The Offshore Powerboat Grand Prix in New Orleans—IHRA's second race of the season—wrapped up two days of competition on Lake Pontchartrain on Sunday, culminating in some truly nail-biting action, with lots of lead and position changes. For this race, IHRA offered racers an opportunity to take advantage of an alternate "short lap," designed to add some complexity for teams in the series, lending some variety to the competition and affording each of the teams to build their own strategies around the short laps.
Seven Pro Class 1 competitors came to The Big Easy hoping to land on the podium, including Monster Energy/M•CON (Tyler Miller and Myrick Coil), which previously won in St. Petersburg, FL. Also in the running: Discrete Offshore Racing, DMR Performance, GC Racing, Outta Pocket Racing, WHM Motorsports and XINSURANCE North—the latter of which had barrel-rolled and sustained considerable damages at the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, FL, all of which have since been repaired. The boats in this class ran two races: one on Saturday and again on Sunday.
Saturday's race was won handily by Miller and Coil in Monster Energy/M•CON, which was followed by DMR Performance (Bill Pyburn and Brit Lilly) in second and WHM Motorsports (Billy Mauff and Jay Muller) in third. Miller and Coil were unstoppable again on Sunday, but Pyburn and Lilly—who were close behind and poised to repeat Saturday's second-place finish—experienced a mechanical issue and lost power halfway through the race in DMR Performance. That gave Outta Pocket/XINSURANCE South (Kevin Birrell and Billy Moore) an opening to finish in second place, with GC Racing (Willy Cabeza and Johnny Tomlinson) grabbing third. After scoring, overall Pro Class 1 results put Monster Energy/M•CON in first, Outta Pocket Racing in second, and WHM in third.
In one of the most extraordinary races this season, five Super Cat teams duked it out on Sunday: CR Racing, Dirty Money, CJ Grant/Graydel, How 2 Live and EWB Offshore. Rob Unnerstall and Casey Boaz in CR Racing dominated for much of the race, but Lilly and Pyburn in Dirty Money (pulling double-duty in Pro Class 1 and Super Cat) eventually caught up to CR Racing and overtook it. However, just as Lilly and Pyburn seemed poised to repeat their win in St. Petersburg, Dirty Money lost power and stopped during the 11th of 12 laps—the second of two soul-shattering blows for the pilots. That gave Unnerstall and Boaz a chance to regain their lead and take the win in CR Racing; Chris Grant and Jay Muller in CJ Grant/Graydel finished second, and Kelly Kraiss and Ron Gibbs in EWB Offshore got on the podium in third place.
"It was awesome," Unnerstall said when the race was over. "We couldn't have gave it any more. Our strategy worked out well. Obviously, we were disappointed when Dirty Money was ahead of us, so all we could do was just give it all we could and hung them behind them, just hoping for them to make a mistake or have a mechanical error. And as it happened, luck wasn't with them today and we were able to keep it together. We're really jazzed up."
A healthy turnout of Super Stock boats (15 in all) threw down on Sunday. Wozencraft (with Jeremy Tschida and Julian Maldonado), which finished in third place in St. Pete, dominated in New Orleans, staying ahead of the pack the entire race and capturing the checkered flag. GL Construction/Team Bermuda (David Selley and Steven Bridges) took second and Celsius (Chris Hopgood and Jay Muller) took third; they were followed by Allied/STR, Raymarine, Nuff Said, Diggin Deep and Say Less MF.
Sunday's Factory 500 race featured five boats: Jackhammer, 151 Express, Say Less MF, Mead Family Racing and Lake Wylie Racing. (Good Boy Vodka came to race, but was a scratch.) Lake Wylie Racing, with Joe Spoloric and Garrett Coonrod, were running up front when the boat lifted and blew over, landing upside down. The pilots were out of the boat within seconds and their 38' Doug Wright catamaran (formerly raced as Hank’s Saloon) was towed off the course during the resulting red flag.
When the four remaining competitors convened, Jackhammer pilots Reese Langheim and Julian Maldonado traded off on the lead with Nick Imprescia and Ian Morgan in their 151 Express entry. Jackhammer eventually got in front of the other boats to take the win, repeating their victory in St. Pete. Meanwhile, 151 Express finished second; Say Less MF, with Rusty Williams and Chad Rudesill, came in third, followed by Mead Family Racing (with Caleb Mead and John Tomlinson). However, after the racing was completed, officials slapped Jackhammer with a 1-minute penalty for being under weight, giving 151 Express the win. Say Less MF was officially second, and Jackhammer was third.
Following the Factory 500 race, Spoloric and Coonrod appeared unfazed by the blowover, vowing to be at the next race after repairs on their boat were made. "The boat decided to turn into an airplane and a kite at the same time," he shrugged. "We were running strong, but a crosswind got us. But you know, we got our first flip out of the way—hopefully for the season and for the rest of our career. We're perfectly fine. We'll get everything back together, and we'll be ready for the next race in Cocoa Beach, FL."
Mod Vee reunited the three competitors from St. Petersburg: winner NMBRV Resort (Kirk Hannah and Truston Hannah), Boatfloater.com (Steve Kildahl and Stephen Kildahl) and the brand-new team of Louisiana/Clouatre Cartel Racing (Dustin Clouatre and Owen Buis), which unfortunately had been sidelined early on with mechanical gremlins and had to be towed in during the season opener. Sunday's New Orleans race presented quite a different story: local favorites Clouatre and Buis were victorious after the father-son Kildahl team—which dominated for most of the race—went out in the last couple of laps, allowing Louisiana to move up from second to first. That put the father-son Hannah team in second place. Congratulations to Team Clouatre!
Following the race, driver Clouatre emerged from the Louisiana boat with a big grin and a visible head wound, sustained when the hatch closed as he was reaching for the checkered flag. "Owen is my head coach out there—he told me what to do, and for the first time in my life, I followed instructions and we brought home the checkered flag," he laughed. "So it paid off." Throttleman Buis added: "It was definitely awesome feeling. Dustin worked his ass off on the wheel. I'm so happy that we could bring it home here in Louisiana."
Results from Bracket Classes:
Class 200—OC Racing
Class 400—Shocker Offshore
Class 500—Fuel1Team.com
Class 600—Team Ride Legal/Victory
Class 700—Pist'n Broke