Lake Maraetai stretches quiet and glassy through the Waikato valley for most of the year, but this weekend Mangakino wakes to something altogether different. From 1–2 November 2025, the opening round of the 2025/26 Lucas Oil Hydro Thunder NZ Series transforms those calm waters into a battleground for the country's fastest GP hydroplanes, each one capable of pitching its driver past 270 km/h on a straight stretch of lake.
Five rounds across the North and South Islands will decide who inherits New Zealand's most coveted powerboat title. From Mangakino to Lake Rotoiti, the championship draws in returning champions, long-running family rivalries, a revitalised contender, and at least one dark horse with transport damage and something to prove.
Reigning champion Ken Lupton lines up in GP577 Lucas Oil, a 26-foot Henderson/Auld-built machine producing up to 2,000 horsepower from its 510 cubic-inch supercharged V8. That combination of brute power and refined design helped Lucas Oil claim both the NZ Hydro Thunder title and the Canadian-based Hydroplane Racing League crown last season, a rare international double. The hull sets the benchmark for outright pace, though those who follow the series closely will tell you it is the skill and determination Lupton brings to the cockpit that converts raw speed into points and trophies.
Three-time national champion David Alexander is the man most likely to end Lupton's reign. His GP777 Miss Waverley, a lighter 2019-built Henderson/Auld hull, runs a 1,300 HP HRL 468 cubic-inch engine prepared by Grant Rivers Race Engines. Where Lucas Oil wins on raw power, Miss Waverley excels through the corners, a characteristic that pays dividends when gusty crosswinds funnel through Mangakino's narrow basin. Illness forced Alexander out of the Twizel final earlier this year, cutting short what might have been a title charge, and he arrives at Round 1 hungry for a record fourth series championship.
Scott Coker adds another layer of danger to the field. Fresh from his first Grand Final victory at Lake Karapiro, Coker steers GP10 Howzat, a Bergeron/Henderson/Auld-built boat that trades a fraction of top-end speed for exceptional mid-corner grip. That balance helped him tame last season's unpredictable conditions, and his confidence heading into the new campaign is hard to miss.
Steve Preece returns in GP009 Miss Marsden Cove, a carbon-fibre hull freshly re-powered by Reece Fish's FFR Race Engines. Miss Marsden Cove has long carried a reputation for meticulous preparation and consistent performance, and after a difficult few years Preece is direct about his intentions: he is "ready to swing punches again."
The Lupton name appears twice on the entry list, as it has so many times before. Warwick Lupton marks his 35th season behind the wheel by stepping into GP333, the very hull his son Jack raced last year. Jack, meanwhile, will campaign his Canadian GP33, a boat that suffered transport damage on the way to New Zealand but could yet emerge as the dark horse once it reaches the start line.
Peter Dudson rounds out the front-running contenders, taking over the wheel of GP21 Gulf Oil Gambler. The 26-foot Auld/Belcer-built boat produces 1,500 HP from a 510 cubic-inch supercharged V8, and Dudson has a well-earned reputation for pushing machinery to its absolute limit. Kevin Ireland's former ride is in capable hands, and Dudson is the sort of driver who makes leaders check their mirrors.
A note worth passing on, courtesy of Steve Symon via the Powerboats New Zealand Supporters and Drivers Facebook group: Peter Dudson's previous boat, GP57, has gone to Australia following its sale to American driver Andrew Tate.
Andrew Tate is absent from this season's entry list after featuring in New Zealand racing over the past few seasons. Steve Symon has provided the detail here too: the hydroplane Tate acquired, originally Peter Dudson's, has since been sold to Tate and Blake Ramsey's Ramsey Racing, together with long-time engine builder Brett Niddrie. Ramsey Racing have committed to competing in both the Hydro Thunder series in New Zealand and the new National Drivers Championship Hydro series in Australia during the 2026/27 season.
No rivalry in the series cuts deeper than the one between Lupton and Alexander. Both are Waverley veterans who have traded national titles and Masport Cups for over a decade, often separated by tenths of a second. At the 2025 Twizel Hydro Thunder finale, Lupton's blistering pace met Alexander's technical precision in what shaped up as a classic contest, only for American driver Andrew Tate to claim a shock victory and become the fifth different winner across five rounds.
Factor in Coker's recent Grand Final form and Preece's determination to announce his return, and the 2025/26 Lucas Oil Hydro Thunder NZ Series looks set to be the most competitive in the championship's history.
The full five-round schedule is as follows. Round 1 takes place at Mangakino on 1–2 November 2025, followed by Round 2 at the same venue on 6–7 December 2025. Round 3 moves south to Twizel for the AE Baker Cup on 10–11 January 2026. Round 4 heads to Karapiro for the Masport Cup on 6–7 February 2026, before the series concludes at Lake Rotoiti in Nelson on 28 February to 1 March 2026.
With every past series champion confirmed and the field as deep as it has ever been, the valley above Lake Maraetai is about to fill with a very particular kind of thunder.
