THE BATTLEGROUND: Whanganui racers Hayden Wilson (right), Ross Travers and the rest of the national field will have their final hitout in Featherston tomorrow. PHOTO/FILE
TRICKY. That's the one word used by Whanganui's jetsprinters preparing for the finale to a long 2015-16 PSP NZ Jet Sprint Championship season at the Aquatrack at Featherston tomorrow morning.
Having received a new rotation layout for the six-island track which makes up the Tauherenikau Racecourse round, the waterborne speedsters say the tight turns will only add to the pressure.
This is especially true in the Suzuki Superboat class, where the events at Round 5 in Whanganui two weeks ago have created a points leader table so close you could cover it with a handkerchief.
Whanganui's brigade in expat Leighton Minnell, Rob Coley and Richard Murray are right up there with Hamilton's Glen Head and Christchurch's Peter Caughey, a mere five points separating first to fifth.
"They've made it the ultimate problem of rotations for the big finale," said Minnell, desperate to win his third national crown.
"That's what the crowd wants, and it's going to determine a champion.
"This is probably one of the closest finals I've gone into in nine years.
"It's going to be a box of chocolates - you don't know what you're going to get; a TAB's best friend."
Leaving aside the Top 5 eliminator drivers for the meantime, the true kingmaker is likely to be Foxton's Richard Burt - the former champion who came back to jetsprinting in January and won the Whanganui night round when Head and Caughey dropped out with mechanical issues.
A similar effort by Burt would shoehorn another contender out of the Top 5 eliminator and have maximum bearing on the final series positions, especially if the difficult turns are going to claim early victims.
"I've got no doubt he's going to be the points splitter," said Minnell. "I knew he was coming. You just had to be there or thereabouts with the points.
"The way I see it, it's good, old-fashioned 'to win it, go give it your best'."
Murray, who drove last year's NZ1 boat for the first time this season, is not as excited about the tight turns being negotiated by drivers with national titles in their sights.
As a first-time Superboat driver who has had a season of some success but also hard crashes - resulting in a rotating cast of navigators - Murray felt the prospect of a top driver flipping out early in the event will make for worse racing.
"We're all going to be pushing for it, and if we don't, we're just pussy-footing around the track and that's not good racing either.
"It's going to be one where you've got to be really careful."
Murray's crash at Shelterview two weeks ago left navigator Jo Rathbone with a broken leg, joining Ian Carter on the injured reserve after his arm was crushed in the UIM World Series in Tauranga. Therefore, Steve Edmonds, who was navigator in the same boat last year when Pat Dillon won the national title, will join Murray as Rathbone's replacement, although she will now miss the chance to push for higher honours in the separate category of navigators' national championship.
"I just feel gutted we can't do it for her," Murray said. "I'm still trying to get used to [Superboats]. In Whanganui I should have slowed down through the tricky bit.
"The nerves are good - we've just got to go out and do our thing and hopefully have a bit more luck than we have had.
"I'm not scared of the boat, which is probably not a good thing."
In the Biolytix Group B, both defending champion Ross Travers and former champ Hayden Wilson are resigned to their fates.
The proceedings in Whanganui - where Wilson's runner-up placing was taken away on protest - mean Te Awamutu's Patrick Haden now has a six-point lead despite coming second to Travers at the last three rounds.
Therefore, Travers will aim for four victories - the most for the season - while hoping Haden may be one of the drivers who comes a cropper on the tough track.
"We know we're still the fastest boat there. It's just the mechanical issues we had at Whanganui [in December] that were our downfall.
"If [Haden] gets in the Top 5, he's won it. He's doing exactly what he has to do.
"We got the rotation [layout] this week and it's a tricky one. It's probably the trickiest of the whole season. But that's what we want. Hopefully we won't balls-up and someone else will."
Wilson also did a few double-takes when the Featherston rotation scheme arrived this week.
"I had a look at that and it took me a while to get to know it. I'll look at it again tonight and then a couple more times and hopefully get my head around it.
"Even for the guys in our class with a tricky one like that ... the pressure's on."
After a disappointing year where he overcame the mechanical problems of the early rounds, only to lose his runner-up placing in Whanganui on a technicality, Wilson just wants to get a round trophy he can keep on merit and set himself up for a better season in 2017.
"It sure can't be any worse."
Standings after five rounds
Biolytix Group B: 1. Patrick Haden (Te Awamutu) 147 points; 2. Ross Travers (Whanganui) 141; 3. Tim Edhouse (Owhango) 140; 4. Hayden Wilson (Whanganui) 125; 5. Pip Thompson (Hawkes Bay) 119.
Altherm Group A: 1. Sam Newdick (Hamilton) 144; 2. Blake Briant (Gisborne) 141; 3. Ric Burke (Hamilton) 135; 4. Neil Marshall (New Plymouth) 125; 5. Warren Farr (Taupo) 123.
Suzuki Superboats: 1. Glen Head (Hamilton) 132; 2. Leighton Minnell (New Plymouth) 131; 3=. Peter Caughey (Christchurch) 128; 3=. Rob Coley (Whanganui) 128; 5. Richard Murray (Whanganui) 127.