Jetboat 2NZ title a career highlight
Tanya Iremonger’s adrenaline and excitement levels will probably kick back in when she is bestowed with her ‘2NZ’ title at the NZ Jetsprint Association’s end-ofseason prizegiving in New Plymouth on June 30.
The jetboat navigator from Waipukurau is only just coming down after she and her NZ River Jet driver Nick Berryman, from Rotorua, set a new record time as they claimed victory in the sixth and final round of the series at Waitara to finish second overall in the elite Super Boat class.
“I’m not going to sugar coat it — when we came back around the course [at Waitara] and I saw the timing screen I screamed, punched Nick in the arm and then I cried. Excitement can do funny things,” said the 37-year-old mother of two about the win at Taranaki last month.
A veteran of the “physically and mentally demanding” sport despite her relatively young age, Iremonger is certainly no stranger to success in jetboat racing, having claimed previous 2NZ titles during the six years she raced with Auckland driver Baden Gray in the Group A class.
She was crowned the CHB senior sportswoman of the year in 2016 for those achievements but described claiming second place in her third season of racing with Berryman in the super boats as the highlight of her racing career.
“This is by far my personal best in my whole racing career since moving to the unlimited Super Boat class, and it’s Nick’s first title ever,” said Iremonger, who swapped jetboats for kart racing when she took time off to have daughter Lily, 10, and son Seth, 9, with husband Aaron, who raced superstocks and now fabricates race cars for his Ironforce Race Cars speedway brand, which operates out of the couple’s Muffler and Radiator Automotive business on Takapau Rd.
“I recall racing karts until I was seven months’ pregnant with Seth, who has started racing competitive motocross. Then I was approached by Baden Gray to go back to racing boats again and I never looked back,” she said.
That return has now culminated in the 2NZ super boat title, which was far from assured when Iremonger and Berryman — who only finished ‘mid-pack’ last season — went into the final round in third place with the competition still wide open.
“This season was particularly hair-raising. Every team was on the money, there were only hundredths to thousandths of a second between boats on the leader board during qualifying and eliminations. Not every round was a podium finish for us, but consistency was the key.”
Iremonger credited the successful season not just to driver and navigator, but also to the third member of NZ River Jet’s small team: Tim Coleman, from Coleman Marine & Performance in Marton, who built and maintains the engine for the stinger hull boat, which also runs a 8.75-inch Scott jet unit.
“The engine is an allaluminium 410-cubic inch, smallblock Chevy engine boosted by a Whipple Supercharger, [which produces] at least 1200 horsepower and runs on methanol. We are the only sprint boat in the world running a Whipple supercharger. We are also pretty much the only competitive super boat out there with no data logger, so we have to tune old school, which is the exciting part,” Iremonger said.
During the final round, the River Jet team enlisted mechanic Bronson Dunne to keep the motor “on song” and improve the boat’s performance during the day.
“We had Bronson on board specially for the last round to take care of fuel. And would you believe we actually took the boost out during lunch break to calm the boat, which was an extremely brave move that paid off.”
The pay-off is that she and Berryman will be able to proudly display their 2NZ title for the next 12 months. And after only finishing four points behind champion Peter Caughey, Iremonger was quietly looking to go one better next season.
“Is 1NZ an achievable goal? Anything is possible and we will certainly be back next season.”