Two days of competition on the Waimakariri River produced a weekend shaped by slim margins, intelligent river reading, and some striking reversals across the fleet. The Golden Homes Waimakariri River Race Weekend 2025 brought together circuit sprinting at the SH1 Bridge on Saturday and Sunday's demanding two-leg Stuart Blanchard Memorial Race, reinforcing why river racing holds such a firm place among New Zealand's most compelling motorsport disciplines.
Patterns developed across both days. Some crews carried Saturday's circuit pace directly into Sunday's long-course success. Others found the sprint format unkind before regrouping to charge back through the field on the river legs. The most vivid example of that turnaround came from the top of the Unlimited class.
Richard Foster had finished second in Saturday's Circuit Race, crossing the line in 23:02, just two seconds behind Andrew Scott (NZ1), who won in 23:00. That razor-thin gap made a rematch on the full river course almost inevitable, and Sunday's Stuart Blanchard Memorial Race delivered exactly that. Foster and co-driver Brent Miller put together a composed and complete performance, combining a 23:43 upstream leg with a 22:40 downstream run for a total of 46:23. Scott and co-driver Nigel Young finished second in 48:50, unable to match Foster's pace across either leg. By the end of the weekend, Foster had moved from narrow runner-up to clear event champion and the new holder of the Stuart Blanchard Memorial Trophy.
Byron Campbell and Tuffy Harkerss provided steady Unlimited support across both days. Campbell placed fourth overall in Saturday's circuit and came home third in Unlimited on Sunday, a result that confirmed his package performed reliably whether the format demanded sprint pace or endurance over two legs.
A Class produced some of the starkest contrasts between the two formats. Justin Hill and Scott Smith were the standout performers on Saturday's circuit, posting a 25:00 lap that was not only fastest in class but placed them third overall, ahead of several Unlimited entries. Sunday, however, told an entirely different story.
Joseph Kelly and Sean Keals took A Class honours in the Memorial with a combined time of 50:30, built from a 26:50 upstream leg and a 23:40 downstream run. Kelly's upstream split was particularly impressive, faster than multiple CX and FX-Evo boats and only a little behind the Unlimited leaders. Garth Campbell and Allan Jeffcott finished second in 1:03:41, well clear of Hill's 1:10:03. Hill's Sunday figures point clearly to where things unravelled: a DNF-marked 35:58 upstream leg and a DNS for the downstream run. Given his proven circuit speed, a complete performance from Hill against Kelly across both Sunday legs would have made for fascinating watching.
CX delivered one of the most compelling cross-day reversals of the entire event. Saturday's Circuit Race produced a clean finishing order, with Riley Smith quickest in 27:13, Damian Pulley second in 28:16, and Craig Robinson third in 29:30, while Brad Monk and Mike Pooley both failed to finish. Sunday's standings looked almost inverted. Monk and co-driver Kent Patterson won the class in 52:07, with Smith and Zane Rich second in 53:03, Pulley and Paul Cross third in 54:57, Pooley and Zane Rich fourth in 57:57, and Robinson and Paul Baxter fifth in 1:03:45. Both Saturday DNFs from Monk and Pooley converted into top-four class finishes in the Memorial. Monk's combined time was strong enough to place him fourth overall across all classes, while Smith's fifth overall underlined his consistency across both days. Robinson moved in the opposite direction, dropping from third on Saturday to fifth on Sunday after a 34:27 upstream leg. CX proved the most active class of the weekend.
FX-Evo carried the heaviest Saturday attrition, with Shane Christie the sole finisher in the circuit race, recording 34:55. He and co-driver Matthew Thomson carried that form into Sunday, winning the class in 1:05:28 and finishing ninth overall. Regan Howley and Ollie Sharpe recovered well from their Saturday DNF to take second place in the Memorial with 1:06:57, just 1:29 adrift of Christie across the two legs. Nick Sullivan and Roger Wilson rounded out the class in 1:35:22, their downstream split of 51:50 the slowest single leg of the day.
Looking across both days, Unlimited remains the outright benchmark, but A Class and CX boats regularly pushed into the top four overall, a reminder that precision and river craft count for as much as raw power on the Waimakariri. The Sunday top four overall of Foster, Scott, Kelly, and Monk spanned Unlimited, Unlimited, A Class, and CX respectively, a spread that reflects how balanced the modern New Zealand river racing fleet has become. Individual class strengths were also plain to see: Hill for outright sprint pace, Kelly for reading the full river course, Monk for resilience across a difficult weekend, and Christie for consistency throughout. A Saturday DNF carried no guarantee of Sunday heartbreak, particularly in CX and FX-Evo, where multiple crews came back strongly when it mattered most.
With competitive racing across every class, meaningful improvement from numerous teams between the two days, and a deserving set of winners, the Golden Homes Waimakariri River Race Weekend 2025 added another strong chapter to the event's history. Sprint pace, river endurance, and class-wide reversals combined to keep the racing tight from first lap to final leg.
