Midwest Challenge Day 2—Flexing Their Muscles
At the Powerboat P1-produced 2024 Midwest Challenge in Sheboygan, Wis., the final race of the weekend was Super Cat, which promised to be a tantalizing finale. Owner/throttleman Tyler Miller was returning to the cockpit of his 38-foot Skater, M CON/Monster Energy, and fans were looking forward to a showdown between that boat and driver Brit Lilly and throttleman Bill Pyburn in owners Beau and Tiffiney Renfoe’s 38-foot Skater, Dirty Money. Vinnie Diorio and Matt Jamniczky unveiled a new sponsor, Austin Homes, over the weekend on their 39-foot Outerlimits catamaran.
In nearly every class that raced on Sunday in the Midwest Challenge, the boats that won dominated from the start. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix
At the start of the race, Austin Homes/Rollin’ Transport, held lane one. Alongside it were throttleman Casey Boaz and driver Rob Unnerstal in their 38-foot Skater, CR Racing. Next to them were Miller and driver Myrick Coil, and in lane four were owner/driver Billy Mauff and throttleman Jay Muller in the 40-foot Skater, WHM Motorsports.
When the green flag waved from the Cigarette pace boat, Dirty Money flew to the lead from its outside lane but as quickly as Lilly and Pyburn looked to establish dominance, they had to pull off the course with a blown drive.
Sequence by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos
Meanwhile things got crowded in lanes one through three. M CON/Monster Energy pulled to a slight lead ahead of Austin Homes and CR Racing. Suddenly, Diorio and Jamniczky found themselves climbing M CON’s roostertail and Austin Homes stood nearly straight up, hanging in the air for seconds before settling back down, rightside up, and continuing the race.
As Coil and Miller pulled to the lead, WHM Motorsports gave chase in second place with CR Racing in third. Just behind were throttleman Billy Moore and owner/driver Chris Grant in the 38-foot Skater, Graydel/C.J. Grant Racing. Chris Hopgood filled in for Chase Muller, joining throttleman Jax Muller in the 40-foot Motion, Wicked.
Because of a broken drive, the Dirty Money team’s much-anticipated battle with M CON/Monster Energy never materialized.
Sunday was the second day of action on the five-mile course on Lake Michigan off the coast of the town known as “the Malibu of Midwest.” The locals welcomed the offshore racing teams and P1 Offshore to the area with open arms. With temperatures in the low-70s, the competitors and fans alike were treated to a respite from the summer heat. The winds on Sunday were a little weaker than on Saturday and the fans enjoyed some outstanding competition.
As M CON/Monster Energy continued to lead in Super Cat, WHM held position in second. Unfortunately, on around lap seven of the 10 the teams were running, CR Racing had an engine problem and Boaz shut it down before major damage was done. This moved Graydel into third and Austin Homes persevered after its scare to take fourth.
Not surprisingly, during and after the race there was plenty of chatter on social media thanks to the footage that caught Austin Homes taking flight on the livestream. From the perspective seen on the show, it could have been ascertained that M CON/Monster Energy didn’t hold its lane, but P1 officials had more views than the public and determined that there was no infraction.
The XINSURANCE A-star helicopter provided the excellent aerial video included in the livestream broadcast produced by Greenlight Productions. Photo by Pete Boden
“Our spotters didn’t even tell us anything until the end of the race,” Miller said. “From our perspective in the boat, we left plenty of room. We felt like we held the lane and you gotta turn the boat when you hit the pin.”
Miller added, “As soon as we saw the video, we went straight to Vinnie, straight to Rob, straight to Matt—the last thing we wanted was any animosity.”
Diorio kept things simple, saying, “It was a tight spot and we worked through it. I planned on having the pole and carrying it through the corner.”
Boaz also took the high road. “Somebody came from our right or our left,” he said. “Either way we got pinched. We had a side full of boat and a roostertail. I tucked the trim and that kept us down.
Muller was pleased with second place for him and Mauff, especially after he finished Saturday’s Super Stock race crawling out of a flipped CELSIUS boat in the Super Stock race. “Twenty-four hours ago I was upside down and look at me know,” the veteran throttleman said. When asked about the incident with Austin Homes, Muller said, “We did our best to give everybody room.”
Regarding the race itself, Muller said his experience racing in the Midwest helped him make the right setup call. “This place is deceiving like Michigan City,” Muller said. “I went with a taller prop, a similar setup to Lake of the Ozarks and the turns were wider than at Ozarks. When I saw the water today, I had two sets of props to pick from.”
Moore said Graydel was a little short on propeller size and that kept him and Grant from making a run at WHM Motorsports.
Back-To-Back In Class 1
Conversely, Moore didn’t make any setup changes to the 45-foot Victory cat, Team DeFalco, that he and owner/driver Mike Falco piloted to their first Class 1 checkered flag on Saturday. The category competed on Saturday and Sunday in Sheboygan and points were earned for each race. Sunday’s action kicked off with Class 1 racing for 30 minutes plus one lap at 11 a.m.
As it did Saturday, Team DeFalco left the rest of the Class 1 fleet in its wake.
Because they won on Saturday, Moore and Falco had the pole position again and at the start, they quickly moved to the lead. As the fans saw on Saturday, the battle for second was between owner/throttleman Rich Wyatt and driver Alex Pratt in the 50-foot Mystic, df Young/Good Boy Vodka and Miller and Coil in their 43-foot Skater, Monster Energy/M CON. Throttleman Brit Lilly and driver Randy Kent in the 48-foot MTI, XINSURANCE, looked to have made some changes between races because they were right there in the hunt as well.
Team DeFalco basically checked out and Falco ran a comfortable line with clean water in front of him. At the 16-minute mark, Monster Energy/M CON took a wide arc around turn 8, opening the door for Wyatt and Pratt to pull ahead. Once they had clean water, Wyatt and Pratt put distance between the Miller and Coil. With just under four minutes left in the race, XINSURANCE pulled off the course.
Mike Falco (left) and Billy Moore had much to celebrate by the end of the weekend.
The other three boats held their positions until the checkered flag waved, giving Moore and Falco their second win of the weekend. Wyatt and Pratt finished second and Monster Energy/M CON should have maintained their points lead with the final podium spot.
“It was fantastic—it’s good for the team and it’s great for Mike,” Moore said. “We had no hiccups. No goofy things. Mike is happy as the owner and driver. After lap four or five, we ran the majority of the race with no communication. He knew what he had to do and he drove a great race.”
Even at idle, Class 1 raceboat look fast.
Wyatt did what he could to find some speed for the biggest boat, going with a larger-diameter propeller. “We went a little taller on prop and once we burned off some fuel, we could get past Monster,” he said. “Alex is learning the boat some more. We definitely got more comfortable.”
Miller said his team took a chance with a big change to the setup for Monster Energy/M CON. “We made a big adjustment and went the wrong way,” he said.
Deck-to-Deck Battles
A strong Mod V fleet made the trip to Sheboygan with seven fast single-engine canopied V-bottoms measuring around 30 feet long.
The team of throttleman Nick Buis and driver J.J. Turk in the 29-foot Extreme, XINSURANCE/Statement Marine had the coveted lane one with the 32-foot Phantom, XINSURANCE/Safe Cash in lane two and R&S Racing next to them. The always consistent Boatfloater.com was in lane four and two fast Extremes, Speed Marine and El Bandito Tequila/Sunprint would be charging hard from the outside.
The El Bandito Tequila/Sunprint notched a much needed-victory in the Mod V class.
Buis and Turk got out to an early lead with Kyle Miller and Jay Wohltman in their new 29-foot Extreme, Speed Marine, in second and Steve Miklos and Steven Fehrmann in their 29-foot Extreme, El Bandito Tequila/Sunprint.
The Mod V boats were scheduled for eight laps and on about lap five, Speed Marine started chine walking noticeably on the straightaway between turn 8 and the finish line. This gave El Bandito Tequila/Sunprint the chance to claim second and Fehrmann and Miklos set their sights on the lead.
At the start of the white flag lap, Fehrmann made a bold move, getting inside of XINSURANCE/Statement Marine and inching ahead. Turk and Buis had to pull to the left after getting stuck in El Bandito’s prop wash to keep from spinning out. That let El Bandito Tequila/Sunprint open up just enough of an advantage to take the win followed by XINSURANCE/Statement and Speed Marine.
“Steven made it stick,” Miklos said of the aggressive move to the lead. “I just sat in the boat. We knew our boat could turn inside theirs and we were turning the boat pretty aggressively because we needed to make up time.” Miklos said that the changes that Scott Porta, president of Porta Products, made to his boat’s bottom have made it corner better.
Faces of the Midwest Challenge. Photos by Pete Boden and Jeff Helmkamp
For Turk and Buis, the consolation was that they were still leading in national points and that puts them in the best spot for the cash prize for the class at the end of the season.
“To be on the last lap and lose the checkered flag is disheartening,” Buis said. “J.J. says we’re here to play chess not checkers. The checkered flags are nice but at the end of the year, we want to be ahead in points and in the money races.”
Despite being under-propped, Kyle Miller was happy with getting his new boat across the finish line for a complete race. The team had been fighting an ignition problem since the boat made its debut earlier in the year.
“We put on the biggest wheel and gave it everything we had,” Miller said. “This was our first real race. We’re on the podium.”
Also on the water with the Mod V boats were the two entries in Bracket 400. The 29-foot Extreme, Framed Offshore Racing, beat the 34-foot Phantom, Simmons Racing.
The balance of the 48 boats that competed in Sheboygan raced in Bracket 500, 600, 700 and Class 3C, a new category for canopied single-engine catamarans. Torrente throttled the new boat with Cameron Turk driving. It was rigged at Shaun Torrente Racing and flies the TFR/XINSURANCE colors. Torrente and Turk ran unopposed.
Also running solo was Ultimate Boat Racing Experience in Bracket 600.
Enjoy images from the Bracket class action in the slideshow above.
In Bracket 500, J.J. Turk and Nick Buis ran their 30-foot Phantom, TFR/XINSURANCE/Golf-N-Gator to a wire-to-wire win. Mike McColgan and Rob Bryant were running a strong second in the 28-foot Pantera, Tunnel Vision, until a busted driveshaft took them out of action. Fran Vellutato and Tom Crowley were running well in the 26-foot Scarab, Rum Runners, until the boat’s tired engine decided to go to sleep. That moved Joey Dacey and Mikey Dacey in the 29-foot Warlock, Pump It, to second place. Rum Runners was credited with third. “We just did a bunch of work to the boat,” Nick Buis said. “We got everything back together and the boat did what it was supposed to do.”
Sheboygan is among offshore racing’s most scenic venues. Photos by Pete Boden
In Bracket 700, only three boats made the trip to Sheboygan and at the start, the two 22-foot Activators, XINSURANCE/Bad Decisions with Owen Buis and Ricky Harmeyer and Jackhammer with Connor Langheim and Mike Haak battling for the lead. The 22-foot Velocity, Hartman/Statement/XINSURANCE, with Mark Fitzgerald and Jerry Hartman ran third.
This time around, Jackhammer made the pass and took a lead the team wouldn’t relinquish. Fitzgerald and Hartman took second, while XINSURANCE/Bad Decisions placed third. As always, the results are unofficial until they are posted on the P1 Offshore website.
“We finally got the clean pass on them,” Langheim said. “It took forever.”
The SV Offshore/Austin Homes team saluted the Sheboygan venue before it left. Photo by Pete Boden
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