Day One Highlights From The 2024 Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout
Before the first 15 runs were done during the first day of the 36th Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Sunrise Beach, Mo., the two fastest catamaran and V-bottom speeds were laid down on the event’s three-quarter-mile course this morning. Of course, the nine-time-defending overall Top Gun champion American Ethanol team was one of those boats—the other was last year’s Top Gun V-bottom, Factory Billet, which upped its event record speed to 186 mph after a significant jump to 184 mph at the 2023 happening.
With a 221-mph top speed, the American Ethanol Mystic catamaran made a statement with its first and only run of the day on Saturday. Photos by Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix
As reported earlier, the 51-foot Outerlimits V-bottom is done for the weekend after its 186-mph run because Jim Schultz, the owner and pilot of the boat, pulled it out of the water and called it a weekend so he could get home for his daughter’s birthday, but the American Ethanol Mystic Powerboats catamaran owned by Don Onken is likely to return tomorrow despite shattering its own three-quarter-mile course record with a 221-mph top speed earlier today.
“Incredible,” said Mystic founder John Cosker, who throttled the boat alongside driver Tony Battiato, when asked how the boat felt at that speed. “We’ve always known the boat had the speed in it, it was all about getting everything just right. It ran amazing. I’ve said it before, but if the boat is doing what it is supposed to do, the best thing to do is leave it alone. You don’t want to screw things up so sometimes you have to sit back and let the boat do its job.”
Owner Don Onken, a man of few words, said after watching the boat on the televisions at Captain Ron’s Bar & Grill, “I’m happy with that number. My nerves can relax a little now. We were trying for 223 because 23 is my lucky number, but 221 is an unbelievable number. It’s a lucky number, too, because the day I married my wife was a 21.”
The closest challenger—at the moment—to American Ethanol was Dirty Duck, the remarkable Skater Powerboats 438 catamaran owned by Slug Hefner, throttled by Myrick Coil and driven by Rusty Williams that reached an impressive 199 mph in its only pass of the day after the thunderstorms blew through.
Yes, if you didn’t happen to follow the day’s competition, there were more than two hours of weather delays, which started early on Saturday after just 29 runs were recorded. High winds, thunder and lightning, and even small hail put a damper on the action, and that led to event officials keeping the course open until 5 p.m., half an hour later than planned. The action resumes at 8:30 a.m. CST on Sunday.
The 43-foot Skater Dirty Duck reached a remarkable 199 mph on the three-quarter-mile course on Saturday.
When asked what it felt like when they heard 199 mph was their speed, Coil and Williams laughed and said they were disappointed they didn’t hit that magic 200-mph number despite running 5 mph faster than they did in 2023.
“The boat is an animal—it felt so good out there,” said Coil, the veteran offshore racer who is the shop foreman at Performance Boat Center, the title sponsor of the Shootout along with Monster Energy. “We’ll gather up tonight and see what we want to do. We have plenty more rpm and Carson (Brummett, the engine builder) said we have a little more boost, too, if we want it.”
Coil’s wife, Missi, competed in the event for the first time this year and had fun running with Arizona’s April Lamb, who owns a Performance Powerboats P-360 catamaran with her husband, Jeff, who has competed in the Shootout several times. In their only pass, the new cockpit mates reached 113 mph in the 36-foot cat powered by twin Mercury Racing 500R engines.
In a Performance Powerboats P-360 catamaran, Missi Coil and April Lamb reached 113 mph in the 36-footer in their first Lake of the Ozarks Shootout appearance.
Other top outboard-powered catamaran speeds on Saturday included a 128-mph pass in a brand new DCB Performance M37R Widebody catamaran with twin 500Rs that is owned by Joe Juliano and was driven by DCB’s Tony Chiaramonte, a 124-mph pass in the twin 500R-powered Yardarm Marine Products-sponsored 36-foot Skater owned and raced by 77-year-old George Stancombe and his son, Micheal Stancombe, and a 112-mph pass by CR Racing teammates Casey Boaz and Rob Unnerstall in a 31-foot Victory Super Stock-class raceboat that Unnerstall said is for sale.
With a top speed of 126 mph, the current leader of the 450R Factory Stock offshore raceboats competing in the event is the 39-foot MTI GC Racing, which is driven by owner Willy Cabeza with throttleman Grant Bruggemann. The duo plan to compete in tomorrow’s Shootout kilo runs in an attempt to improve the American Power Boat Association record the MTI set last year.
DCB’s Tony Chiaramonte went 128 mph in a brand new M37R Widebody catamaran from the Phoenix builder.
Let’s get back to the potential would-be competition for American Ethanol. This is an interesting story because there’s a brand new Skater 388 with some monster power that’s been rumored to be getting ready for the Shootout. Well it was confirmed on Saturday—kind of—as the all-white 38-footer from the Kansas City-based Team Freedom named American One was towed out toward start line only to be towed back off the course before making a pass.
“Kind of” was the term used because the team is a bit of a mystery. In its Shootout bio, it said, “You can call us John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. We are a patriotic race team dedicated to raising money for charitable causes and organizations. The owner used to run pro gas flats drag boats back in the day. Special thanks to Brian Robbins, their tuner, Pete, Tony, Ross and Robert at Skater, and the Kansas City crew of Ryan, Noah, Kevin, Bryan and John for lots of sleepless nights helping with everything. The boat is a brand new 388 Skater powered by twin 612-cubic-inch Noonan solid billet aluminum engines running on alcohol, PSI roots blower, cone three-speed transmission in front of custom drive extension boxes and BPM shaft drives.”
That’s a lot to absorb, and yes rather mysterious, but either way the boat has the potential to haul ass for the 30 seconds or so it can run before overheating since the motors don’t have water cooling systems. Rumor has it the team’s goal is to run faster than the Spirit of Qatar Mystic’s 244-mph top speed, which was recorded in 2014 on the former one-mile course, to bring the title back to American soil, so to speak. It’ll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.
Check out the slideshow above for more of Boden’s images from Saturday’s action on the course.
Running in his 18th Shootout, Team Kansas’ Brad Harrington reached 90 mph, a personal best in his 28-foot Sabre Cyclone V-bottom. Another well-known participant who hit a personal best and was thrilled by the outcome was legendary pontoon driver Brad Rowland, who reached 115 mph in his 25-foot South Bay tri-toon, Tooned In.
Both Rowland, who said it felt “sweet” to hit 115 mph, and Harrington are members of the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Bob Morgan Memorial Hall of Fame and continue to give back to the lake community like so many other participants and volunteers of the incredibly charitable event.
Willy Cabeza and Grant Bruggemann recorded a top speed of 126 mph in Cabeza’s 39-foot canopied MTI.
Somewhat unlikely participants, the Valvoline Powerboat Racing Norway team didn’t ship its boat all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to go home disappointed. In fact, the team had a great day at the Shootout to follow up an exciting week that included putting its Twister 24 catamaran powered by a Mercury Racing 450R engine on display at the Shootout On The Strip on Wednesday evening.
In one of the first runs of the day, owner and veteran driver Per Taraldsen ran the 24-footer 109 mph. About seven hours later, Taraldsen took the knowledge he gained from his first-ever Shootout pass and made a significant jump to 119 mph, which he seemed happy with.
All the way from Norway, Per Taraldsen reached 109 mph on Saturday in his Twister 24 catamaran.
“The boat ran great today,” Taraldsen said. “This is a dream come true. This place is so much fun. I love the Lake of the Ozarks and the people here.”
A couple of boats from Velocity Powerboats recorded notable top speeds as well. Brad Christopher hit 89 mph in his brand new 22-foot Velocity powered by a single Mercury Racing 300R engine and Velocity owner Scott McCormick reached 108 mph in the company’s first 330 center console—hull No. 1 of the new model, which was powered by triple Mercury Racing 500R engines.
McCormick said Christopher, who is from Green Cove Springs, Fla., took delivery of his new 22 Punisher Carbon Edition on Monday.
Velocity Powerboats owner Scott McCormick got to show off his company’s first 330 center console at the Shootout.
“I figured I could run at least 110 mph this year, but I’m running on Max5 propellers because I slung a blade on my good props the first day I was here,” McCormick explained.
Needless to say, McCormick, Christopher and pretty much every competitor who hit the water today are likely to be back on the course tomorrow looking for that extra mph—or more.
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