OPA Worlds Viewing Essentials, Scenes From Practice And More
With six races scheduled today and five more tomorrow, some 68 teams—primarily in the Brackets classes—will vie for top honors this weekend in the Offshore Powerboat Association World Championships in Englewood Beach, Fla. In addition to battling for OPA world titles, the Bracket classes will be competing for American Power Boat Association world titles as OPA—like Powerboat P1 and Race World Offshore—is an APBA-member organization.
By the end of this weekend, Bracket class world championships will be crowned. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Here’s what you need to know to enjoy the action from afar:
• Racing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday’s races are half-point contests. On Sunday, teams will compete for full points.
• Missouri-based KRMS Radio is producing the video and radio broadcast for the event. It will be streamed live on the KRMS 97.5 and 103.5 FM radio station website, as well as the station’s Facebook page. The OPA Facebook page also will carry the action.
Enjoy images from yesterday’s practice session in the slideshow above.
All teams come to the OPA worlds with a clean slate, but the 2021 APBA National Championship winners have to be considered the favorites coming into this weekend. They are:
• Bracket 200—Team Woody
• Bracket 300—Team Woody
• Bracket 400—Predator/Apache
• Bracket 500—Shoreline Plumbing
• Bracket 600—Rum Runners
• Bracket 700—Goofin Around
Here’s a quick look at the race times by class:
• 10 a.m.—Bracket 700
• 11 a.m.—Bracket 300 (start No. 1) Bracket 600 (start No. 2)
• 12 p.m.—Bracket 400 (start No. 1) Bracket 500 (start No. 2)
• 1 p.m.—Stock V
• 2 p.m.—Super Stock (start No. 1) Mod V (start No. 2)
• 3 p.m.—Unlimited, 450R Factory Stock and V Extreme (start No. 1) Bracket 100 and 200 (start No. 2)
Other contests to watch:
• Though the APBA Super Stock-class world title was decided last week in Key West, Fla.—and the Performance Boat Center team earned that crown—they’ll have a healthy showing this weekend. The Cape Haze Marina/DoubleEdge Motorsports, Deep V Cats, FJ Propeller, Jackhammer and Wicked Powerboats are in town to compete. Also worth noting, Taylor Scism and John Tomlinson of TS Motorsports will be tacking their final race of the season in the fledgling 450R Factory Stock class.
Cape Haze Marina will be among the five Super Stock teams competing in Englewood Beach this weekend.
• If all Unlimited-class boats take the green flag this morning, four teams will be represented. They include Cazzani Racing, df young, JBS Racing and Sweet Beans. Jimmy Cazzani and df young’s Marc Granet have already renewed their good-natured war of words on social media, but both are looking forward to getting back on the racecourse.
“It’s going to be fun competing against Jimmy and everyone else,” said Granet. “Rich Wyatt (the owner of the df young team) and I know what this boat is capable of. With four boats in the field and calm water it should be a fast race.
“We won’t have the most powerful motors in the field,” he said. “Our focus will be holding it together and making smart decisions on the course”
Though they’re not the main event, the Unlimited-class boats will be part of the show this weekend in Englewood.
Editor’s note: Class-per-race information will be updated in this story as it becomes available.
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