Thunder On Cocoa Beach On Pace For Record Turnout
With 50 teams registered so far and two weeks to go before the races themselves, Thunder On Cocoa Beach, the first event of the Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 World Championship Series and the second event of the American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series, is looking strong to beat the record-setting 63-boat turnout it saw in 2021.
After a gut-wrenching loss in Marathon, the Dirty Money team (front) will be looking for redemption in Cocoa Beach. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
“I hope we can all fit into a small one-bedroom apartment” quipped Kerry Bartlett, the local lead organizer of the Thunder On Cocoa Beach group in the waterfront Florida city, with a laugh.
According to the current entry-list on the website of Powerboat P1, which produces and promotes the Class 1 series, the Super Stock class tops the sign-up list with 11 teams registered. Among them is the Allied/S2 Powerboats teams of Sean Connor and Shaun Torrente, who took the win at the Race World Offshore 7 Mile Offshore Grand Prix season-opener in Marathon, Fla., last weekend.
“And think there will be at least one more,” said Ryan Beckley, the Super Stock-class representative. “The Big East team is not on the list yet.”
In an impressive turnout for the 450R Factory Stock class, seven teams are registered for Cocoa Beach. That includes the Montlick Injury Attorneys/Doug Wright team of Logan Adan and Ricky Maldonado, the class winner in Marathon.
At present according to the Powerboat P1 roster, just three Super Cat-class teams—Dirty Money, CR Racing/XINSURANCE and Graydel/C.J. Grant Racing—have registered for the event. But despite that Rollin Transport/SV Racing is out for Cocoa Beach and Team Farnsworth/Hancock Claims remains a question mark, the WHM Motorsports team of Billy Mauff and Jay Muller has not yet signed up. And that is home-water, so to speak, for New York’s Mauff and New Jersey’s Muller, as the team’s shop is not far from the venue.
Nor has the Super Cat-class M CON/Monster team of Tyler Miller and Myrick Coil signed up for the Cocoa Beach competition, but that, too, is sure to change. Not only do Miller and Coil, who also prevailed in Marathon, run in the Super Cat class, they run the Monster Energy/M CON Skater catamaran in Class 1. As for Class 1 registration, it currently sits at four teams.
None of this, of course, includes the still-filling Bracket classes. With seven teams signed-up, the Bracket 500 class is already solid. The Bracket 700 class currently has four teams entered but is likely to grow.
New for Cocoa Beach this year, Bartlett and his team will present special honors during Sunday’s awards ceremony. The plan is to bestow the awards annually.
Asked for specifics, Bartlett said they will be announced at the awards presentation. “We want it to be a surprise,” he said.
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