Whanganui needs Waitara wins

The Mad Az boat of Peter and Gary Huijs will be back in the water tomorrow, driven by former national champion Richard Burt.

For once, Whanganui's expat world champion Leighton Minnell has the opportunity to cast a bird's eye view over a stacked Naki 500 as the third round of Altherm Window Systems NZ Jetsprint Championship gets underway in Waitara tomorrow.

Normally, Minnell would be right in the thick of it on the track he designed, as a contender in the Mouthfresh Superboat competition, however a blown engine in Meremere two weeks ago has not allowed enough time for the arrival of replacement parts for his Taranaki Hardcore boat.

"I'm out of my own round, a bit discouraging," Minnell said.

"I'll be more keen on how Kelli is going. The focus is on Girl Torque.

"She was just right there so she's starting to fire on all eight cylinders."

Rookie driver wife Kelli Minnell and navigator Nicky Ferguson came fourth in the Group B division in Meremere, the first round to allocate points for performance as the opening December round in Waitara was rained off.

Very disappointed at the time, Leighton Minnell was pleased to have nothing above him but blue sky heading into this weekend and is promising that adjustments in the rotations since - two more corners lengthening the course by around two seconds - will bring the spectacle he has been promising.

And the drivers will be out to meet that challenge after everyone shared series points in December with the abandonment of racing, especially in the 15-strong Superboat field where drivers know they are now running out of rounds to catch multiple-time champion Peter Caughey.

"The Superboats, Group A, there's a 400th of a second between the Top 6. Really, really good machines," said Minnell.

"This is the half way of the season of the competition, there's two Whanganui guys right there ready to pounce, and they need to."

Whanganui's Rob Coley came fourth in Meremere using his old engine package in his newest Poison Ivy boat.

However, the 2015-16 runnerup is dead serious about eating into Caughey's points lead as the crew have now installed their long-awaited engine and were already diligently testing it on course."We think old 'Mad Dog', he's got the package to do it," said Minnell.

"They got here at lunchtime today [Friday]. I don't think we'll see anyone else until tomorrow.

"I'm really hoping for big things - to be here a day and a half early."

Gisborne's Blake Briant was runnerup at Meremere, while a spoiler amongst the series points allocations could come from another Whanganui connection in the popular Mad Az craft.

Owned by Whanganui's Peter and Gary Huijs, with Peter being the former driver, the rotary-powered boat is back in the water with Palmerston North's former national champion Richard Burt behind the wheel.

The Huijs's have worked diligently towards their goal of making their unique 2.6L quad rotor turbo engine the equal and eventual superior of the regular V8-powered boats - creating a boat that sounds more like a Formula 1 racing car.

There will be 13 entries for the Stinger Group A class, where Whanganui's former Group B champion Ross Travers will be looking to make up ground on Meremere winner Neil Marshall, who has home track advantage in Taranaki.

Also racing Group A again is the former national champion Richard Murray, who came fifth in Meremere as he is basically racing Mean Machine as a form of advertising so he can sell it and focus on his Superboat craft in future.

"We were improving with every run in Auckland, hopefully we can carry on," Murray said.

While he could make further improvements, Murray said he is running the Ford-powered craft in its current state to leave the door open for prospective buyers to make any changes they see fit.

The action starts at 10am with updates and live streaming available on Facebook.