about to make life very difficult.
You can’t just throw a Grand Prix hydroplane on a commercial flight. The logistical puzzle of getting the Lupton program to Canada began months ago. It requires packing massive hulls, spare supercharged big-block Chevy V8 engines, custom propellers, and an absolute mountain of tools into giant shipping containers. The gear is shipped across the Pacific, leaving the team to pray everything clears customs on time.
By late May, the Lucas Oil New Zealand crew was already teasing fans online with a simple message: “Less than one month… North America, the Luptons are coming.”
The Kiwi camp has spent their entire season preparing for this North American circuit. When the green flag drops at Brockville, look out into the middle of the St. Lawrence River. If you see a wall of white water and hear an engine that sounds like a fighter jet wrestling a thunderstorm, just know the boys from down under have officially arrived.
