The two titles on offer at next month's world jetsprint championships look likely to be fought out between hosts New Zealand and Australia.
The championships will be decided over two rounds - at Meremere, near Auckland on January 4 and at Featherston in the Wairarapa on January 11.
Nearly 50 competitors from the United States, Australia and New Zealand will compete for the Group A and Superboats crowns.
Australian Slade Stanley is the current Group A world champion and will be in New Zealand to defend his title.
His main opposition is expected to come from New Zealand brothers Rex and Peter Briant of Gisborne.
Peter Briant won his fifth world Superboats title when the last world
championships were held in New Zealand in 2005.
Peter Briant has since come out of retirement to race in the championships in Group A alongside brother Rex, a former Group A world champion and the current national champion.
In the Superboats, multiple New Zealand champion Peter Caughey is expected to set the pace for the rest of the field in the class with unlimited engines.
Manawatu's Richard Burt, Wanganui's Duncan Wilson, Auckland's Graeme Mincham and Lower Hutt's Ray Ferguson are the other local contenders chasing Superboat glory.
The Australian contingent in the Superboat includes husband and wife team Phil and Louise Dixon and Phonsy Mullan.
