Ross and Shane Travers will move up to the Group A division for the new season of Jetsprint racing.
The times, they are a changing for the new NZ Jet Sprint Championship season with the end of the annual December 27 Whanganui round, the loss of the crown jewel at Tauranga's Baypark, and considerable driver movement amongst the three divisions.
The season begins this Saturday at Waitara's Methanex Aquatrack, owned by ex-pat Whanganui national champion Leighton Minnell.
Waitara will also host the third round on February 25 after the infield racetrack of the 15,000 seat Baypark Stadium was ruled unsafe due to erosion of the sides of the track during last January's UIM World Series.
In addition, driver concerns about all the travelling on the Christmas break saw a request for a date change for Shelter View track at Upokongaro, owned by superboat driver Richard Murray and wife Julia.
But with no other additional dates available this month after Waitara, it means Whanganui will go back to having just one round of the six-round series - the night racing event on April 1.
It will be a smaller field of locals this year with 2NZ Rob Coley along with navigator wife Ange joining Minnell and his navigator son Luke as the strongest contenders to 10-time reigning champion Peter Caughley of Canterbury in what will be a strong 19-boat field.
All the top contenders from last year are back including Hamilton's world champion Glen Head, and joining them is the multiple time winner of the second-tier Stinger Group A class in Hamilton's Sam Newdick, who has come up alongside last year's runnerup Blake Briant of Gisborne.
Coley made plenty of headlines last year with his death-defying crash at Shelterview at Round 2, while going on to just miss the Superboat title by one point to Caughey in the closest championship race on record.
For Murray, who went through a series of navigators after several crashes while coming fifth in his debut year in Superboats after Group A, the biggest challenge is getting through all his hay contractor work before picking up Meaner Machine from Engine Rebuilders.
Jo Rathbone is back in the navigator seat and while the crack in the boat's sump is fixed from last season, some of the tell-tale dents from the summer's spills still remain.
"Being second year, with the extra power, we were getting used to it," Murray said.
"We've improved the safety side of things - the seats - to make it a bit better in the boat.
"Work wise, we're absolutely flat out. Hopefully we've done enough here. See when we get there."
While the Murray's are disappointed to lose the December round, that decision magnified the problems for former Group B national champion Hayden Wilson, who has had to withdraw at the last minute due to financial pressures.
"All my sponsors are local. The little guys rely on everything and if it's just local [events], they need to get their name out there," Wilson said.
"It's probably not viable for me to race the season."
Wilson still hopes to compete at the Whanganui round for a one-off challenge.
"Plainly because I just love the 'under lights' and it's the home one."
Adding to his own costs is former Group B national champion Ross Travers, who is taking navigator son Shane with him on the move up to Stinger Group A to compete in the 13 boat division.
Having claimed nine of the last 12 rounds of Group B by winning the 2015 title and coming second last year to Te Awamutu's Patrick Haden, Travers moves up to a grade that is now wide open with the elevation of Newdick and Briant to Superboats.
"It would have been good if they were still there, just to put myself up against them," Travers said.
He was picking up his boat from Marton's Ian Coleman today, while Shane Travers has spent around 80-100 hours working on a new exhaust system.
"Had an opportunity to be able to build the completely new motor," said Ross Travers.
He will still keep his old Group B engine on standby if there are any problems, given the Radioactive boat often posted faster times than many of the Group A craft at various tracks last season.
The change in the Whanganui and Tauranga rounds means there will be no January racing this season, creating a massive break between this Saturday and Round 2 at the Meremere Sprint Bowl near Auckland on February 5.
However, Travers sees this as a possible advantage for crews to experiment with their engine packages at Waitara.
"It's a big long gap with nothing in January. But it might work out good as everyone is busy in January. Personal stuff.
"If anyone has problems with new boats, new engines, you have a month off to fix it and not two weeks."
Minnell agrees as he is now flat out preparing his track, which debuted last summer, for a season where they will host two rounds in 'Petrol Head' Taranaki.
"We've done some mods since [last summer]. Extended the track and put another island in it.
"There is a lot of new boats that will run our round and this month gap will allow drivers to look at it."
With Wilson's withdrawal from Group B, it is Minnell's own wife Kellie Minnell who will fly a Whanganui-esque flag as she makes her driver debut in Girls Torque with navigator Nicky Ferguson.
Minnell was in Poison Ivy with Coley for his spectacular crash last December, and later switched to her husband's boat, finishing runnerup in the separate navigator's national championship.
Now it is time for the lady driver to finally take the wheel.
"She's a bit nervous but after years sitting in the navigator seat, she's up this time around," said her proud hubby.
The 2016-17 Series
Round 1: December 10, Methanex Aquatrack, Waitara.
Round 2: February 5, Meremere Sprint Bowl, Auckland
Round 3: February 25, Methanex Aquatrack, Waitara.
Round 4: March 12, Riverside Jet Track, Crownthorpe, Hastings
Round 5: April 1, Shelter View Jetsprint Track, Whanganui (Night Racing)
Round 6: April 15, Oxbow Aquatrack, Wanaka.