Three-Boat Team Woody Fleet Headed To OPA Worlds in North Carolina

Although the offshore racing season didn’t pan out as Billy Shipley and Chad Woody had anticipated earlier this year, the Texas-based owners of the three-boat Team Woody fleet are making the best of it by heading to this weekend’s Offshore Powerboat Association Crystal Coast World Championships in Morehead City, N.C., scheduled for October 22-25.

The Texas-based Team Woody plans to race all three of its boats at the OPA Worlds in Morehead City, N.C. Photo courtesy Billy Shipley

“We rolled out early this morning and can’t wait to get there, put all three boats in the water and get the whole team together for the first time this season,” said Shipley, whose only event so far this season was the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri where he and Woody ran their canopied 28-foot LaveyCraft 97 mph down the event’s three-quarter-mile course.

“Morehead City is 1,354 miles away—it’s going to be a long drive,” he continued with a laugh. “We are traveling the farthest of any of the teams coming to the OPA Worlds. Everyone on Team Woody is excited about this week.”

By everyone, Shipley means the team’s dedicated volunteer crew members plus the experienced racers running the team’s three entries.

Joining Shipley and Woody, who plan to race the Class 3 Fountain Powerboats 35-foot canopied V-bottom they earned a world championship in last year in Englewood Beach, Fla., are veteran offshore racers, Micheal Stancombe and J.J. Turk, who will run the team’s Class 5 30-foot Phantom Boats open cockpit V-bottom, and experienced racers Jeff Muehlhausen and Brad Wade, who will handle the Class 4 28-foot LaveyCraft V-bottom.

“As we do at every race, we’re going to have fun, do our best and enjoy racing in a new location,” said Shipley, adding that the team wasn’t able to make it to OPA race in Morehead City in September. “We’re hoping to come home with three world championships, but we’re also going to use the Worlds as a gauge for the 2021 season.”

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