CELSIUS Going Super Cat Racing With Valder And Bruggemann

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Racing: CELSIUS Going Super Cat Racing With Valder And Bruggemann

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Fans of the Pro Floors Racing team can rest easy knowing that New Zealand-based owner/driver Wayne Valder and throttleman Grant Bruggemann of Grant’s Signature Racing in Bradenton, Fla., will be gunning for the Super Cat-class title during next week’s three-race American Power Boat Association/Union Internationale Motonautique Offshore World Championships. Their 42-foot MTI catamaran is ready for action with refreshed engines from Kasse Racing, and Valder and Bruggemann are riding high on their close second-place finish behind the M CON team in the APBA Offshore National Championship Series.

For the upcoming Race World Offshore-produced Key West Offshore World Championships, Wayne Valder’s Super Cat-class MTI raceboat will be liveried with CELISUS Fitness Drink logos. Rendering courtesy/copyright Kinetic Animation.

But those fans will notice something missing from the from the NZ-11 raceboat—the Pro Floors name—wrapped in the design and colors of the Kiwi flag. That’s because by the time it arrives in Key West this Sunday it will be dressed with the graphics of CELSIUS Fitness Drink for the world championships presented by Performance Boat Center.

This season, the Boca Raton, Fla.-headquartered beverage company has backed a Super Stock-class team campaigned by owner/driver Chris Hopgood and throttleman Ryan Beckley of Bradenton-based Kinetic Animation, which is producing the new sponsor graphics for the Super Cat team. Hopgood, who works closely with his team’s primary backer, introduced Bruggemann to his CELSIUS contacts after they inquired about deeper involvement in the sport.

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With the Pro Floors stickers removed, the 42-foot MTI is ready for its new CELISUS deck and hull-side graphics.

“We came to a mutual agreement on sponsorship for Key West with CELSIUS and we are going to do our best to win a world championship and showcase CELSIUS a little more,” Bruggemann said. “We will meet with them again after Key West and see what the future brings for the 2023 season.”

Bruggemann put the raceboat through its final test session yesterday before it gets hauled to Key West.

The NZ-11 Super Cat will have a sponsor stable-mate in Chris Hopgood’s Super Stock raceboat.

“We have ‘new bullets in the gun’ with our refreshed Kasse engines and we tested our new propellers from Mercury Racing,” he said. “We are completely ready for Key West.”