After five years away and a complete change of ownership, Roar Offshore came back to the Gulf this weekend as an APBA Super Stock-only show, run from Margaritaville Beach Resort and streamed live on YouTube. New owners (and current Super Stock competitors) Shaun Torrente and Cole Leibel put 17 cats on a tight left-and-right-turn course off the beach. Crowds packed the sand. The racing stayed close from Friday through Sunday’s championship.
Friday’s qualifying session set the grid. Team Bermuda/GL Construction (David Selley and Steven Bridges) was quickest. Allied Construction/STR (Torrente and Matt Jamniczky) followed, then Lake America Racing (Pete Bogino and A.J. Bogino) and Team Allen Lawn Care and Landscaping (Billy Allen and rookie driver Sabrina Kowalik).
Saturday split the field into two heats. In the first, Torrente and Jamniczky drove Allied / STR to the win, ahead of Team Bermuda and Raymarine (Cole Leibel and Gary Ballough). The second heat went to Team Allen Lawn Care. Jeremy Tschida and Julian Maldonado took second in TFR/Wozencraft Insurance; the Boginos were third in Lake America.
Following Saturday's heat races, a special Speed Cat Run was held at 3 p.m. featuring a head-to-head drag-race layout: Boats were paired up to blast down a straight, short-distance parallel lane. It was a pure single-elimination knockout format where the first boat to cross the finish line won. Chad Rudesill and Rusty Williams took first place in Say Less MF, followed by Allied Construction/STR, TFR/Wozencraft and Team Celsius.
Sunday’s full-fleet championship saw Selley and Bridges in S-25 Team Bermuda/GL Construction starting in 16th place and driving through the crowd to ultimately win the Championship. Allen and Kowalik took second in Team Allen Lawn Care; Tschida and Maldonado were third in TFR/Wozencraft Insurance; and Cameron Turk and Owen Buis were fourth in XINSURANCE.
"It was a lot of work," Bridges said following the race. "Our opponents were running hard and making us work. But once we got around Wozencraft, we were able to get little bit of a run on Bill. We just started picking everybody down a little by little, and that was our plan. We just wanted to keep our points lead." They will remain at the top of the points lead on the way to the final races of the year.
At the awards ceremony, a special award was presented to Tom Torgerson, co-CEO and Chairman of TPI Hospitality, the company that owns, and operates Margaritaville Beach Resort-Fort Myers Beach. Torgerson is a longtime Fort Myers Beach resident who led the multi-year effort to build the resort.
"The beach is back!" Torgerson enthused. He gave props to Torrente for his role in reviving Roar Offshore: "This guy is amazing, and his team is amazing, and the future is bright. So this is a new beginning. If Shaun and his team can execute it at this level, imagine what the future is. And I'm so proud of our Margaritaville team, who worked hand-in-hand with Shaun's team. Both teams are so talented—it's a marriage made in heaven."
For an island that last heard this sound before Hurricane Ian, the weekend did what it was supposed to do: put Super Stock cats back on the beach and give the town a packed September crowd.