First Checkered Flags And More Define The Great Lakes Grand Prix

It would have been easy for Cole Leibel to expect to win right away when he entered the sport of offshore powerboat racing in the Super Stock class three years ago. He had a state-of-the-art boat in a 32-foot Victory built by those guys with an “unlimited budget” in Dubai. He had one of the most experienced throttleman in the class in multi-time world and national champion Gary Ballough. He was also a performance-boat enthusiast with plenty of seat time in go-fast catamarans.

First-time winners took popular victories at the 15annual Great Lakes Grand Prix presented by XINSURANCE. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

But the 36-year-old Canadian owner of a construction company learned the hard way that, like everyone else, he had to pay his dues.

In his first year of racing in Key West, Fla., the boat looked to be a sure winner until an inexpensive relay took him and Ballough out of the lead and left them watching the balance of the Super Stock race from Key West Harbor.

“We had a tough break in Key West the first year,” said Leibel. “We’ve had a lot of mechanical issues. We’ve been working to get the boat more consistent and more competitive.”

Fast forward to the 15th annual Great Lakes Grand Prix presented by XINSURANCE on August 3-4 weekend. The race was produced by the Offshore Powerboat Association and the Super Stocks were scheduled to race at 5 p.m. on Sunday in the grand finale. Ballough had a business commitment that required him to fly out of Detroit on Sunday afternoon so OPA president Ed “Smitty” Smith moved the Super Stock race to 11:30. There are promoters who cater to the sponsors and those who favor the racers. A competitor as well, Smith falls into the latter category.

After watching the first race of Sunday on the livestream, Ballough made a last-minute adjustment of weight in the hull of the team’s 32-foot Victory catamaran. “The water wasn’t as flat as the last time we looked at it,” said Ballough. “I said, ‘I’m not leaving the weight where we had it,’ so I moved it.”

As the duo was heading out for the race, Leibel suggested that maybe the team should have made the weight adjustment that he didn’t know Ballough had called an audible on. “I told him I already did,” recalled Ballough.

“Without that, we would not have won the race,” said Leibel. The Super Stock class voted to make Michigan City a points race on its 2024 national schedule and 13 boats showed up to compete on Lake Michigan. When the green flag flew for the nine-lap race on the five-mile course, Big East Construction had lane one while the 32-foot Victory, Jackhammer, with owner/driver Reese Langheim and throttleman Julian Maldonado, was in the 10th out of 12 lanes.

The racers also voted against a parade lap and asked to be started at the western end of the five-mile course. Officials released them quickly and the boats weren’t required to navigate the dogleg in the course that would come into play for the ensuing 11 laps.

The Jackhammer team chased East Construction hard but couldn’t take the lead.

Leibel pointed out that Jackhammer was in the lead at the first turn, but Jackhammer’s nose seemed to be launching skyward as the boats tried to separate themselves from the pack.

“I watched them pop the bow up and I said there’s 50 feet and there’s 100 feet,” said Leibel. Normally, he said he could see the second-place boat because of the windows in his boat’s cockpit, but Leibel said he couldn’t see where Jackhammer was until the seventh lap

“As long as we didn’t do something stupid, I didn’t think they would catch us,” said Leibel. “I knew we had about a half a turn on them and I told Gary to make sure they didn’t get any closer.’

Added Ballough, “We knew we had a good boat when it didn’t go away when we hit some stuff at 105,” said Ballough.

After so many close calls, Leibel said that the win in Michigan City removed a proverbial monkey off his and Ballough’s shoulders. “It was big for both of us,” said Leibel. “We’ve had failures and breaks this year. I was getting down. We were competitive. I knew we had what it would take to get to Jackhammer, but we never got the opportunity because we would break.”

After the hard-earned checkered flag Ballough said, “I needed it. That was for damn sure.”

After Big East Construction and Jackhammer separated themselves from the rest of the fleet, the battle was for third place. Throttleman Shaun Torrente and driver Sean Conner and their new S2 Powerboats cat ran in the final podium spot for the first half of the race with owner/driver Darrin Kittredge and throttleman Casey Boaz in the 32-foot Doug Wright, Northwing, and David Selley and Steven Bridges in the 32-foot Doug Wright, Team Bermuda, giving chase. The father-son team of Pete and A.J. Bogino were close behind in their 32-foot Doug Wright, CoCo’s Monkey.

Enjoy more action from last weekend’s races in Michigan City, Ind.

At the east end of the course, Kittredge made a bold move to take the inside from S2 Powerboats and grab third place. Continuing to gain strides, Team Bermuda finished fifth followed by CoCo’s Monkey.

Langheim said the quality of the competition in Super Stock is getting better at every race. “We had a good run off the start together with Big East,” he said. “We were waiting for them to make a mistake, but they didn’t. I’m glad Cole got up there. I like to see that. I like to see everybody get more competitive and faster.”

After his aggressive, clean move to secure a spot on the podium, Kittredge said, “We had to do something.” Regarding the water conditions, he added, “It was definitely more of a bump and a roll than we expected.”

Torrente called the race a “step in the right direction” for his and Conner’s new boat. He said he’s not interested in selling one to another team yet. “We want to make it consistently dominant before we think about selling one,” he said.

The Kids Are Just Right
First-time winners also grabbed the checkered flag in the final race of the day in the Super Cat class. Jax and Chase Muller took the win in their dad’s 40-foot Motion, Wicked, defeating owner/driver Billy Mauff and throttleman Jay Muller in the 40-foot Skater, WHM Motorsports, and owner/driver Chris Grant and throttleman Billy Moore in the 38-foot Skater, CJ Grant/Graydel.

When the green flag flew, the Muller brothers had the inside lane and they took full advantage. Having grown up watching their dad and Mauff, they knew that Mauff would take that lane if he could at some point during the 11-lap race on the five-mile course.

“We needed to make sure Billy couldn’t see the buoys,” said Jax, 21, who throttled, while Chase, 23 drove. “We needed the shorter course in this big ole heavy boat,” said Chase.

For Chase and Jax Muller, the Great Lakes Grand Prix victory was their first in the Super Cat Class.

At one point, it appeared that WHM and Graydel had gotten around Wicked, but the brothers weren’t giving up so easily this time. They got back around WHM and regained the inside line. From that point, they held the position and took the win much to the delight of the fans on shore. “We had to put on a show for the fans,” said Chase. “We know we ran hard.”

Perhaps the greatest compliment came from Moore, himself the son a throttling legend. “Billy Moore told us when we get a faster boat, we’re going to be trouble,” said Chase.

Jay Muller was proud of his sons, and considering that they won, he was OK with second place. “They were nailing the turns,” said Jay. “Billy (Mauff) was like, wow, look at how they’re turning that boat.”

Also on the course with the Super Cats were the two boats entered in Super Vee, two high-powered catamarans and one V-bottom in Extreme and one in Factory Stock.

Arguably the crowd favorites were the nearly identical 40-foot Fountains, Wazzup, with Anthony Smith throttling and Ed “Smitty” Smith driving and Knucklehead with owner/driver “Evil” Ed Smith and throttleman Johnny Stanch. Knucklehead won in Atlantic City while Wazzup took the win in St. Clair, Mich., so Michigan City was the rubber match.

Fan-favorites forever, the Super V-class teams Knucklehead Racing and Wazzup Racing put on a great show on Lake Michigan.

Two of the loudest boats in the fleet, they ran side by side to the first turn with Knucklehead taking a slight advantage from the inside lane. The two boats traded the lead a few times until the Smiths pulled ahead for good. Trying to make up time, Knucklehead spun partially at the west end of the course and a couple of laps later, they went around fully at the east end. The day belonged to the Wazzup team who took the checkered flag.

The other big Fountain on the course was the 42-footer, American Custom Marine, with owner/throttleman Mike Knoblock and driver Matt Soper. When the race started, they were running in third place behind driver Randy Kent and throttleman Brit Lilly in the 48-foot MTI, XINSURANCE, and owner/driver Jeff Stevenson and throttleman Michael Stancombe in the 42-foot MTI, JBS Racing.

For the first part of the race, the big catamarans were flying, but JBS’ mechanical issues continued when the boat had to pull to the inside of the course. Soon after XINSURANCE was strike by its own gremlins. This left American Custom Marine running solo en route to the checkered flag.

Also on the course were three single-engine canopied V-bottoms with two campaigning in the Mod-V class and one in Stock V. What could have been a competitive race in Mod-V did not come to fruition with throttleman Nick Buis and driver J.J. Turk experienced mechanical issues in their 29-foot Extreme, Statement/XINSURANCE. After the race, Buis said he wasn’t sure what the problem was but added the team would be ready for the race next weekend in Sheboygan, Wis.

That left driver Rick Raab and throttleman Scott Jobin in the 32-foot Phantom, Safe Cash/XINSURANCE, to run alone to the checkered flag. The 30-foot Phantom, Miss Stress/Boat Doctor, with driver Jimmy Wessel and throttleman Bruce Dudley, ran alone in Stock Vee class.

Running a 42-foot Fountain, the American Custom Marine team of Michael Knoblock and Matt Soper outlasted two catamaran teams to take the Extreme-class checkered flag.

Even though they ran alone, Raab said he gained valuable experience that he could use for setting up the boat when there’s more competition on the water next week in Wisconsin. “It was my first time running in a lake, which is a little different,” said Raab. “The boat ran well and we’ll be ready for the points race next week.”

Longtime fans of offshore racing were pleased to see veteran driver George Stancombe return to the cockpit of his 36-foot Skater that formerly ran as Peppers with his son Micheal throttling. Now flying Yardarm Marine Products colors and equipped with twin Mercury Racing 500R outboards, the boat ran unopposed in Factory Stock because the 38-foot Doug Wright, Montlick Injury Attorneys, was out with electrical problems.

Quality Over Quantity
In bracket class action, Keith and Cade Herbott in their 38-foot Fountain, Herbott Racing, took on driver Billy Shipley and owner/throttleman Chad Woody and their 35-foot Fountain, Team Woody in Bracket 300. The Herbotts had the inside lane from the start and Cade drove a heckuva race taking the win.

“That’s the best the boat has run in flat water,” said Keith Herbott. “I don’t think there wasn’t a person in the pits who didn’t help us get the boat back together after St. Clair. We got some stuff from Shocker, some came from Allen Lawn Care and Smitty and Evil had without their special tools, nothing would have happened without them.”

In Bracket 400, four boats were entered, but in the first turn of the first lap, owner/driver Rich Hamilton and throttleman Jeff Millinghausen went for a wild ride in their 39-foot Velocity, Team Hamilton Motorsports, with at least one crewmember winding up in the water. Safety divers were deployed and the racer was taken to the hospital.

In the Bracket 400-class ranks, the Saris Racing Engines team continued its winning ways.

In the restart, the team of Jason and Johnny Saris and navigator Vern French in the 33-foot Cobra, Saris Racing. Raul Gascot Jr. and Sr. continued their string of podium finishes in their 30-foot Spectre, Gascot Marine. Fresh off his 50^th victory in offshore racing, throttleman Niel “Red” Crane and driver Joe Turek finished third in the 28-foot Challenger, Crazy Rhythm. Chris Colson and Taylor Ish ran unopposed in Bracket 500 in their outboard-powered Nitra, Shocker.

The racing action started on Saturday with the Bracket 600 and 700 classes whetting the fans’ appetites.

In Bracket 600, owner/throttleman Jason Govatos and driver Mike McColgan in the 26-foot Protector, MDG Offshore, took an early lead over the 24-foot Reindl, Ultimate Boat Racing Experience, with throttleman Rob Goodwin and driver Marcus Stackpoole. Johnny Saris and owner/driver Mike Lang ran third in the 26-foot Modern Marine, Moderation.

MDG held the lead and picked up the checkered flag. “It was a little sportier out there than we were expecting,” said Govatos. “Every lap we found a three footer that would send us for a little flyer.” Unfortunately, Ultimate Boat Racing Experience, exceeded the speed limit for the class and Moderation moved up to second. All results are unofficial until posted on the OPA website.

Saris loved the competition, adding, “We had a blast. We were doing our best to run the number and stay consistent. Mike drove a great defensive race and we were tickled with our performance.”

Saturday’s Bracket 700-class race produced one of the best battles of the weekend.

In the first race of the weekend, eight boats ran in Bracket 700, which is made up of 21- and 22-foot boats with single outboard motors up to 300 hp. From the start the battle for the lead was waged between the 21-foot Superboat, Jackhammer, with driver Connor Langheim and throttleman Michael Haak and a pair of 15-year-olds, throttleman Owen Buis and driver Dalton Palestra in the 22-foot Activator, Statement Marine/XINSURANCE. The 21-foot Superboat, RedRum, with driver Anthony Cruz and throttleman Bob Barneshchi, ran third and the father-son team of Johnny D’Elia and JD D’Eliaheld fourth in 3rd Edition.

The battle for the lead was just that, a battle, with the teams even trading gelcoat a couple of times, but when the spray settled, best friends Buis and Palestra prevailed. Jackhammer finished second while RedRum held on for third.

“It was close racing,” said Buis. “We were overtaking and he kept trying to push us over and we weren’t going to let him.”

Added Connor Langheim, “We were battling it out. We both did a good job. It’s awesome that we had two good boats battling it out.”