Inside The Lake Race: Single-Engine V-Bottom Plot Lines

The six-race American Power Boat Association season-opener two weeks ago produced a record-setting fleet and great action that included one of the best Super Cat-class contests, which saw Pro Floors Racing fight off the relentless M-Con team for the win, in recent memory. In the ultra-competitive Super Stock class, Nick Scafidi drove and throttled his 32-foot Shadow Pirate Doug Wright catamaran to victory over nine other teams.

Marker 17 Marine will be carrying an additional 150 pounds during tomorrow’s Lake Race. Photos courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

But the non-bracketed single-engine Pro Stock V and Super Vee Extreme classes, as well as the twin-engine Vee Extreme class, delivered more questions than answers. Take nothing away from Fastboys Racing team of driver Ken Bolinger and throttleman Stan Porkoski, Boatfloater.com and “Evil” Ed Smith and Anthony Smith in Instigator By Knucklehead Racing—they all earned checkered flags in their respective V-bottom classes. But there are still a few intriguing plot lines heading into tomorrow’s Lake Race—the second stop in the APBA series—for those classes.

Heavy Times For Marker 17 Marine
Chief among those soon-to-be-unfolding stories will be how the Marker 17 Marine team of driver Brian Forehand and throttleman performs with an extra 150 pounds in their 29-foot Outerlimits. After taking the checkered flag in Cocoa Beach, Forehand and Diorio were penalized and knocked back to last place for being under-weight under an Offshore Powerboat Association parity rule designed specifically for their four-step V-bottom, the only quad-step hull in the Super Vee Extreme class. (OPA is co-producing the APBA series with the Powerboat P1 organization.) With the father-and-son Boatfloater.com team of Steve and Stephen Kildahl, the class winner in Cocoa Beach, and the Sheriff Lobo team reportedly are participating in the Lake Race tomorrow, all eyes will be on Marker 17 Marine to see how the team fares in calmer water with more weight than at least three of its competitors.

LSB/Hurricane Of Awesomeness Looking For Full Power
Whereas Super Vee Extreme teams run single carbureted engines in the 600- to 650-hp range, the Pro Stock V teams run spec fuel-injected 525-hp engines from Mercury Racing. The LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness team of driver Brit Lilly and throttleman Kevin Smith led for much of the Cocoa Beach contest, but their engine began going into Guardian mode in the final laps and the Fastboys Racing team passed them to take the win.

The LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness Pro Stock V-class team of Brit Lilly and Kevin are hoping their engine woes are behind them.

“We didn’t see that happen with our engine today today,” said Lilly while returning from a test session the 30-foot LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness V-bottom earlier this week. “But it took us four or five laps to see it in Cocoa Beach. So we’ll see.”

Though a final roster for tomorrow’s races had not been published when this story went live, Lilly and Smith said they expect to battle four or five teams—and Fastboys Racing reporedly will be among them—in the Pro Stock V class.

Solo Run Best Case For Vee Extreme Class
Troubles with their port Joey Griffin engine kept Lilly and Smith out of the Vee Extreme-class contest in Cocoa Beach, leaving driver/owner “Evil” Ed Smith and Anthony Smith, the oldest son of OPA head Ed “Smitty” Smith to run to an uncontested victory in the Instigator By Knucklehead Racing Fountain V-bottom. That will be the case again if the Instigator By Knucklehead Racing team competes in the Lake Race—and speedonthewater.com could not confirm the team’s participation when this story went live—as the LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness Vee Extreme-class 40-footer’s port engine currently is being rebuilt. The boat will be ready in time for the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix, the third stop in the APBA series, on July 7, where it will go head to head with Instigator By Knucklehead Racing.

Said Lilly, “We’ll be ready to go with both boats in Sarasota.

Inside The Lake Race: Single-Engine V-Bottom Plot Lines

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