THE legendary Stinga team will start favourite to finally secure its record sixth Feros Hotel Group Hawkes- bury Bridge to Bridge Wat- erski crown when the time-honoured classic hits the river for the 48th time this Sunday morning.

Ebenezer's Team Stinga Racing, which added another world championship to its bulging collection in July when teenage prodigy Jack Houston stamped himself as the best junior boy skier on the planet, fine tuned its art for the big race with a brilliant victory in the Grafton Bridge 2 Bridge Classic last month.

Having suffered mechanical problems that scupper- ed their Hawkesbury 120 campaign, TSR went rudder to rudder with some of the most powerful and modern boats on the water, and the old girl answered the challenge by powering away to victory on the Clarence.

Having outslugged their biggest rivals, including gun Queensland crew Blazen, TSR's crew of driver Greg Houston, observer Kevin Boylan and skiers Grant Patterson and Daniel Campbell will be looking to reclaim the Hawkesbury River as its own and create history by being the first crew to win six Bridge to Bridges.

But it won't be easy, with 11 of Australia's best teams lining up to stop them, including Victoria's defending champion Hellrazor, to be driven by Mark Cranny with Damien Matthews observing, and Peter Procter and Paul Robertson on the water.

Noel Griffin's Blazen is also a major threat, as is Burnn and Hawkesbury 120 champion Superman, while Merc Force, Top Gun, The Gun, local team The Syndicate, Argo, The Mistress and The B all capable an upset if the top picks falter.

Action starts at 9am on Saturday with the qualifying races between Windsor Marine Stadium and Sackville Ski Gardens, including the Hawkesbury Hotshots from 11am.

The last boat in Saturday qualifying is due to leave Windsor at 12.44pm.

In a change to regular programming, the Super Class won't be the first cab off the rank on Sunday morning, with the main race instead being scheduled to start at 11.30am at Dangar Island.