Photography by Jeff Gerardi
Inclement weather continued to wreak havoc on racing in Florida, as the second day of the OPA World Championships in Englewood were cut short only a few weeks after a hurricane took the group’s National Championships off the schedule completely.
Only three bracket classes raced on Sunday: 5, 6 and 7—which themselves started late because of the wind and rain. Here’s a recap of the weekend’s activities.
On Saturday, nine entries in Class 7 came together, bracketed to 60 mph. On Saturday, James Jaronczyk and Dyllan Gold in Nauti Boyz finished in first place ahead of Goofin’ Around, Legend Marine, The Punisher, Progression, Bad Habit and Offshore Ohmies. Two boats (Bad Habit and Wackhammer) were scratches on Sunday, which saw the father/son team of Joe Reilly Sr. and Joe Reilly Jr. victorious in Team Progression, followed by Redrum, Dawson Marine, Offshore Ohmies and Nauti Boyz. With the double points they earned on Sunday, Team Progression took the World Championship.
Classes 5 and 6 ran together after staggered starts staggered starts, during both days' Race 2. In Class 6 racing, Moderation grabbed the points on Saturday, followed by Unsalted No Sharks/Rum Runners and CRC/Smith Brothers. But on Sunday, an accident during the first lap involving Moderation, in which owner/driver Mike Lang and throttleman Johnny Saris were ejected from their 26' Sutphen. A red flag temporarily stopped the action while both men were rescued (they checked out OK, but the boat was in pretty bad shape). After the restart, Michael McColgan and Francis Vellutato Jr. in Unsalted No Sharks/Rum Runners were victorious, followed by CRC/Smith Brothers and Money Monster. Unsalted took the World Championship.
Three competitors in Saturday's Class 5 race traded off on the lead position: Bulletproof, Team Woody and Shoreline Plumbing. Although Bulletproof finished first, OPA announced on Sunday that JJ Turk and Micheal Stancombe of Team Woody were the front-runners in points (meaning Bulletproof had broken out—an eternal hazard of bracket racing). Team Woody grabbed the lead on Sunday and the World Championship, followed by Bulletproof and Cigar Monster.
All of the remaining classes raced only on Saturday, because a storm blew in Sunday afternoon causing very low visibility.
Taylor Scism and Johnny Tomlinson grabbed the World Championship in Factory Stock class in TS Motorsports/Marine Technology. They were followed by Gladiator, a Doug Wright hull that chased them throughout the race—often trailing by a rooster tail—and Bad Habits/GC Racing, another MTI.
Brit Lilly and Jay Muller in LSB Hurricane of Awesomeness/Rev-X Oil grabbed the lead in Stock Vee and never looked back. They were followed by North Myrtle Beach RV and Twisted Tea.
Class 4 saw Dean Stahlman, Nate Hunt and Connie Hunt in Predator taking the World Championship, followed by Saris Racing and Cape Haze Marine on the podium.
Steven Fehrman and Steve Miklos in SunPrint were the winners in Modified Vee after its competitors in Relentless stuffed their boat.
Congratulations to these World Champions in the remaining classes:
Vee Extreme—Ed Smith and Anthony Smith in Knucklehead Racing.
Super Stock: A.J. and Pete Bogino in CoCo's Monkey.
Super Cat: Bobby Adams and Richie Davis in Justice League.
Unlimited: Jeff Stevenson and Micheal Stancombe in JBS Racing.
Class 2: Billy Shipley and Chad Woody in Team Woody.
Class 3: Billy Shipley and Chad Woody in Team Woody.