While it was Wanganui's night in the lighter classes, a Cantabrian champion once again stamped his class on the Superboats at Shelter View, beating a double dose of "Poison Ivy" to do it.
Peter Caughey gave little mind to sitting safe on his series lead claiming the final round with a scorching drive in the final against Wanganui's world champion Leighton Minnell and a determined Rob Coley.
Unable to win the title, Minnell said he had agreed to also race in Coley's boat to help him get the kinks out of the machine for future events.
Sharing "Poison Ivy" meant delays as each driver/navigator team swapped places, but former world champion Caughey was determined to wrap up a banner season in style.
Early in the night, doyen commentator Tim "Caveman" Barrot predicted the night-time conditions coupled with early showers would prevent any Superboat driver from dipping under the 47-second mark.
Consistently driving around 48s and having seen off retiring Wanganui veteran Pat Dillon - second in the series - in the Top Five eliminator, Caughey put paid to that theory with his dynamic 46.945s.
His final race evoked memories of the December daylight round, when he again posted the fastest recorded time right when it counted. Minnell, with 49.505s and Coley's 50.521s could not reel him in.
"That really spun my wheels," said Caughey when he learned how well he had done.
He had contemplated a safety-first approach during the occasionally hazardous conditions at Shelter View, but wanted to make a firm statement heading into the world championships.
"Truly, I'm a racer - that's what I do."
This season's success stacked up against any of his four world titles or previous New Zealand titles, he said. "As a national championships, it's been more demanding."
As he was older and the boats were faster, Caughey said it was somewhat surreal he had worked on craft for customers who were now coming back to try to beat him on the national stage.
Re-entering the sport this season, he had sat his three children down to make sure they were comfortable, with dad again having to sacrifice the necessary time away.
"They said, 'we're in, as long as they can come with us'," said Caughey.
The children got a good show as night-time racing is prone to cause casualties, and Saturday night was no exception.
One wrong step meant disaster as 400 driver Neil Marshall discovered after ending up on the bank during the night's first eliminators.
However, that was eclipsed by the massive flip and crash Hamilton's Aaron Hansen managed to walk away from in the Group A class.
In keeping with the night-time racing tradition, several teams decorated their boats with elegant light configurations.
Wanganui's Donna and Tracy Thomson in Two A Breast resembled a purple Christmas tree, while Te Awamutu's Patrick and Jay Haden were positively dazzling with their fluorescent mohawks.