Lake Maraetai was all business on Sunday morning. The breeze had dropped, the sun was out, and the crews were back in the pits before 08:00 hrs; spanners, fuel drums, and coffee cups in hand. For the GP teams, the overnight focus had been simple: find more pace, keep the hardware together, and get to the finish.
Jack Lupton was first to admit he’d been chasing setup gains overnight. “We just needed a little more lift in the turns,” he told Shot360 Photography before racing began. “It’s forgiving here compared to Canada, but if we get a good start, we’ll have a shot.”
He certainly did. After early heats shared between Jack, Ken, and Scott Coker, Sunday’s races brought both drama and redemption. A spin for Ken in the first attempt of Heat 3 forced a restart, and Jack seized the opportunity. He took the win in the re-run, with Coker’s GP10 Howzat close behind.
When the flag dropped for the final, Jack nailed the start and never looked back. Clean water made all the difference. “We had a bit of a game plan with Adam, our radio man,” Jack said after climbing out of the boat. “Ken always gets good starts, so we matched him, got clean water, and kept the lines tidy. The engine was super strong — the old girl from Canada still has plenty of life in her.”
Ken, who finished second overall, had to fight back from that earlier spin. “We hit a few rollers in the corner and went around,” he said. “We had to back out of the next start and lost momentum. Once you’re wide at Mangakino, it’s hard to come back. But we’ll take the points — it’s the first round, and we’re building toward the Masport and Griffith Cups.”
His self-built GP577 Lucas Oil ran faultlessly all weekend, apart from that one misstep, with the Waverley veteran collecting valuable points toward the championship and keeping focus on the bigger races ahead.
Scott Coker wrapped up third overall after a consistent run across all heats. “The goal was to start and finish every race, and we did that,” he said. “We had a couple of small issues — broke a few bolts, lost a cable — but the boat came back every time. That side-by-side run with Jack was awesome. It’s the first time I’ve had clean water all weekend.” The Howzat team plan to return to Round 2 at Mangakino with a new supercharger fitted.
Behind the GP field, the lower classes once again proved the lifeblood of the event. From the Junior and Clubman boats through to Formula 3 and the 6-litre Hydros, families filled the banks and the pits. It’s that mix of family effort and high-speed racing that continues to define Hydro Thunder as one of New Zealand’s most accessible forms of motorsport.
Jack’s win made him the sixth different Grand Final winner in as many rounds — a stat that says plenty about how close the series has become. “Every race counts,” he said. “Everyone’s stepping up, so we have to as well.”
Hydro Thunder now takes a short break before returning to Mangakino on December 6–7 for Round 2. The championship then builds south through Twizel, Karapiro, and Nelson, with the Masport Cup again shaping as the season’s defining showdown.
As the sun set over Lake Maraetai, fans lingered along the bank — a reminder that for all the noise and speed, Hydro Thunder remains a family-driven sport at heart.
