Jetsprinters need speed in the Sprint Bowl

Ross Travers and navigator son Shane know they will have to push their Radioactive boat to the limit at the fast Enzed Sprint Bowl at Meremere today.

They don't call it the Sprint Bowl for nothing.

The Altherm Window Systems New Zealand Jetsprint Championships swings through Meremere today for what was originally intended to be the climax of the series.

But despite the addition of another round in Waitara in April, to make up for the abandoned December event at Masterton's Tauherenikau Racecourse, expect the racing to still be fast and furious with several Whanganui drivers desperately needing a good day to make up enough ground to realistically stay in title contention.

"It's a fast rotation, which suits our little jet unit," said Ross Travers, currently third in the Fowler Group A class.

"It would have been nice to have it sorted to [race at] 100 per cent, not 90 per cent."

"It's another tapped out track, like Hastings."

Looking ahead to the World Champs in Australia, Travers has arranged for a new camshaft to be imported from America, which could add another two priceless seconds to his finishing times, but it won't arrive for another week.

Around 37 boats will enter this round – namely all the regulars which includes a strong local contingent of around nine drivers from Auckland and Waikato, for whom Meremere is their home track.

All four South Island teams have arrived, a couple of which leave their boats in the North Island for storage, while Canterbury's title contenders Simon Gibbon (Group A) and Peter Caughey (Mouth Fresh Superboats) always take their pride and joy back across Cook Strait for a little tinkering in the garage.

Gibbon picked up his first round victory a fortnight ago at the Crownthorpe track in Hawke's Bay, ahead of Travers and series leader Ollie Silverton, with the Hamilton racer being confident on his patch today.

Silverton has a three point lead over Gibbon and a ten-point advantage over Travers, with the Whanganui racer acknowledging he needs them both to have some kind of misfortune and drop out of the eliminators early if he is to make up the difference.

"Anything can happen.

"If we've got a straight boat at the end of it, I'm happy."

Ultimately, the weather may have the final say with showers and possible storms forecast.

"It's just very, very light drizzle at the moment, but things are wet," Travers said during preparations yesterday.

"It's supposed to be at it's worst [today], we'll see what happens."

Caughey has a big 13 point lead in the Superboat class over Whanganui's Rob Coley as he zeros in on yet another national title.

In the Stinger Boats Group B class, expat Whanganui racer Kellie Minnell is in second place overall, ten points back from Te Awamutu's Patrick Haden.

Whanganui's former champion Hayden Wilson was fifth at Crownthorpe, which is also where he sits on the overall table, eight points back from the Top 3.

Wilson will be doing some experimenting during the qualifying runs today.

"I've got a few blades to try, it seems we're a bit behind.

"I've got seven to try. Lately, it hasn't been too flash."

"Always hoping for a Top 3, whether we got the blades to do it, we'll see.

"Traditionally, it's been a good track for me."

The event was scheduled to start at 9am and continue to 5pm.