Team Raven Swooping Into Two Classes For 2019 Season

Fueled by the likes of Brit Lilly and Kevin Smith of the LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness team, Steve Papp of Done Deal and Randy Schleuss of Typhon combined with inaugural six-race American Power Boat Association Offshore Championship, the Pro Stock V class is booming. When the green flag drops at the May 15-17 season-opener in Cocoa Beach, Fla., there could well be 10 to 12 teams in the Pro Stock V fleet, formerly called Super Vee Lite under the Offshore Powerboat Association umbrella.

Though it will start the season with a new boat (above) in Class 4, Team Raven plans to transition to the Pro Stock V ranks. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Among the outfits that eventually will compete in the Pro Stock V class category on the OPA/Powerboat P1-produced series is Team Raven. The key word, of course, is eventually as 25-year-old Robert Bryant, the team’s Englewood Beach owner and throttleman, recently purchased a canopied 32-foot Bandit V-bottom with a 509-cubic-inch engine. To meet Pro Stock V-class specification, the 32-footer needs a Mercury Racing 525 EFI engine, which Bryant plans to purchase in the near future.

So the team, which earned an OPA Class 5 World Championship in 2018 in a currently for-sale open-cockpit 29-footer, will run its new canopied raceboat in Class 4. Once they’ve secured their 525-hp fuel injected engine, they’ll install it in the 32-footer and step up to Pro Stock V.

“It’s been a long time dream of mine to run in Pro Stock, especially after watching them in Englewood Beach last year,” said Bryant.

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