CARDIFF Bay is set to be taken over by powerboats next week with a Newport team hoping to claim the spoils in home waters.

Driver James Norvill and navigator Christian ‘Charlie’ Parsons-Young will compete against nine other boats in the P1 SuperStock Championships on the weekend of July 26-27.

Cardiff Bay is hosting round three of both the UK offshore powerboat racing championship and the AquaX jet ski series.

And spectators can enjoy a free ringside seat as the boats reach speeds of up to 66mph around the capital’s picturesque marina setting.

Parsons-Young, whose job it is to tell Norvill where their rivals are on the course and plot the best route to victory, is looking forward to racing in Wales.

“We’ve raced Hull and Bournemouth already and Cardiff is the third round of the UK series,” he said.

“We should have a lot of friends and family here to cheers us on and, fingers crossed, hopefully we can win it for Wales.

“This is my second year and James has been doing it for three years,” he added.

“We race in the UK and the US, racing in Florida where it is very big.

“But it’s growing in popularity over here as well because it is very exciting to take part in and to watch.

“It is a great atmosphere with plenty of thrills and spills and Cardiff Bay is quite a tight space so it should be extra special.

“The racing is also very close because we’re all stick and nobody can modify their engine.

“We’re all running at around 65mph so it is down to the driving and the navigating!”

After returning from competing in Tampa Bay at the weekend, Parsons-Young and Norvill will compete in Cardiff, Torquay and Gosport in the UK and will also be back in Florida.

“We’re lucky because we sponsor ourselves through James’ business GD Environmental,” said Parsons-Young.

“And we are our own bosses so we’ve got people looking after everything while we’re not there!”

The Cardiff Bay event starts with jet ski freestyle displays at 11am on July 26 with the first P1 Superstock heat at 12.30pm.

The finals will be on Sunday, July 27, from 2.30pm. Visit p1superstock.co.uk for more details.