New Boaz And Unnerstall Super Cat Team To Tackle Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout

With the former CR Racing team’s 32-foot Doug Wright catamaran sold three months ago and now pulling Super Stock-class duty under the CMR Roofing and Construction banner, former owner Rob Unnerstall and teammate Casey Boaz were in the market for a new offshore raceboat. Not only have they found one in the former world-championship-winning Performance Boat Center team Skater Powerboats 388 catamaran, but they plan to run their new ride in the fast-approaching Lake of the Ozarks Shootout (Aug. 27-28).

Unnerstall and Boaz also plan to run the cat as NCC Express—the name of Unnerstall’s business—in the Race World Offshore-produced, 2022 American Power Boat Association/Union Internationale Motonautique Offshore World Championships (Nov. 7-13) in Key West, Fla. The boat will be wrapped in its new graphics next week.

With the acquisition of the former Performance Boat Center team Skater 388 catamaran, Rob Unnerstall and Casey Boaz have a Super Cat raceboat with a significant offshore racing record. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Unnerstall purchased the 38-footer last week from Michigander Ron Szolack, who has owned the cat for three years. The boat has a significant offshore racing pedigree. In 2016 and 2017 with throttleman John Tomlinson and driver Myrick Coil sharing the cockpit, the Performance Boat Center Skater won back-to-back Super Boat International Key West Offshore World Championships in the Superboat class, the SBI equivalent of the Super Cat category. Last year, Szolack leased the raceboat to Canadian offshore racing legend Lorne Leibel, who with John Tomlinson earned an American Power Boat Association Super Cat World Championship.

And as longtime teammates and friends, Unnerstall and Boaz enter the Super Cat class with strong credentials of their own. In 2019, the CR Racing Super Stock team went three for three at the SBI Key West Worlds to take the world championship.

For the 2019 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, the Performance Boat Center Skater was repowered with 1,700-hp Sterling Performance engine running on ethanol (E-90) fuel. Though its Shootout performance was unremarkable, Coil and Rusty Williams—his Super Stock-class Performance Boat Center teammate—ran the cat to 205 mph a few days after the event.

On Thursday, Unnerstall and Boaz got a chance to run it on the Michigan’s Lake St. Clair with the supercharged Sterling mills providing the juice.

“I’ll tell you what, man, those engines have power,” said Boaz, who owns FJ Midwest Propeller and Hering Propellers. “After we run the Shootout, we’ll most likely sell them.”

The current plan calls for Boaz to throttle and Unnerstall, who competed in the second-year Lake of the Ozarks top-speed event some 33 years ago with his father, to drive.

“I think the Shootout is going to be a hell of a lot of fun,” Boaz said. “It doesn’t really compare to offshore racing—you blink and it’s over—but both are a lot of fun.”

Before swapping out their catamaran’s 1,700-hp Sterling engines for power within the Super Cat-class rules envelope, Unnerstall and Boaz will run the boat in the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout this month.

Unnerstall and Boaz have not yet decided on an engine package for the 2023 Super Cat season. Both spec-class carbureted 750- to 800-hp engines from independent builders and fuel-injected 860-hp engines from Mercury Racing are allowed in the class.

Would-be Super Stock-class racers take note: Long in advance of last week’s Skater purchase, Unnerstall and Boaz had ordered a 32-foot Victory catamaran from Dubai for the 2023 Super Stock season. That boat will be rigged with Mercury Racing 300R outboard engines and sold.

New Boaz And Unnerstall Super Cat Team To Tackle Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout

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