High Stakes at LOTO—XINSURANCE Offshore Day 1

The first half of 2025 for the offshore powerboat racing community has been tumultuous to say the least. With barely a month before the first race of the season, Thunder on Cocoa Beach on the weekend of May 17-18, after months of angry back-and-forth between the American Power Boat Association and the teams in the sport’s premier category, Class 1, the decision was made to form a new sanctioning body, the World Powerboat Racing Association.

The XINSURANCE Offshore Lake of the Ozarks race was the first event produced by a new promoter and sanctioned by the World Powerboat Racing Association so to say there was quite a bit was on the line is akin to calling the weather in the area kind of warm. Photos by Jim Davis copyright Lake of the Ozarks Photos.

That meant the boats in what is now called Pro Class 1 were not at the Thunder on Cocoa Beach, which is produced by APBA-loyal promoter P1 Offshore. Instead, the Pro Class 1 teams raced for the first time in 2025 at the XINSURANCE Offshore Lake of the Ozarks event on June 21 and 22 in Lakeside, Mo., with the Bagnell Dam as a backdrop.

Some 50 boats registered for the race at the high-performance boating capital of the Midwest, a strong turnout. Typically the race would draw more boats in the Mod-V class, for example, but teams in that category voted to stay loyal to the APBA and UIM. Other veteran racers also said that they want to stay affiliated with the APBA because the organization is the keeper of national records for powerboat racing in this country.

The first WPRA event started with some unsurprising delays and a bit of a rough first livestream on RTH TV and the Victory+ app that challenged veteran broadcaster Todd Swofford. Hell, even the event’s name, XINSURANCE Offshore Lake of the Ozarks, doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Overall, however, the racing was competitive, officials called penalties when needed and the day ended with a watch-able show thanks to some powerful performances in the Super Cat and Pro Class 1 races. Thanks to the event’s unique two-day format, the teams will all get another chance to strut their stuff again on Sunday.

Dominating Performances
After qualifying in lane four out of six boats in Pro Class 1, when the green flag flew on Saturday afternoon, the current world champions, throttleman Billy Moore and owner/driver Mike DeFalco in the 45-foot Victory catamaran, Team DeFalco, wasted no time in picking up where they left off.

“We’ve been working on our flat-water setup where we can turn it aggressively,” said Moore. “We nailed the start and once we got to the first turn, it was like send it in there Mike.”

Falco has made gains as a driver and he did his job as the team opened an early lead.

After qualifying on the pole in Pro Class 1, owner/throttleman Tyler Miller and driver Myrick Coil in the 43-foot Skater, Monster Energy M CON, ran a solid second place for the 10-lap Pro Class 1 race on the 5.78-mile course. Winds gusting up to 15 to 20 mph were blowing across the lake, doing their best to upend the Pro Class 1 boats as they ran at speeds exceeding 130 mph.

“By the time we went to get back to the pin, the wind was blowing so hard that we were crabbing,” said Miller. “We needed to aim 400 or 500 feet off the buoy to make the mark.”

Miller (right) and Coil piloted the Monster Energy/M CON to a second-place finish in yesterday’s Pro Class 1 contest.

The running order didn’t change much for the balance of the race as new teams to Pro Class 1 got used to their boats. Driver Brit Lilly and throttleman Bill Pyburn earned the final podium spot in their 45-foot Victory catamaran, XINSURANCE South, followed by driver Willy Cabeza and throttleman Grant Bruggemann in the 48-foot MTI cat, GC Racing/Marine Technology Inc.

“We need to find some more speed,” said Pyburn. “We’ll take some big swings at things.”

Bruggemann said the team was happy with its qualifying effort, but running in the middle of the pack and battling the crosswinds made for a long afternoon. “It was a long day in the office behind XINSURANCE South,” he said. “Those guys were running their race in front of us and we were having to deal with the white water.”

On the fourth lap, throttleman Nick Buis and driver J.J. Turk spun in their 48-foot MTI cat, XINSURANCE North. They got the boat back up and running, but soon returned to the pits, garnering a DNF for the day. This moved owner/driver Billy Mauff and throttleman Jay Muller up to fifth in their 40-foot Skater, WHM Motorsports, that had been re-rigged to run Pro Class 1 after it had competed in Super Cat for the past few seasons.

Enjoy more images from yesterday’s action.

In the penultimate race of the afternoon, five Super Cats took to the 5.87-mile course for a nine-lap race. Based on the team’s dominance at the end of last season and its win at Cocoa Beach, fans were expecting Lilly and Pyburn in Beau and Tiffiney Renfroe’s 38-foot Skater, Dirty Money, to run at the front. The boat was in lane one, but by the time the boats rounded turn one and headed for Bagwell Dam, the lead belonged to owner/driver Chris Grant and throttleman Muller in the 38-foot Skater, C.J. Grant/Graydel. They were chased by driver

Christian McCauley and throttleman Anthony Smith in the 40-foot MTI, Farnsworth Motorsports/Hancock Claims and the 38-foot Skater, CR Motorsports, with owner/driver Rob Unnerstal and throttleman Casey Boaz. Dirty Money ran fourth followed by rookies Ron Gibbs (throttles) and Kelly Kraiss in the 36-foot Skater, EWB Racing.

WPRA officials modified one rule for the 2025 season, allowing a team to go back and pick up a buoy if it misses one as long as it doesn’t impede other boats on the course. It came into play when Graydel missed a buoy while leading. Instead of panicking, Muller and Grant went back, rounded it correctly and got back under way, dropping back to third place.

“I said, ‘Let’s just get our composure back,’” said Muller. “The right pillar is in Chris’ vision and you’re strapped in there. In a righthand turn, you would think it would be better because it’s on the righthand side, but it’s not. In a lefthand turn, he can see easier because can look across and out my side.”

Farnsworth Motorsports held an early lead in the Super Cat contest.

Farnsworth Motorsports was in the lead with CR Racing giving chase. Unnerstal said he and Boaz were battling a rich fuel mix issue with the boat’s Pee Wee’s Performance engines. Continuing to show serious speed, Graydel caught the two lead boats within a lap and pulled past to reclaim a lead the team wouldn’t relinquish for rest of the race. CR Racing finished second followed by Farnsworth/Hancock Claims. Pyburn said the Dirty Money team made a change in carburetor jetting that loaded up the team’s Goodwin Competition engines. EWB Racing finished the race to take fifth.

Grant admitted that he was a little surprised that he and Muller pulled out to such a big lead so quickly. He and Muller talked their way through the turns as they continue to get to know each other better. This was only their second race in the boat. “It is a pleasure,” said Grant. “We talk it out. We enjoy it.”

Fans used to watching Muller throttle WHM Motorsports know that he likes a boat to carry the bow so the team worked on getting Graydel to do the same, which improves speed in calm water.

Unnerstal was still pleased with second place and said he enjoyed running deck to deck with the Farnsworth/Hancock Claims boat. “There wasn’t a foot and a half between us,” said Unnerstal. “We felt good coming out of Cocoa Beach. We’re still figuring out this boat. We’re not as smooth as I want to be in the turns.”

Win Farnsworth owns the Super Cat team that bears his name and he was happy with third place. A fuel pressure problem with one of the boat’s Kasse engines kept them from challenging for the win at the end. “It’s still a long way from where we were a year ago,” said Farnsworth.

Intriguing Pairings
Three 39-foot MTI catamarans powered by Mercury Racing 500R outboards made up the Factory Stock fleet at XINSURANCE Offshore Lake of the Ozarks. One boat familiar to fans lining the shore was the royal blue boat that ran as TS Motorsports last year with Taylor Scism, the vice president at MTI, driving and John Tomlinson on throttles. With Scism expecting a child, she abdicated the cockpit so Tomlinson is throttling with 18-year-old Caleb Mead in Mead Family Racing.

For the family’s home race, Scism and her father, MTI founder Randy Scism, asked Miller and Coil to run the boat. They took the pole position in qualifying while Cabeza and Bruggemann qualified second in GC Racing and Mead Family started in lane three.

Tomlinson and Mead jumped out to a good start, but had to slow when the throttleman realized the boat’s fuel priming pumps hadn’t been turned on. The team had to slow, turn on the pumps and re-fire the engines, which took them out of contention but gave Tomlinson a good opportunity to work with his young driver.

Miller and Coil made good use of the inside lane to maintain a lead they would hold for the balance of the race. Bruggemann said GC Racing’s propellers were one pitch size too big. The boat could run big numbers down the long straights, but lost time in the turns.

When Miller and Coil returned to the docks, Taylor Scism was there to greet them. “That was fun,” said Miller. “We sat in the boat for the first time on Thursday and Randy let us do some testing, but that was it.”

Also on the water with the Factory Stock boats were the two boats in Super Vee and the 40-foot Fountain, American Custom Marine/ML Chartier, that ran solo in the Extreme class. Rookie driver Chris Uzzi texted that he “more than had fun.”

In Super Vee, Jay Wohltman, who throttles Speed Marine in Mod-V, joined “Evil” Ed Smith in the 40-foot Fountain, Knucklehead Racing. Their competition was driver Elijah Kingery and throttleman Anthony Smith in the 40-foot Fountain, Team Farnsworth/Hancock Claims.

One of the few Fountains built with Arneson surface drives, Farnsworth has been dominant in the class and moved out to an early lead that it held until midway through the race. The boat got caught in American Custom Marine’s wake and high-sided, almost winding up on its lid. That opened the door for Knucklehead to take the win. After the race Kingery texted that his pride was hurt but the boat would be ready to go on Sunday.

The Numbers Game
Super Stock continues to be the most populated class in offshore racing with 15 boats entered at XINSURANCE Offshore Lake of the Ozarks. Because of the numbers, the fleet was separated into two four-lap heats.

In the first race, owner/driver Cole Leibel and throttleman Gary Ballough in the 32-foot Victory, Raymarine, found themselves giving chase to locals Tom Kennedy (driver) and Scott Blumberg in the 32-foot Doug Wright, Mom Ain’t Happy. Continuing to run near the front of the pack, owner/driver Pete Riveiro and throttleman Ricky Maldonado in the 32-foot Fazza, Mykalized, held third ahead of Bill Allen and Randy Keys in the 32-foot Doug Wright, Team Allen Lawncare, which calls LOTO home.

Given the sprint-style format, Ballough knew he needed to make a move sooner than later and finally on lap three, Raymarine got around the local team to take the win. Mykalized finished third followed by Team Allen Lawncare, Team Bermuda, Say Less MF, Demon Bikini and Diggin’ Deep.

“Our takeaway from the race we had with those guys is that they are true sportsmen,” Ballough said of the Mom Ain’t Happy team. “That’s why we want to go racing. We need more people like them.”

In the second Stuper Stock race, some unexpected carnage took out a contender, but more on that in a bit. In their ever-evolving STR Powerboats catamaran, Hi-Tech Decking, throttleman Shaun Torrente and driver Matt Jamniczky moved out to the early lead with owner/driver Jeremy Tschida and throttleman Julian Maldonado giving chase in the 30-foot Victory, Wozencraft/TFR, and driver Luis Martins and throttleman Andy Stonehand in third in the 32-foot Doug Wright, Nuff Said.

The new Super Stock-class pairing of Shaun Torrente and driver Matt Jamniczky claimed their first checkered flag of the 2025 season.

By the end of lap two, Muller and owner/driver Chris Hopgood had moved into second in the 32-foot Doug Wright, Celsius. Wozencraft was running third when the boat suddenly pulled into the middle of the course with its starboard motor hanging off the transom at an ugly angle. It had broken the swivel pin and was done for the day. That moved AJ and Pete Bogino in the 32-foot Doug Wright, CoCo’s Monkey up to third.

The win went to Hi-Tech Decking followed by Celsius and CoCo’s Monkey. While all the other classes are running for double points on the weekend, the Super Stock boats determined their lanes for Sunday on finishing times and will receive single points.

Torrente, who has been seen making changes to his boat to improve hydro and aerodynamic efficiency at every race this year, said he’ll continue to do so.

“We just made another change,” he said after the heat. “We won, but we need to keep making it better. We did the major stuff. Now we’re down to the nitty-gritty.”

World champion Super-Stock-class throttleman Rusty Williams of Performance Boat Center team-famed returned to the racecouse with new driver Chad Rudesill yesterday.

The weekend’s activity started with the three Mod-V boats in attendance and the lone boat in Stock 300 taking to the lake on Saturday morning. The second Stock 300 boat, XINSURANCE, had to scratch when it rolled late Friday afternoon. No one was hurt in the incident.

Driver Connor Langheim and throttleman Ricardo Maldonado completed the race in their 23-foot Argo cat, Jackhammer Mini.

In Mod-V, throttleman Nick Buis and driver J.J. Turk, took the early lead in the 29-foot Extreme, Statement Marine/XINSURANCE, holding a slight advantage over Steve and Stephen Kildahl in the 29-foot Extreme, Boatfloater.com. Driver Rick Raab and throttleman Scott Jobin were in third but off the pace in the 32-foot Phantom, Safe Cash/XINSURANCE.

The two Extremes had a good race with Stephen Kildahl trying everything he could to get inside of the lead boat. At one point, the race was red-flagged after a spectator boat entered the course. When the spray settled after the re-start, Statement Marine/XINSURANCE appeared to take the win, but it turned out that the boat had missed a buoy and was penalized. This gave the win to the Kildahls, much to the delight of their primary sponsor, Boatfloater, which is based in Lake of the Ozarks.

“I never knew it happened,” said Stephen. “We were pushing as hard as we could the whole race. Even on the last lap, we were trying to get inside them.”

With the Bracket 600 and 700 boats moved to Sunday because of time constraints, the Bracket 400 and 200 classes ran Saturday afternoon. Owner/throttleman Chad Woody and driver Billy Shipley ran unopposed in their 35-foot Fountain, Team Woody.

In Bracket 400, local racing veteran Jason Zolecki teamed up with Jake Coons in Jim Simmons’ 34-foot Phantom, Simmons Racing, to claim the checkered flag. Second went to owner/throttleman Jerry Hartman and driver John Iezzatti took third in their 30-foot Phantom, Team Hartman/XINSURANCE while owner/driver Jimmy Wessel and throttleman Bruce Dudley in the 30-foot Phantom, Miss Stress, got credit for third after pulling off the course with mechanical issues.