Round 1 of the 2025-26 Penrite V8 Superboats Championship got underway at Round Mountain Raceway in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, across the 26th and 27th of July, with the Greg Harriman Memorial Round paying tribute to one of the sport's most enduring supporters. The season kicked off with the kind of high-stakes drama that jetsprinting fans live for.
Among the stories that captured the paddock's attention was the return of Drop Bear Racing. Laurie and Karen Howlett had sat out time following last season's crash, and by their own admission they arrived at Round Mountain carrying "nerves and gratitude in equal measure" before getting back on the water. Equally compelling was the performance of Spartan Time, which absorbed a heavy crash early on Saturday morning, only for the crew to have the boat patched, inspected, and back in competition within half an hour. The announcer's call said it all: "You can't keep these legends down." That same team has confirmed they will contest this season's New Zealand Jet Sprint Championship, and their rapid recovery at Round Mountain offers a clear signal of how seriously they are taking the campaign on both sides of the Tasman.
Round 1 also marked a milestone for women in the sport, with two new navigators making their competitive debuts. Lizzie Cook, who had never previously set foot inside a Superboat, strapped in aboard Excalibur, while An Le Tran took her seat in Moist Az. By the time Sunday's racing wrapped up, both were, in their own words, "hooked, not shook", grinning after navigating some of the tightest course markers in Australian jetsprinting.
The round was not without its upsets at the sharp end of the field either. Reigning world champion Phonsy Mullan saw his Ramjet flame out mid-run, a timely reminder that no one is immune when boats are pushed right to the edge of physics.
Round 1 winners
- Unlimited: Tyler Finch & Kyle Elphinstone (Loose Cannon) – 1st; Daryl Hutton (R & J Batteries) – 2nd; Peter Mongrel (Mongrel) – 3rd. - Group A: Justin Roylance & Tracey Little (Outlaw) – 1st; Bastian Mullan (ASP) – 2nd; Kennedy's Racing – 3rd. - LS Class: Nate Mullan & Kirstin Schubert (Ripshift) – 1st; Matt Malthouse (Nood Nutz Racing A) – 2nd; Matthew Hareb (Moist Az) – 3rd.
By mid-October the championship had shifted to Keith in South Australia for Round 2 at the Spitwater Arena, a compact 1.21-kilometre circuit with no patience for mistakes. At this venue, a single miscalculated rotation is enough to end a title campaign before it has properly begun.
The round introduced a trans-Tasman dimension, with Hamilton-based PSP Racing's Ollie Silverton and Amanda Kittow joining the Australian field. Their presence offered an early preview of the form Kiwi competitors might carry into the New Zealand season ahead.
In the Unlimited class, Phonsy Mullan and Kiwi navigator Niketa Wells posted a 46.165-second final run aboard the Ramjet Southern Jet to take the class win. Clean and clinical, it was the sort of performance that explains why Mullan carries the world title. "Winner winner chicken dinner," the Ramjet Racing team posted following the result, a pointed celebration of the comeback from their Round 1 DNF. Tyler Finch in Loose Cannon and Daryl Hutton in R & J Batteries rounded out the podium with consistent runs in the 47- and 49-second bracket, underlining just how compressed the Unlimited field has become.
Group A produced one of the round's most satisfying storylines. Silverton and Kittow of PSP Racing crossed the Tasman without their own equipment, instead climbing aboard Outlaw B, the sister boat of Australian champion Justin Roylance. The gamble delivered: a time of 50.547 seconds was good enough for the Group A win. Kittow captured the mood perfectly: "Borrowed a boat, hit send mode, got the number one!" It was a proud moment for New Zealand jetsprinting, with Kiwi crews proving they remain genuinely competitive on Australian soil.
In LS Class, Nate Mullan continued where he left off in Round 1, steering Ripshift to a second consecutive victory. His 51.790-second final was less than a second ahead of the two Nood Nutz Racing boats, with Mitch and Matt Malthouse making it a tight three-way contest that shows exactly what makes the category so compelling.
Across both rounds, the broader picture is dominated by the Mullan family. Phonsy in Unlimited, Nate in LS Class, and Bastian with a top-three result in Group A have collectively set the standard for pace and preparation. Silverton and Kittow have shown that the Kiwi contingent is willing and able to challenge the Australians on their home circuits. With Southern Jet engineering shared across many of the field's hulls, the technical competition runs as deep as the racing itself.
Round 3 heads back to Round Mountain Raceway in Tweed Heads on 8 November, before the series connects with New Zealand's Jet Sprint Championship in December. The list of confirmed trans-Tasman competitors includes Ramjet Racing's Phonsy Mullan and Niketa Wells in the Superboats, both Spartan Time crews, Mike Hessell with Shaun White, and Luke Walters with Andy Giles from Wānaka, all competing in the top class. Their involvement promises a genuine Trans-Tasman showdown as the season builds toward its conclusion.
From the memorial circuit at Round Mountain to the uncompromising confines of Keith's Spitwater Arena, the 2025-26 Penrite V8 Superboats Championship has wasted no time delivering the power, precision, and sheer refusal to back off the throttle that makes jetsprinting unlike anything else in motorsport.
