KEY WEST -- Things are just starting to heat up as the powerboats reached the halfway point of the 29th annual Key West World Championships on Friday, while the speeding watercrafts continued to thrill fans as the gliding through Key West Harbor. With final day of racing on Sunday counting as double the points, no team is out of the hunt for a world title. However, certain boats were able to boost leads on Day 2 of racing, while other classes saw the title chase get very interesting.

"What a fantastic day of racing," said Larry Bleil, the director of the Conch Republic Offshore Powerboat Racing Association (CROPRA). "Everything was picture perfect. The weather was beautiful, the racing was phenomenal and I can't believe the size of the crowd. With no incidents and close racing it just made it a picture perfect day."

For the second-straight day of racing the Miss Geico team ran the fastest average speed on course, at 112 mph, and out ran its Turbine Class competition the Aqua Mania team to the finish line 49 seconds, nearly lapping every boat in the final heat of the day.

"It's been awesome out there," Miss Geico driver Scott Begovich said of the first two days of racing. "Our crew has made all the right calls and all the right decisions on setting the boat up and that's made all the difference. Our crew just gave us a boat that was flawless today and all I did was run around with a great boat."

Also in the final heat, the CMS team turned its fortunes around, running at an average speed of 109 mph, and twisted the Superboat Unlimited class on its head with a first place finish. Combined with a third on Wednesday, CMS move into a two-team tie for first in the class with the Cintron vessel, which was unable to complete Friday's race finishing in third, but only 2.5 points back is the WHM boat that has placed second on both days.

The Panasonic and Seminole Hard Rock teams took control of their respective classes, both taking a top billing for the second straight race day.

Panasonic in the Superboat Vee Extreme Class cruised to the win over Saratoga Stampede, which was unable to finish the race, after the two boats raced to a one second difference on Wednesday.

For the Hard Rock team, it took a large lead in the Superboat Vee Unlimited overall standings with the victory, going up by 72.5 points in front of the Fountain Worldwide team, along with a shift in finishing positions by the rest of its running mates. Second place finisher on Day 1, Fountain Worldwide, was third on Friday, and third place finisher, Outerlimits, was unable to complete a lap dropping to fifth on the day. Rockstar Energy, now third overall, took second in the class on Friday and Davis Motorsports was fourth.

In the midday heats, the Talkin Trash team, with an average of 103 mph, streaked to its second straight first place finish in the Superboat 750 class, 11 seconds ahead of JD Byrider, taking a commanding lead in the point standings. With the JD Byrider and Efusion teams swapping second and third during the two days of competition, the Talkin Trash team now holds a 72.5 lead over both.

"We took first place twice so we are feeling great," said Talking Trash throttle man Vinny Rifice. "Last time we were out we flipped the boat, so we had to make some changes. It's taken us a little bit to get it refigured out, but I feel we are right on track over the last two races. Everything is feeling great for Sunday and we are going to the three-peat for the World Championship."

The Spirit of Qatar team had another first place finish on Friday in the Superboat 850 class. However, it was the No. 96 boat, which was second on Wednesday, that ran in front to the checkered flag, leaving Team CRC in second and the No. 95 Spirit of Qatar vessel in third. With the Friday results, the No. 96 boat jumps into the overall lead at 475.0 points, but is followed closely by his No. 95 teammate (452.5 points) and Tem CRC (427.5). With the Fujitso Furry still in the mix Sunday's results will decide the championship.

Team Amsoil had little problem keeping ahead of the Norwegian All Jack'd Up squad in the Super Cat class, winning by nearly two minutes, and if the Amsoil boat finishes Sunday's race it will be crowned World Champion.

Sunday's opening races will be extra important for the Superboat Stock class after a miscalculation on Wednesday left the standings wide open. Due to an error by the Miccosukee TNT team on Day 1 -- which thought it had completed the required number of laps but was one short -- leaving the team in fourth it stormed back on Friday for the victory to retake the overall standing, but by only five points. Just behind the Miccosukee team are Rollin Vengeance and Stihl teams, who swapped spots during the two days of racing, and Day 1 winner the Steve Quick Jewelers.com boat placed fifth leaving it 18 points off the overall lead.

There is only one Production Class that will not be tied going into the final day of racing, the P2 class, as the regulated speeds on the boats have kept the action tight.

Cleveland Construction picked up the win on Friday in the Production 1 class, which runs in the midday heats, but just 34 seconds behind was the Miccosukee Indian Gaming team and the two boats enter Sunday tied top the standings.

Global Warmer was first to the finish line in the Production 2 class and the Love Muscle boat was second, as the two teams will enter Sunday separated by 2.5 points. Also in the hunt for the world title is Team SW1 Capital, the Day 1 winners, and after a fourth on Friday leaves the squad 20 points behind Global Warmer for the championship.

Simmons Racing, first on Friday and second on Wednesday, and Unleashed, second on Friday and first on Wednesday, are all knotted up at the top of the Production 3 standings, while the Crazy Chicken team, which took a pair of third place finishes, needs some help from the other four boats in the class in order to win the championship.

The local Rum Runners team, from Big Pine, outdueled Team Velocity on Day 2, by just two seconds, which was good enough the tie the teams with 475 points going into Sunday's Production 5 finale.

With two days of action-packed racing in the book, it leaves only Sunday, where all the heats will be doubled in length and points, when 12 World Championships will be decided. Bleil says he can not wait to see the excitement from what he said he expects to be an even larger crowd watch the 50 boat fleet gunning for top billing in the classes.

"Sunday should be a phenomenal day," said Bleil. "The course is running fine. The weather has been great for the spectators, the sun has been shining but has also been cool, and nothing could be better. Just hope everybody come down on Sunday and watches some great racing."

jwcooke@keysnews.com