KEY POINTS:
A decent upper Waitemata Harbour chop for the final race of the offshore powerboat season today may mean a change of the usual podium placings.
Richard Shores and Peter Turner have five national titles each but South Auckland brothers Grant, 42, and Wayne Valder, 36, are in position to lift the trophy this year.
The Valders' 34ft, 1100 horsepower Phantom-designed catamaran has won the last two races at Gulf Harbour and Whitianga in rough conditions and they are hoping for more of the same because Turner's boat is faster on the flat and Shores' is faster still.
The Valders trail Turner in Sleepyhead by 75 points, with 375 on offer for first, 275 for second and 200 for third. Shores, in Placemakers, is out of the title race after crashing on the second corner of the first lap at Whitianga.
Meanwhile Valder was testing propellers loaned to him by Shores in a bid to squeeze an extra mile or two an hour out of his 115mph machine, to bring it into line with the straight-out speed of Sleepyhead.
Placemakers' spokesman Peter Rolton said there was no drive to see Turner beaten.
"We just want to make the competition interesting."
Valder said there was nothing strange about the loan - "it's common practice to loan gear and share information, it's part of the history and camaraderie of the sport".
This is the second year of racing in the inner Waitemata after a 10-year hiatus after the accident involving Graeme Horne.
The course has been reversed, so the boats will run anticlockwise around the oval circuit from Westhaven to Kauri Point to provide more viewing for spectators.
That means the boats will run up harbour into the predicted southwesterly wind, which will be pushing against an incoming tide.
There should be an ugly wash rebounding off the Westhaven seawall after lap one. So Valder may get his wish.
The race boat Jesse James he and his brother bought from Ross Tebbs some years ago had taught them to race in the rough, he said. After a break in racing to concentrate on family, they were still refining their technique.
"We're learning to corner the boat better - you can lose 50 metres on a bad corner."
Organisers are expecting about 50 boats to enter in five classes, from V8 Superboats to the Super Lites that run twin outboards, to classic boats and the Formula Honda class.
The boats race from the western end of the harbour, inside Watchman's Island and under the Harbour Bridge to a buoy off Wynyard Wharf near Westhaven marina.
Then they turn and cut under the other side of the bridge past Fisherman's Wharf and race back to Kauri Point, the larger boats in a 100-mile, 15-lap race while the smaller boats contest 60 and 30-mile races.
Best viewing will be from Wynyard Wharf, Westhaven and Herne Bay on the western side of the harbour and from Fisherman's Wharf and Kauri Point on the north.
Spectator boats will be allowed inside the race course under supervision of the Harbourmaster, ARC and Coastguard.
Thundercat and Wildcat races precede the offshore championship, which begins at 1pm.
