Racers all ready for Wanaka

MEMORY IS KEY: Ross and Shane Travers must run a perfect round in Wanaka today to regain the lead in the 400s series of the national championships. PHOTO/FILE A-271214WCLGJETS8

It is the South Island track where left, left, right can accidentally become left, right, left and then it's all over.

Oxbow Aquatrack in Wanaka is the site of the penultimate round of the PSP NZ Jet Sprint Championship series this afternoon as Wanganui's leading jetsprinters, who for the first time do not get two home events in a campaign, try to get one hand on their national trophies.

This year the two-season-old Wanaka track and Westview Aluminium Aquatrack in Featherston will be the final battlegrounds.

Sitting on a 10-point buffer after two victories, plus a runner-up and third placing, Wanganui's superboat driver Pat Dillon took the scenic route south this week - staying in Blenheim with his wife, stopping at Lake Tekapo on Thursday then heading to Wanaka to meet his plane-bound crew.

Needing one more good round to be untouchable ahead of Christchurch's perennial champion Peter Caughey, who helped prepare the track, and Wanganui ex-pat Leighton Minnell, Dillon said the word for the day was "conservatively".

Wanaka has short, sharp rotations that are harder for drivers to memorise, so with 1119kW under the hood, Dillon's PPG Hulk is more of a brute with a disadvantage compared to underpowered boats and the lightweights. "It's a little short track. That means you cover the same ground more," he said. "The rotations are going to be a head one for everybody."

In a tough 400 series fight with second-year Hamilton competitor Ollie Silverton, while looking back at Wanganui's reigning champion Hayden Wilson, Ross Travers knows today will be won by what is in the head, not under the hood.

"The boat can do it ... We've been two seconds quicker [than the others] the whole time," he said.

"Everything can change this weekend. The last few tracks have been 27-29 corners. This one's got 40 corners to try and drill into us.

"If you think about it [on course], you've missed it."

Travers has dominated with three round victories but made a costly mistake at the Meremere Sprint Bowl in February when a wrong turn saw him finish tenth - surrendering the series lead to the consistent Silverton, who has finished between second and fourth at every round.

Travers' trip south with his wife and navigator son Shane towing their Radio Active on Thursday was not without its dramas. The journey was disrupted by his daughter not being able to fly from Palmerston North, finally securing a flight from Wellington.

Sweating on a mistake by either Silverton or Travers, Wilson is comfortable at Wanaka as his victory under pressure in round six last year clinched him the 400s national title. His 58.032s time in the final eliminator was enough to see off Taupo's Warren Farr and Silverton after joint series leader Brett Thompson of Piopio had already crashed out.

After today's race it will be just three weeks until the final round of the season at Featherston.

Points after four rounds:

Biolytix 400s: 1. Ollie Silverton (Hamilton) 110 points; 2. Ross Travers (Wanganui) 108; 3. Hayden Wilson (Wanganui) 103;

4. Donna Thomson (Wanganui) 96; 5. Patrick Haden (Te Awamutu) 94.

PSP Group A: 1. Sam Newdick (Hamilton) 117; 2. Tristan Hynds (Papamoa) 107; 3. Simon Gibbon (Canterbury) 102; 4. Russell Dodds (Taupo) 93; 5. Blake Briant (Gisborne) 89.

Suzuki Superboats: 1. Pat Dillon (Wanganui) 117; 2. Peter Caughey (Christchurch) 107; 3. Leighton Minnell (New Plymouth) 103; 4. Glen Head (Hamilton) 100; 5. Rob Coley (Wanganui) 94.