Mod V Class Points Chase Tight Heading Into Sarasota

With five Mod V-class teams registered so far for this weekend’s Powerboat P1 Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix—the third race of the 2023 American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series—in Southwest Florida, the LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness team currently leads the pack in points. But Boatfloater.com and Fastboys Racing are tied for second place with Sun Print/Hooters trailing them by just five points.

More than local bragging rights are on the line for the defending Mod V-class Boatfloater.com team at the upcoming Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

In short, the Mod-V points battle is tight and the Sarasota contest is the midpoint of the five-race APBA series. That fact is not lost on the locally based father-and-son Boatfloater.com team of Steve and Stephen Kildahl.

“It’s very important as this is the halfway mark in the national series,” said Stephen Kildahl, who drives the team’s 29-foot Extreme raceboat with his father throttling. “We are currently tied for second and can’t afford a bad race as there are not enough races left to make up for it.

“Also, with the Sarasota Grand Prix being a hometown event and my dad being the only racer to compete in all 39 of them, it’s a special race for our family,” he added. “We always want to do well in front of the hometown crowd.”

Kildahl sees competing in the waters of Sarasota as a definite advantage for him and his father. That’s where they practice and test throughout the season.

“It’s definitely a course we know how to set up for and we won the race here last year,” he said. “The water can be tricky racing in between two passes, and depending on what the tide is doing it can be bumpy.

“The wind has been blowing out of the west for the last couple weeks,” he added. “So it could be bumpier than usual if the weather pattern stays the same.”

Also worth noting for this weekend’s Mod V contest? Both Kevin Smith and Brit Lilly will be out of the LSB cockpit in Sarasota. Smith, who usually throttles the boat, has another obligation and Lilly, who drives, will be focus all of his attention on his wheelman role in the Class 1 Huski Ice Spritz catamaran alongside throttleman Steve Curtis. Kyle Miller will return as the LSB driver alongside a throttleman he knows well.

“I think the plan is for Kyle and his regular throttleman Jay Wohltman of Whoa Moma to run Brit’s boat for Sarasota,” Smith explained. “With Brit needing to concentrate on Huski and Jay Muller wanting to concentrate on WHM Motorsports, we thought this was the best combo to keep the boat running up near the front for points.”