Replacing 300 truckloads of dirt with four million pump bottles of water is no easy feat – but ASB Baypark is accepting the challenge as it gears up to host a methane-fuelled world first of jet boats within a stadium.

Event organisers today confirmed Baypark will host round two of the New Zealand Jetsprint Championship on January 25, 2014 – a decision they believe could transform the sport on a global scale.

Jet Sprints similar to this will whiz around Baypark next year. Photos: Neil Jones, In-shot Photography

The unique sport, boasting Kiwi origins since 1981, sees jet boats with crews of two race individually against the clock through a twisting series of channels in less than a metre of water, providing fast-paced action for spectators.

Hosting next year's event at Baypark will mean removing the equivalent of 300 truckloads of dirt from inside the stadium and replacing it with 2000m3 of fresh water. It will be the first time the championship is held from inside a stadium.

Jet Sprint Bay of Plenty spokesperson Matt Minnell says the event is two years in the making with the New Zealand Jet Sprint Association teaming up with Jetsprint BOP and Bay Leisure and Events Limited to bring the world-first spectacle to Kiwi audiences.

'My cousin Leighton [multiple NZ Jetsprint champion Leighton Minnell] came to me two years ago with his idea to bring it to the city because they only race in gullies or tracks in the middle of nowhere.

'So we went to Baypark with the idea to build a track out the back on the empty land but Ervin [ASB Baypark manager Ervin McSweeney] said ‘Why not put it in the middle of the track?'.”

As a result, a complex network of five metre-wide channels ranging from 40-70 centimetres deep will be constructed with 1400m3 of dirt trucked out of the stadium.

'Nowhere else in the world is there a track inside a stadium. It's a world first and everybody we speak to say they wouldn't always go to the speedway but would be keen to see this,” says Matt.

Leighton says seeing his idea coming to fruition is a dream come true and he cannot wait to test out the track.

'Jetsprint racing is an iconic Kiwi sport so it seems only fitting that, as founders of the sport, the venue for the first stadium-based jetsprint race event is on home soil.”

New Zealand Jet Sprint Association chairman Eric Hoksema is extremely excited at the opportunities presented by the world first fixture.

'It truly has the potential to transform the sport on a global scale. Creating a stadium-based event will allow us to take the sport to the next level.”

Round two of the championship will see up to 50 teams from New Zealand competing in three classes, including the V8 superboats – reaching speeds of more than 125kilometres per hour, while there is also a large interest from overseas.

'It looks like they are going to have to limit the overseas entries; they have 12 Australians and might have to limit it to six or eight,” says Matt.

Looking ahead Matt says the big goal is hosting the 2015/16 World Championships – as long as they can prove their worth.

'That's what we are aiming for. But Tauranga has to prove itself, the event has to prove itself and the organisers have to prove themselves before they will look at us.”