For the first three days this week, Doug Wright Powerboats commanded the hallowed waters of Lake X, the historic Mercury Racing testing facility in St. Cloud, Fla. Veteran offshore racing throttleman Ricky Maldonado practiced on a buoy course with Logan Adan, his 17-year-old rookie driver, in a 38-foot 450R Factory Stock-class Doug Wright catamaran that […]
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When the last two events of the 2022/2023 Fort Myers Offshore season—the April 1 Cayo Costa Raft-Up and the April 22 Nor-Tech-backed happening—are in the books, Fort Myers Offshore president Tim Hill and his wife, Cyndee, a board-member of the nonprofit scholarship-fundraising powerboat club, will exhale much-deserved sighs of relief. And for good reason, because […]
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According to a press release from XINSURANCE, a leading resource for customized specialty insurance, the Utah-based business led by president and CEO Rick J. Lindsey is sponsoring two more offshore raceboats for the 2023 season. Starting with the Race World Offshore season-opener in Marathon, Fla., at the end of April and continuing with additional RWO […]
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Thanks in large part to Vinnie Diorio, the owner of the Wisconsin-based SV Offshore Racing team, electronically fuel-injected Mercury Racing 860 engines became a legal power option in 2022 under American Power Boat Association rules for the Super Cat class. Two teams—SV Offshore Racing and LiquorSplit—used them last season. And now there is one. SV […]
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Mostly absent from the high-performance powerboating scene these days since the death of his best boat-wrangling buddy Larry Goldman in 2017, New York’s Gino Gargiulo made a big splash with exotic automobile-themed MTI catamarans. That isn’t to say that the Wentzville, Mo., company didn’t build outrageous theme-boats for other clients during the years, but Gargiulo’s […]
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With the first offshore powerboat race of the 2023 season—the Race World Offshore-produced 7 Mile Grand Prix in Marathon, Fla.—a little more than a month away, movement among teams is showing no signs of slowing down. Case in point is the Mod-V-class Relentless/Laticrete team owned by Travis Petko of Maryland, which recently added Laticrete-backed throttleman […]
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As Hollywood-perfect storylines go for the upcoming Ocean Cup Gateway Marathon, a 128-mile open-open endurance race from Palm Beach, Fla., to West End, Bahamas, set for June 1-4, that of Bob Latham and Lorne Leibel is hard to beat. Start with their vessel, a 47-foot Apache—hull No. 1—originally owned by offshore powerboat racing’s favorite currently incarcerated […]
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Offshore racers in the thriving Mod-V and still-growing 450R Factory Stock classes will have more than bragging rights to compete for in the 2023 American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series thanks to a backer who prefers to remain “anonymous.” That’s the word from Larry Bleil, the head of Key West, Fla.-based Race World […]
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Catch them young and you have a customer for life. That marketing axiom stands the test of time, And as often as not, product loyalty starts with the parents of the future consumer. The future of Skater Powerboats is in good hands with the likes of Lucas LaMorte. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 […]
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Three years ago, Ron Muller of Electronics Unlimited in Stuart, Fla., invited a few of friends who—like him—own Skater Powerboats catamarans for a fun run and photo session across the state in Sarasota. The intimate event typically draws about a dozen creations from the Douglas, Mich., builder, and this year’s go-round last Friday was true […]
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In an announcement released Friday night, the organizers of the largest unsanctioned boat race in the United States of America—the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri—publicized that they are teaming up with the Union Internationale Motonautique and the American Power Boat Association to add a kilo run to this year’s event, which takes […]
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With Super Stock-class Jackhammer throttleman Ricky Maldonado moving to the 450R Factory Stock class after three seasons with the Illinois-based team, owner/driver Reese Langheim had to find a new throttleman for the upcoming season. But he didn’t have to look far as Maldonado’s son, Julian, will throttle the team’s 32-foot Victory catamaran. The son or […]
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Of the 12 years Performance Boat Center headquartered in Osage Beach, Mo., has been in business, the last 18 months have been among the most challenging. Take nothing away from creating a multi-brand powerboat dealership and general go-fast boating oasis in a once-quiet cove at the Lake of the Ozarks. That took a ton of […]
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You’re not alone if you’ve never heard of Port Byron, N.Y. But thanks to the work of Phil Hess and his five-person crew at Upstate Powerboat, a fiberglass and paint business just 30 minutes west of Syracuse, Port Byron—population 1,096 as for 2021—has made its way onto the high-performance marine industry map. Upstate Powerboat handled […]
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Thanks to extensive searching and traveling by one of the outfit’s newest members, Randy Kent, the American-based XINSURANCE/Good Boy Vodka team has upgraded its boat for competition in the 2023 Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 World Championship produced by international powerboat racing promoter Powerboat P1. The team, which is owned by XINSURANCE’s Rick J. Lindsey […]
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As the son of longtime Southwest Florida offshore racer Corey Shantry, who currently shares the cockpit of the Bracket 300-class Justice League raceboat with Richard Davis, 19-year-old Austin Shantry has been around the sport for most of his life. His father’s racing career goes back 20 years and includes Super Cat Light and Super V […]
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Released last week on the Mercury Racing YouTube channel, the first segment of Water Street Confidential featuring the Fond du Lac, Wis., company’s director of customer experience Steve Miller and Double R Performance co-owner Peter Robert runs 5-1/2-minutes. For that episode, Scrapyard Media and Speed On The Water captured a little more than an hour […]
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From the day we came up with our In The Lead documentary-style video series concept, MTI founder Randy Scism was on our short list of subjects. But it took until our second season in 2022—with support from primary backer Mercury Racing as well as MYCO Trailers, CP Performance, Hamilton Marine Finance, Hardin Marine, Bluave Marine […]
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A little more than a year ago when Maryland-based offshore powerboat racer Brit Lilly of LSB Sportboats began building a 29-foot canopied raceboat for his friend and fellow competitor Kyle Miller of the Speed Marine team, the finished product was slated for Stock V competition. But thanks to a seismic shift in the offshore racing […]
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No stranger to success in Key West, Fla., veteran offshore powerboat racing throttleman John Tomlinson departed the place last November with a couple of titles to his credit. Tomlinson claimed a Union International Motonautique world championship in the 450R Factory Stock title with Taylor Scism, his TS Motorsports teammate, in an MTI 390XR catamaran. He […]
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