APBA Offshore National Championship Series Season-Opener At 55 Teams—And Counting

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Racing: APBA Offshore National Championship Series Season-Opener At 55 Teams—And Counting

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With six days to go before the first green flag flies for the season-opener of the eight-race American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series in Cocoa Beach, Fla., 55 teams spread across 11 classes had registered as of this afternoon. Registration for the event dubbed Thunder On Cocoa, which is exclusively online for all Powerboat P1-produced events this season, closes today at midnight (EST).

The 2022 world-champion Stock-class LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness team of Brit Lilly and Kevin Smith will face five tough teams in the APBA series season-opener this weekend. Photos from Thunder On Cocoa Beach 2021 by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

“To have 55 teams confirmed and paid entries going into race week is really exciting,” said Cole McGowan, the director of communication for Powerboat P1 USA. “I’m pleased with the adoption rate of our new online registration, which has enabled us to plan more efficiently and effectively for their arrival this weekend.

“Teams have the added incentive to register early because it gives us—and industry media—ample time to promote their attendance, which is good for their own sponsors and followers,” he continued. “Administratively, our focus has turned to ensuring all drivers, throttlemen, and navigators, have been cleared to race by a physician and provided that requisite information to the APBA. Our principal focus is ensuring a safe, entertaining competition as part of the APBA National Championship.”

Here’s a quick look at what’s on tap this weekend:

• As expected, the Super Stock class will have the biggest fleet in Cocoa Beach. The 11 teams on the Super Stock roster are: Ignite, LPC, Nighthawk Offshore Racing/Steele Industries, Playtradez, A GAME, Team Allen Lawncare and Landscaping, Big East Construction, Jackhammer, CMR, Atlas Offshore Racing and Performance Boat Center.

With 11 teams registered include 2022 world champions Myrick Coil and Rusty Williams in Performance Boat Center, the Super Stock class will have the largest fleet of the weekend.

• Class 1 has six teams signed up—JBS Racing, Team DeFalco, Huski Racing/Huski Chocolate, 222 Offshore Australia, Lucas Oil/E3 Batteries and 345 Racing/XINSURANCE—while the Super Cat class has seven teams—Pro Floors Racing, M CON, Team 10, Graydel/C.J. Grant Racing, WHM Motorsports, Dramatized Offshore Racing and SV Racing.

• While Sun Print and Boatfloater.com are the only two teams registered for Mod V competition, there are six teams signed up for its Stock V counterpart. They are: LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness, Twisted Vee, NMB RV Resort, Shocker, Fast Boys Racing and Speed Marine.

• Now an official APBA class, 450R Factory Stock will have two teams running MTI 390X catamarans in the mix, the second-year TS Motorsports duo of Taylor Scism and John Tomlinson and category newcomers Randy Keys and Bill Allen in KLOVAR Motorsports.

The Bracket classes also will have a healthy turnout this weekend with five teams in Bracket 700, five teams in Bracket 600, seven teams in Bracket 500, three teams in Bracket 400 and two teams in Bracket 200.