Phantom1

More from the Miami Herald..............

Posted on Sun, May. 16, 2004

Californians win powerboat race in Florida Keys

Associated Press

MARATHON, Fla. - California powerboat racers Ken Bowen and Scot Conrad piloted Team Adrenaline to a Super Vee-class victory Sunday at the Marathon Offshore Gran Prix in the Florida Keys.

Bowen, the boat's driver from Coto de Caza, and throttleman Conrad, of Newport Beach, turned in an average speed of 88.73 mph over the 5.5-mile, 13-lap course opposite the Seven Mile Bridge, the largest span of the Keys Overseas Highway.

"There were lots of turns," Conrad said. "It was a driver's race and we counted on getting a good start and getting into clean water."

The eight-boat Super Vee class was the largest among the 44 boats that competed in the inaugural event of the American Power Boat Association offshore racing season.

Bowen and Conrad began the race in second place, behind Miccosukee Indian Gaming piloted by Floridians Brett Furshman of Coral Springs and Troy Hannon of Davie. The two boats ran neck-and-neck until the fourth lap when Adrenaline took the lead on turn seven and kept it for good.

"We were trying to stick them (Miccosukee) as hard as we could," Conrad said. "We carried our speed into the turns and picked it up on the long straight-away."

Gary Nichols of Orange Beach, Ala., won the Super Cat class in Nichols Offshore, while Bob Bull of Merritt Island, was victorious in Super Cat Light in CMS Mechanical Services. Driving Bacardi Silver, David Scott of Edwardsville, Ill., picked up a PX-class win.

SteveDavid

Interesting that one would post a picture of Greg Reichman, because he and his team exemplified professionalism at the APBA Marathon race. During Saturday's P-2 race, a buoy dislodged and three boats missed the buoy. One of them came back around to pick it up. While Gregg and Gordo were the apparent winners, I had to confer with our turn judges and Angel 1 as to what they saw with respect to the dislodged buoy, the placement of the turn boat and other issues. After that review, I met with all P-2 competitors, including Greg and Gordo, and sought their input. The final results was a 1 lap penalty for three boats, including Greg and Gordo, which moved them from 1rst. to 3rd. While understandably disappointed, Greg and Gordo were courteous, congratulated the winners and went on to compete in Super Vee at Sunday's race.

Another first rate group was the team of Lightning Strikes. Mike Flanigan and his team left the race Sunday late afternoon (which was fine, they didn't know anything to the contrary) . However, I wanted to discuss a possible infraction with them. We called them on their cell phone and although some 30 minutes already up the higway, they returned and we had a healthy discussion on what occured. The net result was no penalty after conferring with the two teams. To Mike, Doug Valentine and your Driver I thank you and sincerely appreciate your professional demeanor.

Same goes for Nigel Hook and his Lucas Oil team.

I can say the same for every team competing at APBA Marathon, but I close with thanking the Dirty Duck team and Slug Heffner. These guys exuded enthusiasm and are outstanding ambassadors for our sport. Slug and his team and Bob Bull and his driver Mitch Miller were less than 5 seconds apart for over 65 miles, and then Slug ran out of gas. Well, at the end of day, during inspection, Slug was there with a huge grin, congratulating the winners. First rate!

Let those who choose to bash offshore do so. The fact is APBA Offshore is doing OK, not great yet, but getting there. There are some more speed bumps we'll encounter, but we're staying the course, increasing cooperation (as witnessed by the Sarasota accord) and will continue on what we believe is the right path for members and teams.

Hope to see you at our next GMC Pro Grade National event at Port Huron, MI.

Steve David

SteveDavid

KLAATU,

Yessir, the July 4th. SBI/APBA event in Sarasota is a signed deal. Thanks go to Kevin Brown, John and Deanna Carbonell, Jim Poplin, Bob Bull and Reggie Fountain among others.

Steve

gdfatha

I had a great time and witnessed great racing, a great race site and the finest frienship and courtesy by all associated with APBA as well as the local vounteers.

It was my first time in Marathon and certainly will return next year.

I plan on going to Sarasota in July..Any recommendations for a place to stay near the course??

I am currently editing thru about 500 photos I took at Marathon and will post some of them by Wednesday on my freebee site for all to see...

Thanks agin for a great show...

By the way.. Steve....Congrats on the dunk test exhibit...

To Howie Nichols it was nice to see yu again and for the introduction to Lee Mills. We all share your sorrow of the winds/waves preventing the OPC's/kneeldowns/SLTs from getting in the show. But chattin with the crews was a gas..

To Ron Poli..great meeting you and your lovely wife...However you need a more EXTREME logo on that shirt...0:>)

kitten

Thank you SteveDavid, YOU are a class act!!

cuda

Fantastic news on the joint effort for Sarasota!

Phantom1

This race is going to be a blast. Thanks to Big John, Reggie, Bob Bull, Pop, Steve David, etc.

Everyone has been asking for a joint race of the two premier racing organizations.......and they made it happen.

Phantom1

Here is a picture that was part of an Associated Press article on the Marathon race. Sarasota is going to be great!

Ron P

Marc, it was good to finally meet you too. I guess your Offshore Only Logo stood out better than my Extreme Boats Logo. Hey, at least we found each other.

Steve, thanks for being a part of the new APBA. You and Pops seem to have good chemistry together. Personally, I'm looking forward to watching the APBA fleet grow again. Just keep doing what your doing and let the naysayers cry in their own soup.

The Sarasota deal is huge, it shows that APBA and SBI can work together in an effort to reinvigorate the sport. My hat is off to you and your team. A job well done.

See ya there for this groundbreaking race.

Gordo

Today is the first day I've been able to get online since we got home so I'm a bit slow catching up.
Steve David,
Thank you for the kind words, but more importantly, for the professional and courteous manner that you, Jim Poplin, Clay, Dee, Paul and the rest of the APBA-Offshore staff handled the P-2 situation. Now matter how you slice it, P-2 was incredible racing with lots of lead and position changes. Some racing was so close that I'm surprised a few of us didn't come out different colors. In the end, although three teams felt we were making the correct turn at the time, we obviously missed our mark while some of our competitors found the correct one. My hat's off to everyone in the P-2 race, especially the top two teams. Because I guarantee you, they earned it!
And to the APBA officials, Thank you.
You made the right call.