Connor Brinck rips around buoys
Cambridge teenager Connor Brinck had been go-kart racing for four years before he slammed into a roadblock – his own height.
Connor Brinck about to compete Lake Havasu with, from left, his father Greg and Caldwell Racing crew John Caldwell and Tim Miller.
“I’d been competing at national level, but I had to change because I got too tall,” the towering 16-year-old said of the growth spurt that hit the brakes on his career in 2024.
“I’m now six foot four. It was really annoying. It’s something you can’t help, either. My knees were hitting the steering wheel and I was getting too heavy. I thought, bugger this.”
Luckily, a new opportunity was waiting.
“We’ve always had a jet ski growing up and we’ve got a lake house at Kinloch,” Brinck said. “I saw a race there in 2021 and thought I should give that a go.”
The former St Peter’s Cambridge student, who is now studying remotely, tackled his first competition in Rotorua last year and loved it.
He is now eyeing up money-making opportunities overseas, after achieving podium finishes at two international events this year.
“Next year my goal is to race in the P1 Aqua Series in America, and the World Series,” he said.
“The New Zealand scene isn’t the biggest but in the USA it’s insane, it’s crazy. If you win one World Series race it’s US$380,000.”
Brinck said his first major win this year had come in late August when he beat 14-time Australian champion Darryl Apps to win the enduro and closed-course events in the naturally aspirated engine class at the Queensland State Titles in Australia.
Naturally aspirated engines are slower than supercharged engines but still reach speeds of up to 120km an hour.
“If you fall off it’s like concrete,” said Brinck. “Mum doesn’t even come to the racing because she gets so nervous.”
His success in Queensland was enough to win him a spot in professional American team Caldwell Racing.
“I emailed the dad, John Caldwell, who created a team with his two sons – they have a YouTube channel – and sent him my story with karting, my results, my CV for racing and he said yeah, I’ve got a ski for you,” he said.
“I competed with Caldwell Racing at the International Jet Sports Boating Association World Finals in Arizona in early October, and I was second in the naturally aspirated runabout class behind Anton Ignacio from the Philippines, who’s won the world champs four times.
“I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest, so I just went out and drove my own race and did alright.”
Brink moved to Cambridge from Auckland five years ago with his parents, Hannah and Greg. He has a 21-year-old sister, Sarah, who loves water sports.
A competitive spirit and thirst for adventure ran in the family, he said.
“I basically grew up in motorsport because my dad’s a three-time national champion in motocross, powerboats and touring cars.”
Although the change of course from karting to jet skiing was unplanned, Brinck’s karting skills have proved invaluable in his new sport.
“My karting experience has really helped, because it helped me learn how to carry speed and momentum through corners.”
This season Brinck hopes to continue racing in the naturally aspirated class and in the faster, supercharged stock runabout class and “win more races in New Zealand”.
“I just like the speed and the adrenaline, the competition, screaming around courses as fast as you can, full throttle basically, the whole time,” he said.
Brinck rips around buoys at Lake Havasu, Arizona, at the International Jet Sports Boating Association World Finals.
