XINSURANCE Digs Deeper Into Offshore Racing With Two-Boat Turk Family Racing Sponsorship
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 events and races organized by both the United Kingdom-based Powerboat P1 and the New Jersey-based Offshore Powerboat Association, both of the Turk Family Racing team V-bottoms—a Class 5 30-foot Phantom and a Class 7 22-foot Nitra—are going to be under the primary sponsorship of XINSURANCE, which owns the Class 1 XINSURANCE/Good Boy Vodka team and sponsors other teams.
Thanks to backing from XINSURANCE for the 2023 offshore season, the Turk Family Racing team is going to be running a new Class 7 Nitra (rendering above) along with its proven Class 5 Phantom.
“The competitiveness and performance proven in national and world championships made us proud to sponsor TFR in the RWO, P1 and OPA racing circuits,” Lindsey said. “XINSURANCE is TFR’s primary sponsor and we are excited for the 2023 racing season to begin.”
As previously reported on speedonthewater.com, J.J. Turk, who owns JT’s Social Bar that is part of his family owned La Quinta Inn of Cocoa Beach in Port Canaveral, Fla., purchased the Class 5 boat that he and throttleman Micheal Stancombe raced for Team Woody’s Chad Woody and Billy Shipley the last few years in January. That boat was recently de-rigged and is currently being painted and prepped by Billy Stroud, the team’s crew chief.
Once Stroud is finished, the refreshed 780-hp KPE/Express Racing Engines by Bruce Baker are going to be installed by Baker. Stancombe is going to handle the remainder of the rigging as well as setting up the 30-footer, which the team drove to American Power Boat Association national championships in 2021 and 2022, and the Union Internationale Motonautique Class 5 world championship last year.
Although they’ll be in the same championship-winning Class 5 boat this season, J.J. Turk and Micheal Stancombe’s 30-foot Phantom is going to look a little different.
The Turk Family Racing team’s second boat—a Swedish-built 22-foot Nitra powered by a single Mercury Racing 300R engine mounted on a Shaun Torrente Racing bracket—is going to get its first taste of competition at the end of April with veteran throttleman Robert Bryant on the sticks alongside rookie driver Cameron Turk, J.J. Turk’s 15-year-old son.
According to Stancombe, the veteran Indiana-based boat racer who was the recent recipient of the APBA Sportsman of the Year award, initial testing on the 22-footer has gone well.
“We were extremely happy with how she performed with the changes that were made during our initial testing,” Stancombe said. “We have more testing to come with J.J., Cameron and myself real soon since I’m heading down to finish the rigging of the Phantom next week. We will be ready. Our goal is to teach Cameron how to run the boat and learn how to handle situations that arise while racing; winning will come in time.”
J.J. Turk is grateful that his 15-year-old son, Cameron, is going to get some incredible offshore racing experience this year in the team’s new Nitra.
Turk said he’s excited to watch his son get out on the racecourse with Bryant and ready to get back to the races with Stancombe and his extremely supportive team.
“A shout-out to all of the people who have helped make this dream come true, including Donna Turk (aka Mom Turk); my wife, Keriann Turk; my kids, Kylee and Cameron; my sisters, Judy Turk and Cathy Turk; Thomas Carrigan, my business partner in JT’s Social Bar; Christopher Potok, the general manager of La Quinta Inn; and all of our employees and local sponsors,” Turk said in the release. “We couldn’t do this without their support. And, of course, XINSURANCE. This is going to be an incredible season thanks to back from Rick and his team.”
Lindsey called the sponsorship a win-win.
“It was only natural to bring this team under the XINSURANCE umbrella,” Lindsey said. “I also share a passion for my work with my sons, Parker, Zane and Beau, who work alongside me. So, too, these great racers, share their passion for business and racing with their families.”
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