Jet boat racing might have been the only thing anyone in Elmore cared about on Saturday.
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Because the town ensured the sport’s long-awaited Victorian return was met with a rip-roaring atmosphere.
How? By filling the viewing banks of the Elmore Field Days-built track to the absolute brim.
So much so, it was one of the biggest crowds the Australian Formula Jet Sprint Association has ever seen for a standalone meet.
That’s according to EFD executive manager Derek Shotton.
His team saw bringing the Australian V8 Superboats Championship to town as taking a punt on an event which could have huge long-term gains.
But this is no punt any more.
The response at the turnstiles surely means jet boat races will be an Elmore staple for some time yet.
“I think it will be,” Shotton said.
Particularly when one of the thousands entering the gates was a high-level executive in the sport.
“It speaks volumes when you’ve got the chairman of the body overseeing jet boat racing in Australia, America and New Zealand specifically flown out to meet with us and see our first meet,” Shotton said.
“He was very excited about what we’ve done and felt it was a massive shot in the arm for the sport in Australia.
“To have someone of his calibre take time out of his calendar to come and see us, our first race, we were very chuffed by that and I was very proud that he had heard enough good things about us to come have a look for himself.”
He wasn’t the only one excited about the new track.
The enthusiasm was matched by three distinct groups.
“There were the people who had never seen this before and thought it was incredible, the jet boating fraternity who were rapt to have a track in Victoria, and the diehards of the old Victorian Jet Sprint Association, we had thousands of those,” Shotton said.
“They were coming up to me and saying, ‘this is awesome and so much better than what we had 15 years ago. It's a credit to you’."
And of course, there were the drivers themselves.
Who, you guessed it, also had a great time.
“There’s some very competitive drivers who play mind games and whatnot, and even those guys were very complimentary, saying it was great and was a true driver’s track,” Shotton said.
Although everyone is clearly overawed with the track, there are a few things Shotton and his team will tune up for the next meet in March.
One corner is set to have 200mm shaved off.
It’s not much but can be the difference between completing a turn or cartwheeling into the island.
The meet — Elmore Full Noise — will take place alongside the town’s tractor pull.
An event with two drawcards means spectators are “definitely going to need a lot more room”.
And the work to expand the viewing banks has already begun.
“The intention is to get that done in the next few weeks, finished before Christmas and we can see the grass,” Shotton said.
“And obviously, we’ve got a fair bit of irrigation here.
“We’ll irrigate the whole summer so it’s ready for March.”
It’s easy to make changes when the EFD committee is so committed to an event it feels is “a winner”.
And if you missed out this time around, there’s only four months until it is back again.