Mullan would then drive a comfortable 46.29 seconds lap, slower than his lightning 45.16 in the Top 5 eliminator, but more than enough against Wanaka's Dave Hopkins, who finished in 48.87 and had been a lucky finalist after the reigning champion, Peter Caughey of Christchurch, had made a wrong turn in the previous race.
Despite having to settle for third, Minnell was delighted with how his Hydraulink boat was performing. He purchased it back this season after selling it to a Taranaki owner three years ago.
"We're trying to get the world's [championships] in August and we're going to put a new engine in for that.
"We're 500hp down on these guys. Make no mistake, we're chasing the [national] championship and Pete's doing us a favour.
"Touch wood, we've got our mechanical problems out of the way and we've got a tight package.
"The Mount and Hastings are tight tracks so hopefully we can put some pressure on Phonsy and Pete. Auckland I'm not looking forward to."
Fellow Wanganui driver Richard Murray is also determined to hang in there but his rival Sam Newdick remains a step above the competition right now after he comfortably took out the Top 3 eliminator to win Round 1 of the Group A class.
Newdick's 47.92 was the fastest class time of the day, in fact exceeding the laps of all but the fastest Superboats, with Murray (50.20) and Australian Paul Gaston (50.68) trailing in his wake. "They've spent a bit of money on an engine this year, but it could be a bit of a time bomb too," said Murray.
"I've been battling the flu for the past two weeks and I didn't think I was going to make the top three, to be honest.
"The set up wasn't right and so I thought I'd finish third, but then Gaston went even slower because he did the same thing, so that was a free point to me."
In the 400 series, Piopio's Brett Thompson is already looking to go one better than his champion runnerup placing after taking out the final with a 53.59 second time.
Yet the big story was Hamilton rookie driver Ollie Silverton, as the former navigator finished his first-ever round in second spot after a 54.33 ride, followed by Te Kuiti's Ray Thompson (54.97).
In the celebrity challenge between the TV3 reality television stars, Pete Walker got it over his brother Andy, as his 105.71 time being exactly one second quicker than his sibling.
A standout on the day was the horrific smash when veteran driver Pat Dillon was taking sponsor Ryan Thomas for a hot lap.
Thomas was taken to hospital to be checked out and was then discharged.
Minnell said while unfortunate, witnessing the accident did not make any of the competitors slow down.
"The only one that I think that choked afterwards was Hayden [Wilson], who was a rookie.
"It's one of those things that does happen, at this stage it looks like a mechanical error. But fortunately no-one was hurt."
The next round will be historic as the first ever held inside a stadium the day/night event at ASB Baypark Stadium, Mt Maunganui.
