Jackhammer Team Hoping To Run Two Super Stock Boats This Season

Though no one knows for sure when the 2020 offshore powerboat racing season will begin—the Offshore Powerboat Association contest planned for August 14-16 in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., is the first race on the domestic schedule—Super Stock-class Jackhammer team owner Reese Langheim has a one-two punch in mind. According to the third-year offshore racer, the Springfield, Ill.-based Jackhammer team will campaign 32-foot Victory catamaran built in Dubai as well as its Australian-built 32-foot Blade cat.

Repaired from its blow-over in Key West, Fla., this 32-foot Victory catamaran will be one of two Jackhammer raceboats on the water this season. Photo from the 2019 Lake Race by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix/speedonthewater.com.

Langheim, who began his racing career in the Blade raceboat and ran the then-new Victory cat last season with Ricky Maldonado, will be rejoined in the Victory machine by Maldonado this year. Julian Maldonado, Ricky’s son, will run the Blade cat. (His cockpit partner has not been named.)

“That boat always was fast, we just had to be able to get through the corners better,” said Langheim, whose wife, Sara Elizabeth, will compete in a Class 7 boat with Julian Maldonado this season. “And now we’ve taken a bunch of weight out of it. I think we cut 500 or 600 pounds out of her.”

A 32-foot Blade catamaran from Australia, the original Jackhammer Super Stock-class raceboat will run under the team’s umbrella this season.

Before tacking the Blade catamaran weight-reduction project in the off season, Langheim and company had to repair the Victory cat. The was damaged in a blow-over accident during the second day of the 2019 Race World Offshore Key West championships

“We had to replace the nosecone,” said Langheim. “We also bought two new outboard engines and completely re-rigged the boat.”

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