Lake Race Cancelled

Postponed in early May and rescheduled for September without a solid date, the Lake Race on the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri officially was canceled this afternoon. The contest, which was originally slated for May 28-30, would have been the second race of the 2020 American Powerboat Association Offshore Championship Series, which is entering its second year.

According to a press release today from the APBA Series organizers, the Lake Race board of directors opted to scrub this year’s race after consulting with community leaders in the Lake of the Ozarks area.

The Lake Race has been called off for 2020. Photo from the 2019 Lake Race by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix/speeonthewater.com.

According to the release, the Lake Race board of directors chose not to reschedule the race and announce new dates after its initial postponement from its original late-May dates in light of COVID-19 pandemic concerns. Already scheduled events on the Lake of the Ozarks through August forced the board members to look at September, but that month, also proved problematic. The organizers are “already focusing on Lake Race 2021, scheduled for June 4-6,” the release stated.

With the Lake Race cancelled, the second-year, six-race Offshore Powerboat Association/Powerboat P1-produced series is down to a pair of events in Florida, the August 27-30 contest in Coca Beach, Fla. (originally slated as the season-opener but rescheduled) and the October 10-12 race in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. The Sarasota, Fla., and St. Clair, Mich., races were scrubbed last week. The Michigan City, Ind., race was pulled the week prior.

Organizers of all the cancelled 2020 APBA series events have vowed to produce them in 2021.

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