Thirty nine crews lined up at the launch ramp and faced an extremely open and fast course rotation that was to place an emphasis on engine reliability, with full throttle being used throughout the duration of each run. 

Qualifying:

Hamish Pryde dominated the early qualifying rounds with a best time of 57.35 in his third run, but round 1 winner Rex Briant edged ahead in the final round by 100th of a second, to head the time sheets.

Todd Bruning lost an engine during the practice rounds and an all-night rebuild was rewarded with the third fastest time of 57.54, next was Andrew Dalzell who posted an impressive 58.70 and was back on the pace after a disappointing effort in round 1 at Feilding. Also posting sub-60 second times were American, Shaun Matthews (59.03), Darrin Munro (59.10), Duncan Campbell (59.62) with Kim Sanders the best of the Australians by recording a best of 59.93.

The balance of the sixteen qualifiers for the elimination rounds were Ron Richards (60.51), Simon Campbell (60.85), Richard Burt (60.94), Pat Dillon (61.02), Cheryl Welsh (61.23), Tony Sargison (61.28), Peter Schuler (61.64)and Dave White (61.73), but four of the qualifiers were nonstarters, the double driven boat of Dillon and White was severely damaged when White flipped and sank during the fourth qualifier and the Campbells were relegated to spectators after their engine damage in the same round! Australian team-mates Jim Bailey and Rodney Krause were also sidelined with major engine problems.

There was no shortage of drama, with six beachings, Brian Fair rolled his boat while Scott McDonald launched himself of a bank in his third run and landed in the main-stream current of the river, and fortunately for all concerned, the right way up!

First round heroine Cheryl Easton was unable to recapture her Feilding form and posted a best of 64.07, only good enough for 32nd place in the tightly bunched midfield. 

Top 16 Elimination:

With four non-starters, only four further boats would be eliminated, Welch ran 61.18, Schuler 60.80, Sargison 60.62 and Sanders 60.49, all to be out of the competition.

Munro edged out Sanders by 100th of a second with 60.48, Burt ran a strong 60.46, Richards maintaining his outstanding series form with 60.39 and Mathews continued to impress with a brilliant 60.04.

Up front the pace had quickened - Dalzell clocked 58.42, Briant 57.45, Pryde ran 57.32, while Bruning was down to 56.83 to take over as favourite! 

Top 8 Elimination:

Munro was out after recording 61.25 and Burt's 60.91 wasn't quick enough with the faster drivers going sub-60 seconds! Bruning was also gone after losing his second engine of the weekend, and Dalzell who crashed out of the race!

Richards progressed with 60.14, Mathews dropped his time to 59.05, Pryde advanced after clocking 57.54 and Briant's 57.42 served notice for the next round contenders. 

Top 4 Elimination :

Richards went sub-60 for the first time with a 59.49 pass but was overtaken by American Sean Mathews, who clocked 59.17, neither time proved to be quick enough. Pryde was next out, and made the final with 58.24 and Briant blasted through the timing beam in 57.42 to maintain his advantage.

Final:

Pryde suffered terminal engine problems in his top 4 run and was unable to face the starter, Rex Briant ran a comfortable 57.64 to take maximum points and the overall honours for leg one of the Group A New Zealand

A full field of twelve crews faced the starter, with defending World Champion Peter Briant back in his own boat, Air-Freighting an engine from Australia after his own expired during Round 1 at Feilding

Qualifying:

Lee Rice missed the first round after blowing a supercharger pipe during the practice rounds, while Erik Hoeksema failed to finish his opening run due to a fuel-pump problem. Brian Smith made a rare navigational error and started with a 51.83 run, then ran a series of runs in the 51 second bracket, ending with a personal best of 51.27 seconds. Rodney Pohio was closest at 51.91 and former Group A World Champion Chris Munro was right on the pace with an excellent 52.97, Smith then clocked 53.69, while Caughey managed 53.84 in his final pass after taking a wrong turn in his previous run.

There was a gap to the rest of the field that was headed by Leigh Goodman 54.19, followed by Jeremy O'Driscoll 55.82, Reg Smith at 56.60, Ian Easton clocking a 56.63, Hoeksema scoring a 57.10, Lee Rice came home at 59.65 and finally Graeme Mincham at 59.87.

Top 16 Elimination:

The first eliminator claimed Hoeksema after he beached the boat when his supercharged engine cut out. Rice ran a 61.49, Mincham overcame fuel feed problems to clock 59.52 and Reg Smith improvd to 56.31 but missed the cut by a tenth of a second. Easton sneaked into the next round with 56.20, O'Driscoll and Goodman ran 55,s. Bryan Smith and the impressive Munro both clocked 53 secon runs, but the pace-setters were still comfortably ahead.

Caughey ran 52.74, Pohio was down to 51.42, while Briant upped the tempo with a superb 50.71 seconds 

Top 8 Elimination:

Ian Easton bowed out after clocking 56.55 and was joined by O'Drisscoll who ran a 56.04. Joining the pair were Goodman on 54.58 and Brian Smith who recorded his best time at 53.19, but was still 8/10th's away from staying in the competition.

Munro ran 52.79, Caughy was only fractionally quicker at 52.58, Pohio's 51.68 kept him in the picture, while Briant topped the times with a 51.03 pass

Top 4 Elimination:

Munro was first on the course and improved his time slightly at 52.73 while Pohio clocked a disappointing 52.17. Caughey took full advantage of Pohio's lapse and made the final witth 51.97, while Briant reinforced his favouritism with a new fastest class time of 50.30 seconds.

Final:

Caughey was 2/10th's slower at the split than his previous run, but ran a strong scond sector to record an identical 51.97. At the split Briant was 24.47 to Caughy's 25.17 and he maintained that momentum to finish after 50.35 seconds on the course.

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