American Ethanol Hits 200 MPH At GLOC Shootout

Putting to rest whatever notions there may have been about a three-quarters-of-a-mile top-speed shootout course not being long enough to provide crowd-thrilling performances, the American Ethanol team of throttleman John Cosker and Tony Battiato laid down a 200-mph run today in the 51-foot Mystic Powerboats catamaran owned by Don Onken at the GLOC Performance Boat Challenge Shootout in Grove, Okla. Cosker and Battiato made two runs in the canopied Mystic cat, which is powered by four engines totaling 9,000 hp.

During last year’s event on a mile-long course, the team reached an event-best 206-mph.

With a 200-mph run in the books today, American Ethanol (shown here at the 2016 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout) is done for the weekend. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill.

“On our first run today, we did 192 mph,” said Cosker. “We didn’t really get a good start, so we let the water settle down and then went again running the other way. I blew the props at the start, but we still made it to 200 mph.

“Three quarters of a mile goes by so fast,” he continued. “But the boat has so much power down low now.”

Perhaps more impressive than their 200-mph blast was that Cosker and Battiato were sharing the cockpit for the first time today. They had hoped to log practice time this morning before their runs through the course, but instrumentation issues forced them back to the docks.

“Tony had all of 200 yards behind the wheel before we made the start,” said Cosker.

Pleased with today’s performance, the American Ethanol team is done for the weekend and headed to the Lake of the Ozarks— Battiato works for Big Thunder Marine—where the boat will compete in the annual late-August shootout on Central Missouri waterway.

“We’re saving the engines, and we will get time practice before the LOTO shootout,” said Cosker. “Today was our first time competing in the boat together. I think that once Tony and I get the feel of working together we can get even more out of it.”

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