A Tauranga superboat team boat team is preparing for round two of the PSP NZ Jetsprint Series in Featherston this weekend.

Aaron Hansen, driver for #73 Wired, and navigator Julie-Anne Shanks are heading into the weekend after placing second in the superboat class at round one in Hastings on November 19.

'We are back from a three year hiatus where we were recovering from our injuries from a big crash at the Whanganui round in March 2019,” says Julie-Anne.

'I had a finger amputated and a knuckle crushed, and then Covid canned last season.

'The last season we raced, which was the 2018/2019 season, we were third in New Zealand, even with the crash.”

In 2016, they were World #3.

And in 2018, the last time the jetsprints were held at Baypark here in Tauranga, the couple placed second in the superboat class.

'It is rumoured that the NZJSA is talking with Baypark about having another event here in May 2023.”

Julie-Anne says they are 'Wired” to get back into racing. Wired is a fitting name for their boat as Aaron I a rural fencing contractor and Julie-Anne says she lost a 'finger to a fence wire”.

'So you could say, I got wired!”

The 2022 PSP New Zealand Jetsprint Championship features four classes and competition is always fierce.

This class has no engine rules and the phenomenally powerful MouthFRESH Superboats produce a whopping 1000-plus horsepower (more than 750 kW).

There is a strong field of experienced racers this season and the spectators at Featherston can look forward to seeing who puts their best foot forward this Sunday.

The track is less forgiving than Hastings and those that end up with top results will need to achieve smooth driving through this technical rotation.

A great battle is expected between Hamilton driver Sam Newdick, who placed first in round one and third place winner Gisborne's Blake Brian, who will be putting his rotational error at Hastings behind him and will be amping to show Newdick what he is made of.

The podium positions could really be made up by any of the rest of the field, as there was less than a 0.5secs between their times going into the top 6.

This weekend a United States team - Ron Gallagher and Josh Reynolds – will be competing on a day licence.

They have bought a New Zealand Sprintec jetsprint boat to take back home to race, so they will treat this round as a way to learn about their new superboat.

For more information on the different rounds, visit: NZ Jetsprint Association website

The rounds are as follows:

Round 1 - Hastings 19 Nov

Round 2 - Featherston 4 Dec

Round 3 - Whanganui 27 Dec

Round 4 - Meremere 18 Feb

Round 5 - Waitara 4 Mar

Round 6 - Wanaka 8 Apr