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From the P1 Offshore Email Newsletter | If you want to see more stories like this, sign up using the button at the bottom of this story
The 2023 APBA Offshore season was one of significant growth and many changes. A large part of the APBA Offshore 2023 rulebook was redlined and new rules came into force. The way that points are allocated changed dramatically. Points stay with the boat. Don't expect points if your boat doesn't get to the start line. If you are the only boat racing in a particular class, no points. If only two boats are racing, both of you receive half points.
The classes had also been modified to encourage competition. The new rulebook had a major effect on the "Vee" classes, with Stock V boats rushing to upgrade to the more powerful Mod V class. The more flexible rules also allowed one Bracket 500 team, Seven Powerboats to come in from the cold as twin engines were now allowed. The Bracket 400 class saw a few of its boats migrate to the 200 class, including the class leader Predator.
Despite the fact that this was a “new” event, and the season was starting much earlier, a very impressive fleet of sixty-four boats turned up to race in Marathon for the inaugural 7 Mile Grand Prix.
The entry list gave some pointers to the way 2023 was to shape up. Eight Super Cat teams entered, beating the best turnouts in the previous two years. In Factory Stock 450, six boats entered when only three boats had raced in this new class in 2022. A total of ten boats entered the Mod V class, many of them former Stock V teams.
On race weekend, despite good conditions on Saturday for the Bracket classes and the Super Cat pole race, Sunday started with tornado warnings.
The Mod Vs and Bracket 500s kicked off the racing on Sunday, with delays in starting as the weather waxed and waned. When the race started, Marker 17 Marine lost a drive skyward, and 549 Team Farnsworth / Hancock Claims lost their entire crew! Ervin Grant and Rob O'Connell were launched into the spray like rag dolls. After the red flag, the race completed successfully.
Next off were the six Factory Stock 450R boats, but the conditions were now so bad that both Hank's Saloon and GC Racing Team went over, causing the race to be ended. The remaining races were cancelled on advice from the Coast Guard. As the Super Cats and Super Stocks didn't race, it was decided to award half points to the Super Cats based on the finishing position in the pole race and 35 points apiece to the Super Stock teams.
Despite Mother Nature's best efforts, the race teams were positive, as the high turnout showed it was going to be an exciting season.
Marathon Marathon Results Race World Offshore
We On Top. Nearly Wasn't at Cocoa Beach
May saw the fleet head to the only Atlantic-facing event of the season, at the East Coast surfing capital of Cocoa Beach, FL.
Thunder on Cocoa Beach was the opening event of the UIM Class 1 World Championship and the biggest starting line-up since 2019 - ten per cent up on 2022 with another good turnout of sixty-four boats. This increase was more noticeable in the top classes than in the Bracket classes.
Super Cat hit Cocoa Beach with nine entries. The event was also notable as the first appearance of the brand-new Monster Energy/M CON Racing Class 1 43-foot Skater: Owner/driver Tyler Miller and driver Myrick Coil were pulling double duty in the two fastest classes in Offshore. Following on from last season, which saw the introduction of the Class 1 pole-position qualifying race, other races were moved to Saturday to take pressure off the race calendar.
First to race were the Bracket 500, 600, 700, classes plus the new UIM Class 3x, seventeen boats in all. This was followed by the Class 1 qualifying race to establish the pole positions for Sunday’s main race. 222 Offshore came first in qualifying, a divination of what was to come. Monster Energy / M CON Racing had wrestled with transport problems to arrive at Cocoa Beach, and a tough night getting the boat ready. Although this was their first start in Class 1, they pulled off an impressive third place. Eleven boats competed in the final race on Saturday in the ever-popular Super Stock class. Moving more races to the Saturday took pressure off both race days and lessened the chances of cancellations due to weather.
Sunday at Cocoa Beach started with Bracket Class 400, 300, 200, Mod V racing, a total of seventeen boats. The weekend’s single incident occurred when We on Top, a Bracket 300 class, 38-foot Bad Boy rolled in a turn and pretty much sank until towed out by Fast Response. Luckily, driver Reece Jones and throttleman Brian Cole were unharmed.
It was difficult to predict a winner at the start of the first UIM Class 1 event of the season. Last year’s World Champions, Huski Chocolate, now re-branded as Huski Ice Spritz, were a safe pick, but stablemate 022 Pothole Heroes, formerly Huskiwear, had beaten them at Key West. 222 Offshore had either been second to Huski or beaten them during 2022. We were seeing dfYOUNG with Mercury 1100R engines for the first time, Defalco was an unknown quantity still and Monster Energy / M CON Racing looked like a very serious contender indeed. From the start, 222 Offshore held the lead with Huski chasing hard. Pothole Heroes, starting from fifth, pulled through to finish in third, with Defalco in fourth. Sadly, a hose put paid to Monster Energy / M CON’s race. The big surprise was that starting the final lap with a 12 second lead, 222 Offshore hit a problem on the final buoy and pulled up and limped to the finish in second behind an amazed and happy Huski Ice Spritz.
In the third race, nine Super Cats lined up, Tyler Miller and Myrick Coil jumped out of their Class 1 boat and into a race that they won in style, beating Pro Floors / Valder Yachts into second place.
In the last outing of a great day’s entertainment, the six 450R boats cruised out to show what they could do. Johnny Tomlinson, driving as stand-in for Taylor Scism and throttle Milton Calafel, soon lead the pack and looked like they had it in the bag, until the final turn when they pulled up allowing Michel Karsenti and Ervin Grant to nail it home.
The loud and noisy Awards evening in the Fish Lips Restaurant was an interesting contrast to the slightly more formal Class 1 Podium earlier.
Shortly afterwards, Azam Rangoonwala and the UIM Commissioner, Christer Gustafsson, presented Micheal Stancombe and Jeff Stevenson with their third place overall Medal from the 2022 UIM World Championships.
Cocoa Beach Cocoa Beach Results Race Report C1 Race Report Photo Gallery
Drone shot of Sarasota as the teams start arriving
June saw sixty-eight entries for probably the hottest event of the season. 2023 is the 20th anniversary of Powerboat P1 and another milestone was reached as the Super Stock race was the 700th race staged by the promoter.
Racing on Saturday again started with the Bracket 700, 600, 500 and Class 3x, now with nineteen teams competing. The 700 Brackets now had three teenagers racing and one, Owen Buis of Statement Marine, got a third place podium.
It was to be the last race event for Chris Reindl who sadly passed away the week after the event. Chris’s Ultimate Powerboat Experience had brought a lot of new faces into the sport over the years.
Next race up was Class 1 qualifying, and yet again it was a one-two-three of 222 Offshore, Huski Ice Spritz and Monster Energy. There was also a brand new XINSURANCE boat to see.
In Saturday’s final race, twelve Super Stock boats headed out into an increasingly windy Sarasota Bay. In the very first lap the red flag went up as LPC rolled. Luckily, Loren Peters and Anthony Smith were both OK and after their boat had been cleared from the course, the race restarted. Two boats didn’t rejoin the race, and there were several yellow cards issued to teams for infringements and appeals that meant the official results weren’t confirmed until several days after the event. S-54 CMR took the win.
The weather had calmed a bit by Sunday morning’s first race, featuring fifteen boats from the Mod V, Stock V and Bracket 200, 300 and 400 classes.
Class 1 racing at Sarasota proved to be a trial of endurance. 222 Offshore led from start-to-finish, with Huski Ice Spritz trailing in second. 222 had extended their lead to 16 seconds when it was the Huski team’s turn to hit problems and they slowed in the penultimate lap. dfYOUNG took third place with Pothole Heroes, XINSURANCE and Monster Energy failing to finish.
On the ten-lap, six-mile course, the competition was heating up in Super Cat between M CON/Monster Energy and Valder Yachts/Pro Floors Racing. This time it was Valder Yachts turn to shine, as M CON / Monster Energy fell off the pace when they had a problem with a small fire caused by a fitting falling off a water cooler. The resultant heat started the fire which was soon under control, and the team finished second.
Five boats competed at Sarasota in the 450R Factory Stock class. T/S Motorsports crossed the line first, despite a late challenge from 18-year-old Logan Adan and the very experienced Ricky Maldonado in the Wheels and Waves/Doug Wright boat.
Also running in the final race at Sarasota, Team Farnsworth / Hancock Claims Consultant beat Wix Filters / The Developer in the VX Class.
Sarasota Sarasota Results Race Report C1 Race Report Photo Gallery
Monster Energy / M CON at Michigan City
At the beginning of August, it was north to the lakes and Michigan City, IN, for the Class 1 teams. The weather was challenging, but again 222 Offshore ruled the waves. This brought them level on points with Huski Ice Spritz. Randy Kent and Grant Bruggemann in XINSURANCE came in third, followed by Pothole Heroes.
Michigan City Michigan City Results C1 Race Report Offshore Powerboat Association
More Teen Spirit: Caleb Mead (and Shaun Torrente!) wins MidWest Challenge 2023 450R Class
A new race venue is always welcome, and few come as welcoming as Sheboygan, WI. The Mercury Racing Midwest Challenge was being held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Mercury Racing and this event was aimed at classes that specify Mercury Racing engines. Classes racing included Class 1, Factory Stock 450R, Super Stock and F1H20 inshore boats.
The event kicked off with an informative and interesting tour around Mercury Racing’s factory in Fond du Lac.
Class 1 Qualifying and race testing took place on the Friday as this event was going to comprise two races for each class. It was a separate competition from the APBA Nationals for 450R and Super Stock but for the Class 1 teams Sheboygan featured race 4 and 5 in the series.
Driving rain, large waves and poor visibility greeted the racers for the Class 1 qualifying race. Pothole Heroes surprised everyone involved with a time 6 seconds faster than 222 Offshore and the rest of the pack putting them on pole for the first race on Saturday.
A great block party in Downtown Sheboygan brought visitors and racers together for a night of boats and music.
With Army demonstrations and experience rides in a two-seater F1 boat, there was something for everyone on Saturday. The F1 racers had their first two heats after the opening ceremony, leaving the Offshore to start racing at 01:30 with Class 1.
Following their win in Michigan City, 222 Offshore were top of the table. Huski Ice Spritz were going to have put in some very impressive results at Sheboygan to have any chance of retaining their title.
Pothole Heroes pole position advantage was swallowed up by 222 Offshore’s aggressive start, which allowed them to take the lead and hold it to the end. Huski Ice Spritz managed to tussle through the rough conditions to take second before falling back with steering issues. Monster Energy/M CON locked horns with XINSURANCE to take second and third place, respectively.
The Factory Stock 450R class was up next with a new team MFR/Mead Family Racing making it up to seven starters. MFR’s crew consists of 16-year-old Caleb Mead and internationally acclaimed Shaun Torrente who races F1 internationally and APBA Super Stock.
The first 450R race was taken by another teenage driver, Logan Adan with Ricky Maldonado on throttles. MFR followed TS/Motorsports in to take third-place podium on their first race!
11 Super Stock teams competed to wrap up the Saturday racing. This was won by Jackhammer, followed by Coco’s Monkey who have impressed this season. The third podium was taken by Northwing Offshore.
Sunday morning brought rougher conditions and the final F1 Heat, the harbor re-opened to the Offshore boats, starting with the Super Stock race at 11:30. Reese Langheim and Julian Maldonado in Jackhammer made it two out of two. The second-place podium went to Cole Leibel’s unmissable dayglo green Victory of Big East Construction. Third place went to Team Allen Lawncare and Landscaping.
The second 450R race was won by MFR and this gave them the overall competition win, a very impressive debut indeed. In second was T/S Motorsports in another MTI, followed by GC Racing in third.
The last race was going to decide whether Offshore 222 would be crowned world champions or Huski Ice Spritz could move back into contention.
Everyone who had followed the competition knew that the dfYOUNG boat could accelerate and, starting from P6, they proved this by picking off the opposition. By lap four they had overtaken the likely champions in 222 Offshore.
Huski Ice Spritz fell out in lap 12 and this effectively ended their championship hopes, although they earned points having completed the minimum number of laps. Team Defalco, XINSURANCE and Pothole Heroes all pulled up in the challenging conditions, leaving dfYOUNG in first place, 222 Offshore in second and Monster Energy/M CON in third place.
The final tally showed that 222 Offshore were unbeatable in the only event remaining and were announced as 2023 UIM Class 1 World Champions.
Sheboygan Sheboygan Results Race Report C1 Race Report Photo Gallery
2022 UIM World Champions Huski Ice Spritz
The week leading up to St Petersburg was overshadowed by clouds presaging the arrival of Hurricane Idalia. Warnings from the National Hurricane Center advised that the tropical storm would intensify into a category 3 hurricane and make landfall Wednesday morning. Everybody held their breath and Wednesday came, followed by reports that Idalia had made landfall further North in the Big Bend region of Florida. There had been a lot of rainfall but following discussions with local authorities by Thursday/Friday it looked like the event was good to go.
Sixty-nine boats entered for St Petersburg, compared to fifty-three in 2022. So P1 Registration had a lot of work to do, including an additional 20 AquaX Pro Enduro racers.
Saturday’s Class 1 Qualifying had Huski Ice Spritz getting their mojo back and claiming pole position. 222 Offshore were hot on their heels, taking P2 with Monster Energy / M CON Racing improving on every outing and easily grabbing P3, three seconds ahead of dfYOUNG.
The Bracket 500, 600, 700 and 3x classes were off next. In the excitement to get to the front on the penultimate race of the season, there were a lot of disqualifications for breaking out. Four of the six 700 class boats were disqualified, leaving XINSURANCE / Golf n Gator and Statement Marine / Bad Decisions, in first and second, respectively. Freebird beat Ivey Racing as the only two 600 class boats competing and three of the eight 500 class boats were DQ’d leaving the win to Bulletproof / Team Farnsworth, followed by Hammerheads/SRQ and 7 Seven Powerboats.
The Super Stock class had the final outing of the day. Always exciting, today proved no exception with a fleet of ten boats tearing around Tampa Bay led by Allied Construction and Jackhammer. LPC pulled out with a technical problem on lap 3. In the 8th lap, Steele Construction flipped over, the red flag was raised, and the race came to an early close. No one was hurt, and the race order at the time of the red flag was used to record the final race-finishing positions.
The excitement didn't stop after the racing at the Grand Prix on Saturday night. Powerboat P1's CEO, Azam Rangoonwala was surprised by being presented with a giant cake to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the founding of P1 by his father Asif Rangoonwala. Read more here.
Visitors to the Monster Energy Pit Party were treated to an amazing display of motocross magnificence by Keith Sayers Monster Energy FMX, followed by a live band.
Sunday started with Stock V/Mod V, Bracket 200, and Bracket 400. The checkered flag for Mod V eventually went to Sunprint followed by Fastboys and then Boatfloater.com.
Class 1 was next to go, and this race underscored the championship-winning success of 222 Offshore. Driver/Owner Darren Nicholson and throttleman Giovanni Carpitella romped home, hounded by 2022 World Champions Huski Ice Spritz driven by Travis Pastrana and Steve Curtis on throttles. Tyler Miller and Myrick Coil were again on the podium in third place. The M CON duo’s perseverance and success in their debut season were impressive. Read more here.
The final race saw the return of old friends JBS Racing, competing unopposed in the Extreme Class.
The 450R class had the full complement of seven boats. Taylor Mead and Johnny Tomlinson came first, followed by Waves and Wheels / Doug Wright and Mead Family Racing in third.
Three VX boats raced at St Pete's, hinting at a resurgence in the class. Newcomers Race Winning Brands topped the podium. Team Farnsworth / Hancock Claims Consultants second and The Developer / Wix Filters in third.
St Pete certainly buzzed in 2023 with much larger crowds on the superb pier and at the pits, and the entertainment put on by Monster Energy added to the event.
St Petersburg St Petersburg Results Race Report C1 Race Report Photo Gallery
The last event of the APBA season was again held at Clearwater. Fifty-five teams entered. Super Cat numbers were down due to the loss of Dirty Money Racing which had been totaled at Michigan City and Klovar which had been severely damaged in a truck accident. Valder Yachts / Pro Floors had pulled out, wanting to concentrate on the Key West World Championships, so five boats competed. Without Wayne Valder to bother them, M CON/Monster Energy, the 2022 champions, cruised to victory to retain their national title.
The VX boats were racing at the same time as the Super Cats and after Wix Filters pulled out it left Team Farnsworth/Hancock Claims Consultants to reel in and overtake Race Winning Brands to win both the race and the Championship.
Next off were the seven 450Rs and the single Extreme entry of JBS Racing. In the first turn, Waves and Wheels/Doug Wright Powerboats hit some wake and turned turtle and the race was stopped. On restarting, TS Motorsports took the lead and held it to the line. Mead Family Racing took another podium and they now have one for every event entered. In third place was 151 Express.
The race between the eleven Super Stock teams was all about whether S-54 Allied could wrest the title from Jackhammer. Jackhammer unfortunately hit a buoy and was penalized leaving Allied to take the win, and the championship. Performance Boats came second and third overall and Northwing came third.
In Mod V the top three teams mirrored their positions in the race, with their positions in the standings: Sunprint took the win and the Championship. LSB RevX Oil took second in the race and overall, with Boatfloater.com finishing third at the race and in the standings.
In Stock V, Jimmy Robby Racing/Cigar Monster ran unopposed, as did Freebird in Bracket 600 and Scratch ‘n Sniff in Class 3x.
Bracket 200 saw Predator beat Team Woody racing after the latter suffered some damage to the hull. Predator also take the Championship.
Control Freak / MSR Powersports, had won all the races this season and Clearwater was no exception. Simmons Marine took second place in the race and the Championship, with Twisted Bills coming in third.
The Bracket 500s are a lively class and went into the last race of the season with no one team in overall control. Boatfloater.com were leading at the start, but TFR / XINSURANCE driven by JJ Turk with Micheal Stancombe on throttles, managed to slip past them to take the lead and win the race, with Boatfloater.com still taking the 500 Class Championship. Hammerheads / SRQ came in third.
JJ Turk’s son Cameron and throttleman Robert Bryant took an early lead in the Bracket 700 class and held on to it to the bitter end to take the Clearwater race and the national title - not a bad debut season for 16-year-old Cameron! They were chased home by the three Statement Marine boats; at the end, it was 747 Statement Marine that finished second followed by 742 Statement Marine/Safe Cash in third.
Clearwater Clearwater Results Race World Offshore
One of the very encouraging signs for the future of offshore racing was that over the course of the season there were 16% more entries than in 2022.