Race World Offshore wrapped up its abbreviated two-day World Championships event in Key West Sunday after a tropical storm forced organizers to cancel racing on Wednesday. Here's how the action unfolded...
We start with the biggest and fastest field: Class 1. There were six boats in this battle—at least to start with—including two Huski entries: Brit Lilly and Steve Curtis in #21 Huski Wear, and Carlos de Quesada and Johnny Tomlinson in #22 Huski/Alegra Motorsports. On Friday, Lilly and Curtis grabbed the lead and never looked back. They were followed by Miles Jennings and Alex Pratt in Good Boy Vodka/XInsurance and the #22 Huski boat.
Then it was time for the other Huski entry to grab the glory—and with points doubled on Sunday, that would lead to a championship. Two of the six boats were a scratch: df Young and Good Boy Vodka/XInsurance were out, leaving a four-boat field. Sunday's race saw De Quesada and Johnny Tomlinson reign supreme in the #22 Huski/Alegra Motorsports, grabbing the World Championship. The #21 Huski finished second, followed by JBS Racing, which appeared to lose power in one engine after running strong for about nine laps. #18 Team DeFalco did not finish. Meanwhile, Ocean Cup (formerly Lucas Oil) was the winner in Extreme Class.
Nine boats joined the Super Cat competition. On Friday, Chris Grant and Billy Moore took their C.J. Grant Racing/Graydel entry to victory, followed by Myrick Coil and Tyler Miller in M CON and John Emmons and Jim McIntyre in Liquor Split. Celsius, with Wayne Valder and Grant Bruggemann in the rechristened Pro Floors Racing boat, trailed behind the others.
However, New Zealand native Valder was not to be counted out. On Sunday, the Celsius team grabbed the lead and stayed there, with M CON close on their tail. The dual second-place finishes were enough to guarantee a World Championship for Coil and Miller in their 388 Skater. SV Offshore, with Simon Prevost and Vinnie Diorio, came in third; three boats (Graydel, Liquor Split and WHM Motorsports) all fell out with mechanical issues during Sunday's race.
Offshore racing doesn’t get more exciting than it did in Sunday’s Super Stock race, which featured a dozen competitors in a nail-biting battle for a World Championship that came down to a very narrow points count.
Friday’s race saw Cody McDowell and Billy Allen of Team Allen Lawn Care trading the lead with Cole Leibel and Gary Ballough of Big East Construction. Team Allen finished first, followed by Big East, LPC Racing, Jackhammer, Celsius, Coco’s Monkey, Northwing and finally Performance Boat Center/FASS Fuel Systems in eighth place.
On Sunday, Myrick Coil and Rusty Williams of Performance Boat Center roared ahead to first place, and may well have captured the World Championship if Friday’s winner, Team Allen, failed to capture sufficient points on Sunday. But although they weren’t on the podium, Team Allen managed a fourth-place finish, clinching their World Championship in the class for 2022. Daren Kittredge and Grant Bruggemann of Northwing finished second, and Anthony Smith and Loren Peters of LPC came in third.
Now in its sophomore season, the Stock 450 class continues to expand: Key West drew a total of five competitors. Taylor Scism and Johnny Tomlinson in T/S Motorsports/Marine Technology Inc. grabbed their second consecutive World Championship after winning both races this week. Randy Keys and Billy Allen came in second in their KLOVAR Motorsports entry on Sunday after finishing third on Friday.
Modified Vee brought three competitors together in a very dramatic and heart-wrenching outcome. Multiple World and National Champion Boatfloater.com, featuring the father/son team of Steve and Stephen Kildahl, finished Friday’s race with a spectacular lead, besting Ian Morgan and Nick Imprescia of 151 Express, while Pete Riveiro and Shameel Mohammed in Sheriff Lobo spun out in the first lap. On Sunday, Boatfloater took an early lead—but a mishap resulted in their being towed off the course, shattering their hopes of another World Championship. Their misfortune opened an opportunity for 151 Express, a 29 Extreme, to take the lead, and the World Championship. Sheriff Lobo finished in second place.
Six Stock Vee racers came to Key West with dreams of landing at the top of the podium. On Friday, Ken Bolinger and Forrest Riddle in Fastboys sailed to a first-place finish, with Chris Colson and Patrick Romeo in Shocker coming in second only seconds behind. Chris Uzzi and Rob Hartmannin in Laticrete finished third.
Sunday’s race saw Laticrete finishing first—but Fastboy’s second-place finish appeared to give them enough points to take the World Championship. Shocker finished in third place.
Bracket class racing started with Class 300, which saw Scott Brown and Ed Tamberino in Harpoon Harry’s/Wix taking first place; Billy Shipley and Chad Woody in Team Woody Racing finished second and Don Urfer and Richard Davis in Cigarette Justice League finished in third place. On Sunday, Woody and Harry traded off on the lead until Brown and Tamberino broke down, allowing Team Woody to take a big lead and the World Championship. Cigarette Justice League finished second.
In Class 400, Grant Greytok and Bill Reeves in GNS Motorsports came in first on Friday, followed by OC Offshore Racing and Simmons Racing in second and third place.
But on Sunday, GNS fell off pace, landing them in third place. That worked out well for Jim Simmons and Jason Zolecki in Simmons Racing—they grabbed lead and the World Championship. OC Offshore once again finished in second place.
Four teams competed in Class 500, which was the only bracket class to see a carbon-copy finish on both days. JJ Turk and Micheal Stancombe in Team Woody/Golf & Gator were unstoppable on Friday and Sunday; they were followed by Vincent Winoski and Robert Winoski in Bronx Phantom, Elijah Kingery and Craig Belfatto in Bulletproof/GoodCars.com, and Ervin Grant and Mark DiDario in Team Farnsworth Motorsports.
In Class 600, Powerhouse Racing, with Nelson Sawyer and Damon Marotta Jr., turned in dual first-place finishes on Friday and Sunday, earning them a World Championship. Mark Conrod and Chase Gerard in Gerard Marine and Brian Guy and Julian Maldonado in Jackhammer finished second and third, respectively, on Sunday (but in reverse order on Friday). Steele Racing ran unopposed in Bracket Class 700.