Seaside Race Updates....And their off
06-23-2003, 01:02 AM
#15
Enjoy the show
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Hello Race Fans,
As promised, the weather Gods kept the rain away allowing NJ Offshore to host the second stop of the OPA 2003 offshore race series in Seaside Heights NJ. With no ran in sight we were able to run this race to the end…and then some.
The day worked like clockwork. We left the wet pits under police escort at 11:45 and got to the Wharfside Restaurant just inside the inlet at 12:30. My partner for the day Jack and I left the police escort boat at the dock and joined the Pace Boats waiting at the dock, they were all fired up and ready to rock. My ride for the day was the 41' Apache Afton Express while Pace Boat two was the recently crowned King of the V Bottoms, Scott Applegate's 42 Outerlimits GTX. The pace boats got in front of the fleet of racers and awaited the green light from the Coast Guard to blow the inlet. We needed to wait for a few minutes as the Coast Guard helped to clear our intended path.
With the flick of a thumbs-up from the Coast Guard Commander we were off. It's always interesting running through the no wake inlet at full speed. The fans love it and so do the racers. The interesting part is what you might find at the end of the inlet where the bay meets the ocean. Depending on the wind, tide and current you can find standing 12-foot waves or merely a ripple. Today we had a gentle west wind that really laid the ocean down so only a small swell greeted us as we entered the ocean. The sea had a gentle swell with little to no chop on top, perfect conditions for running fast in the ocean. Once we cleared the mouth of the inlet we turned south and stopped in the milling area to pop off some orange smoke and wait for everyone to get settled. Two minutes after the smoke flare ran out we came on plane heading toward the beach, then took a 90 degree left and headed down the beach. We held the yellow flag for quite a while until we had a nice line up off our port side. Once the boats were in a line, the green flag went up and the race was on. We started the P5 and P4 boats in the first start. These are the slower classes. Scott on Pace Boat 2 held his start in the milling area for exactly two minutes to give the slower boats a running start. The objective was to have all the boats reach the racecourse ten miles to our south in Seaside at the same time. Last year was a little rougher and the big boats got by the smaller ones before they reached the racecourse. This year with smoother water, the smaller boats almost had a lap done by the time the big boats got there.
Once we gave the green flag, we didn't even slow down. In fact we went a little faster as we ran down the beach in the big Apache at about 60mph. The little boats were easily pulling away from us and the big boats were on our tail. First to pass us was Lighting Jacks with Firewater in hot pursuit about 1000 feet back. Both of these P-1 boats were way out front with Wazzup running hard to stay in sight of the leaders.
By the time we got to the racecourse, all the other boats had passed us, including the other Pace Boat that ran down the beach at racing speeds with the leaders. The boats were now done with the 10 mile straightaway and into their laps on a small two-mile triangular racecourse. The small crowd of spectators that huddled at the end of Casino Pier we in for a real show from this small fleet of race boats. The water was smooth enough to allow the boat to really get some speed, until the inevitable wave would cross their path and flight would ensue.
The P5 boats had a great race going with the screaming nuts of Wild Card running a new boat called E&E Truck Repair. This is a narrow older Carrera hull that has just been rerigged to race. They ran the hell out of the little boat and lead the entire race with Simply Awesome holding in second place. The only problem was that E&E went on the wrong side of the first marker as they enter the racecourse after the long straight. That move later cost them the win. In the last lap Simply Awesome, simply broke and ended up going home on a rope. This put Panther, in the lead with a new team called Goumada in second and Sonic Boom in third.
P5 class
1st Panther - John Stanch, Nick Monaco and Melissa Jefferies
2nd Goumada - Jerry Memoli and John Schmidt
3rd Sonic Boom - John Franco and Thomas Rioux
4th Simply Awesome - Bruce Seroff, Paul Lucarelli and Trent Weyant
5th E&E Trucking - Emilo Prito, Willie Raf and Larry Conchita
The boyz from the pound ran unopposed in P4 as the dogs must have scared the other two P4 entrants right off the porch. The Delicate Sound of Thunder managed to suck up mud when they left the pits and caused an overheating condition that took an hour to fix. As we were coming in, Augie and Kevin were heading out to the racecourse to get starting points. The other P4 boat is the new team called Xtremely Dangerous. Today was the first time the boat hit the water in many years after a complete rebuild and rerig. A water pump housing let go as soon as the boat pulled away from the dock and ended their day far earlier than they had hoped. So they handed the victory to Mad Dog and Hollywood. Proving once again that Typhoon rules the seas.
P4 Class
1st Typhoon - Randy Schluess and Glenn Murry
2nd The Delicate Sound of Thunder - Godfather Augie and Kevin Hans
3rd - sort of - Xtremely Dangerous - Marty Coyle, Vinny Lazzara and Mike Jurusz
It's always good to see the old warhorse Dry Martini come out and race again but they really had their hands full with some newer technology in the other boats. Wazzup smoked the field from wire to wire as they were out to prove a point after their last disappointing outing. The new Bad Boy boat ran really well but just couldn't stay with Wazzup. Rounding out third place was Team Executioner in an older converted Fountain pleasure boat.
P3 Class
1st - Wazzup - Smitty and Sticks
2nd - Bad Boy - Anthony Pecheco and Kurt Berger
3rd - Executioner - Val Fiorillo, Tim Vandenberg and Tony Digilio
4th - Dry Martini - Ed Frielinghaus, Tom Moulis
There were no P2 boats. Firewater stepped up to P1 to run against Lightning Jacks. After the first lap Lightening Jacks had a comfortable lead over Firewater but those triangular turns got the better of the 36 Skater. It took Firewater about ten laps but they finally got around the Skater and never looked back. The big Apache can turn on a dime and the blower motors allow it accelerate like crazy.
P1 Class
1st - Firewater - Bob Oliver, Herb Stotler and Levis Santana
2nd - Lightening Jacks - John Wooley and Robert Galda
On the 13th lap, Firewater got around Wazzup and put them a lap down. Apparently Wazzup wanted their lap back and kept on chasing Firewater even though their race had ended on the 14th lap. Around and around they went. Wazzup charging but never able to strike. After 21 laps, they both gave up and called it a day.
So it just goes to show ya, no mater in the calm or rough, the waters of New Jersey belong to Firewater. This boat is currently for sale and if anyone is interested in a proven winner that has been maintained to perfection, contact Bob Oliver at [email protected]
There are some new shots of this race at www.njoffshore.com and some really terrific shots of the race boats and many of our volunteer boats at www.njsportpics.com. For the full story of this race and additional photos, subscribe to www.extremeboatsmag.com as once again, this is just part of the story.
The next OPA race will be in Atlantic City on Sunday July 20th. Stay tuned, as more details will start to flow next week.
See ya at the races,
Ron
As promised, the weather Gods kept the rain away allowing NJ Offshore to host the second stop of the OPA 2003 offshore race series in Seaside Heights NJ. With no ran in sight we were able to run this race to the end…and then some.
The day worked like clockwork. We left the wet pits under police escort at 11:45 and got to the Wharfside Restaurant just inside the inlet at 12:30. My partner for the day Jack and I left the police escort boat at the dock and joined the Pace Boats waiting at the dock, they were all fired up and ready to rock. My ride for the day was the 41' Apache Afton Express while Pace Boat two was the recently crowned King of the V Bottoms, Scott Applegate's 42 Outerlimits GTX. The pace boats got in front of the fleet of racers and awaited the green light from the Coast Guard to blow the inlet. We needed to wait for a few minutes as the Coast Guard helped to clear our intended path.
With the flick of a thumbs-up from the Coast Guard Commander we were off. It's always interesting running through the no wake inlet at full speed. The fans love it and so do the racers. The interesting part is what you might find at the end of the inlet where the bay meets the ocean. Depending on the wind, tide and current you can find standing 12-foot waves or merely a ripple. Today we had a gentle west wind that really laid the ocean down so only a small swell greeted us as we entered the ocean. The sea had a gentle swell with little to no chop on top, perfect conditions for running fast in the ocean. Once we cleared the mouth of the inlet we turned south and stopped in the milling area to pop off some orange smoke and wait for everyone to get settled. Two minutes after the smoke flare ran out we came on plane heading toward the beach, then took a 90 degree left and headed down the beach. We held the yellow flag for quite a while until we had a nice line up off our port side. Once the boats were in a line, the green flag went up and the race was on. We started the P5 and P4 boats in the first start. These are the slower classes. Scott on Pace Boat 2 held his start in the milling area for exactly two minutes to give the slower boats a running start. The objective was to have all the boats reach the racecourse ten miles to our south in Seaside at the same time. Last year was a little rougher and the big boats got by the smaller ones before they reached the racecourse. This year with smoother water, the smaller boats almost had a lap done by the time the big boats got there.
Once we gave the green flag, we didn't even slow down. In fact we went a little faster as we ran down the beach in the big Apache at about 60mph. The little boats were easily pulling away from us and the big boats were on our tail. First to pass us was Lighting Jacks with Firewater in hot pursuit about 1000 feet back. Both of these P-1 boats were way out front with Wazzup running hard to stay in sight of the leaders.
By the time we got to the racecourse, all the other boats had passed us, including the other Pace Boat that ran down the beach at racing speeds with the leaders. The boats were now done with the 10 mile straightaway and into their laps on a small two-mile triangular racecourse. The small crowd of spectators that huddled at the end of Casino Pier we in for a real show from this small fleet of race boats. The water was smooth enough to allow the boat to really get some speed, until the inevitable wave would cross their path and flight would ensue.
The P5 boats had a great race going with the screaming nuts of Wild Card running a new boat called E&E Truck Repair. This is a narrow older Carrera hull that has just been rerigged to race. They ran the hell out of the little boat and lead the entire race with Simply Awesome holding in second place. The only problem was that E&E went on the wrong side of the first marker as they enter the racecourse after the long straight. That move later cost them the win. In the last lap Simply Awesome, simply broke and ended up going home on a rope. This put Panther, in the lead with a new team called Goumada in second and Sonic Boom in third.
P5 class
1st Panther - John Stanch, Nick Monaco and Melissa Jefferies
2nd Goumada - Jerry Memoli and John Schmidt
3rd Sonic Boom - John Franco and Thomas Rioux
4th Simply Awesome - Bruce Seroff, Paul Lucarelli and Trent Weyant
5th E&E Trucking - Emilo Prito, Willie Raf and Larry Conchita
The boyz from the pound ran unopposed in P4 as the dogs must have scared the other two P4 entrants right off the porch. The Delicate Sound of Thunder managed to suck up mud when they left the pits and caused an overheating condition that took an hour to fix. As we were coming in, Augie and Kevin were heading out to the racecourse to get starting points. The other P4 boat is the new team called Xtremely Dangerous. Today was the first time the boat hit the water in many years after a complete rebuild and rerig. A water pump housing let go as soon as the boat pulled away from the dock and ended their day far earlier than they had hoped. So they handed the victory to Mad Dog and Hollywood. Proving once again that Typhoon rules the seas.
P4 Class
1st Typhoon - Randy Schluess and Glenn Murry
2nd The Delicate Sound of Thunder - Godfather Augie and Kevin Hans
3rd - sort of - Xtremely Dangerous - Marty Coyle, Vinny Lazzara and Mike Jurusz
It's always good to see the old warhorse Dry Martini come out and race again but they really had their hands full with some newer technology in the other boats. Wazzup smoked the field from wire to wire as they were out to prove a point after their last disappointing outing. The new Bad Boy boat ran really well but just couldn't stay with Wazzup. Rounding out third place was Team Executioner in an older converted Fountain pleasure boat.
P3 Class
1st - Wazzup - Smitty and Sticks
2nd - Bad Boy - Anthony Pecheco and Kurt Berger
3rd - Executioner - Val Fiorillo, Tim Vandenberg and Tony Digilio
4th - Dry Martini - Ed Frielinghaus, Tom Moulis
There were no P2 boats. Firewater stepped up to P1 to run against Lightning Jacks. After the first lap Lightening Jacks had a comfortable lead over Firewater but those triangular turns got the better of the 36 Skater. It took Firewater about ten laps but they finally got around the Skater and never looked back. The big Apache can turn on a dime and the blower motors allow it accelerate like crazy.
P1 Class
1st - Firewater - Bob Oliver, Herb Stotler and Levis Santana
2nd - Lightening Jacks - John Wooley and Robert Galda
On the 13th lap, Firewater got around Wazzup and put them a lap down. Apparently Wazzup wanted their lap back and kept on chasing Firewater even though their race had ended on the 14th lap. Around and around they went. Wazzup charging but never able to strike. After 21 laps, they both gave up and called it a day.
So it just goes to show ya, no mater in the calm or rough, the waters of New Jersey belong to Firewater. This boat is currently for sale and if anyone is interested in a proven winner that has been maintained to perfection, contact Bob Oliver at [email protected]
There are some new shots of this race at www.njoffshore.com and some really terrific shots of the race boats and many of our volunteer boats at www.njsportpics.com. For the full story of this race and additional photos, subscribe to www.extremeboatsmag.com as once again, this is just part of the story.
The next OPA race will be in Atlantic City on Sunday July 20th. Stay tuned, as more details will start to flow next week.
See ya at the races,
Ron
06-23-2003, 04:17 AM
#16
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Commercial Member
Originally posted by Wazzup Racing
stand by Sharkey, you aint seen nothin yet............
stand by Sharkey, you aint seen nothin yet............
I feel the close triangle course was a savior for the small amount in attendance. Great idea!!!
My daughter & I got a great view from the Sky Ride...
Peconic, In my days of racing the weather never stopped anyone from attending a race. You always went no matter what. How many didn't go to Key West knowing there could be a chance of a hurricane at any given time.
Using the weather as an excuse for not showing is just showing there is no commitment by the racer himself to his competition and the hosting club.
Not to keep bringing up Poker Runs, but the last two I have attended with heavy rains and thunderstorms in the forecast, they both had a Full Houses.
I can't wait for the day to see Point Pleasant with 100 + boats racing. With The Jersey Boys die hard commitment that they do have, it just may happen. Keep up the good work.
Just thought I would mention:
FREEZE FRAME VIDEO was on hand at this race with several onboard cameras.
Be on the lookout for his DVD and pics on this race.
Thanks for making the drive down Jeff!
06-23-2003, 07:54 PM
#17
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Im Very Disappointed
I must say, after two events, Im really disappointed, NO!!! PISSED at all you guys who said you will be coming out to race. We get alot hype from all you guys about how excited you are to race and WHAT??? WTF!!!! I mean this is pure BS. We have the foundation for a good thing here. It doesnt get any better. OPA and the Jersey Boyz are a family and we want you to be part of our family. We have some awesome water NO!!! SIMPLY AWESOME water here and the competition is close. And we have tons of fun.
OK, so the weather wasn't great (it sucked) to say the least. But, if you guys were die hard into this thing and werent afraid of gettin your butts whooped (you know who you are!!!) You would have been here. Im tired of all the BS Excuses ie: new injectors, Bad weather, you werent ready, no truck, Flat tire, No money. Yada Yada Yada.
So Sharky, Maybe some spectators were dissapointed, I opologize for that, But not half as dissapointed as we (the Jerzy Boyz )are.
Big KUDOS to the Sonic Boom Team. you guys (and gals) are the best. I hope you keep comin out. All that driving, Bad weather, ect ect. and after two races, you guys are family...WELCOME.
All you other guys with the smaller boats, that did all the *****in and moanin (you know who you are), E&E aka Wild Card showed you how its done. So, I dont want to hear that you cant compete with 28 or even 30 footers out in the ocean. So, get those boats ready and get your butts out here. Do I sound pissed??? You have no Idea.
E&E aka Wild Card....Hats off to you guys as well. You truly have my respect. You guys run those boats like theres no tommorrow.
So, now that I got that out of my system....I had a great time. I love you guys. Even with 12 , 13 or 15 Boats. Whatever. We dont need 50 boats to have a good quality race. We are only P classes. REMEMBER????? So 5 , 6 or 7 boats in each class is Great. Once everyone gets their acts together we will have 25 to 30 boats and that would suit us just fine.
Sharky...Im sensing negative vibes...NOT GOOD
Maybe when the National Bodies clean up their dirty laundry, we will sit down and talk. Theres no dirty laundry, BS, or politics here in OPA , PERIOD.
Thanks for reading...I feel much better now
OK, so the weather wasn't great (it sucked) to say the least. But, if you guys were die hard into this thing and werent afraid of gettin your butts whooped (you know who you are!!!) You would have been here. Im tired of all the BS Excuses ie: new injectors, Bad weather, you werent ready, no truck, Flat tire, No money. Yada Yada Yada.
So Sharky, Maybe some spectators were dissapointed, I opologize for that, But not half as dissapointed as we (the Jerzy Boyz )are.
Big KUDOS to the Sonic Boom Team. you guys (and gals) are the best. I hope you keep comin out. All that driving, Bad weather, ect ect. and after two races, you guys are family...WELCOME.
All you other guys with the smaller boats, that did all the *****in and moanin (you know who you are), E&E aka Wild Card showed you how its done. So, I dont want to hear that you cant compete with 28 or even 30 footers out in the ocean. So, get those boats ready and get your butts out here. Do I sound pissed??? You have no Idea.
E&E aka Wild Card....Hats off to you guys as well. You truly have my respect. You guys run those boats like theres no tommorrow.
So, now that I got that out of my system....I had a great time. I love you guys. Even with 12 , 13 or 15 Boats. Whatever. We dont need 50 boats to have a good quality race. We are only P classes. REMEMBER????? So 5 , 6 or 7 boats in each class is Great. Once everyone gets their acts together we will have 25 to 30 boats and that would suit us just fine.
Sharky...Im sensing negative vibes...NOT GOOD
Maybe when the National Bodies clean up their dirty laundry, we will sit down and talk. Theres no dirty laundry, BS, or politics here in OPA , PERIOD.
Thanks for reading...I feel much better now
Last edited by BRUCE SEROFF; 06-23-2003 at 08:59 PM.
06-23-2003, 10:13 PM
#20
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Commercial Member
Re: Im Very Disappointed
Originally posted by BRUCE SEROFF
So Sharky, Maybe some spectators were dissapointed, I opologize for that, But not half as dissapointed as we (the Jerzy Boyz )are.
Sharky...Im sensing negative vibes...NOT GOOD
So Sharky, Maybe some spectators were dissapointed, I opologize for that, But not half as dissapointed as we (the Jerzy Boyz )are.
Sharky...Im sensing negative vibes...NOT GOOD
Sorry for the vibes, but it was what I was left with after seeing the wet pits so empty...
I felt bad knowing how much heart & effort the Jersey Boyz have put out.You guys are on the right track. I just hope some day it will be like it was... (The days where you couldn't find a rock to sit on at the inlet to watch the race boats go out.)
After reading your post, I see you too got quite pissed off with the attendance.
One thing though, as I read Extreme Magazine and saw where someone mentions that he doesn't see much change coming in the sport over the next 5 years. Only the players will come and go, as the game will remain the same... Maybe he was just being honest and sees it will always be business as usual.
I will be optimistic, and hope everything will change for the better.
Let's hope more people can stay in the sport longer rather than just run a year or two and move on...
When you look back at all the players over the years, you often ask, "What drove them away from a sport that gets into your blood?"
Not everyone can go offshore racing for many reasons. But those that have done it were able to do it, and did it for the love of the sport. Obviously they didn't do it for any prize money....
I will be there again for the next race in Atlantic City whether you have 13 or more boats. It is just well worth going to see the Jersey Boyz in action off the Jersey Coast. There is no other water like it! Until you race it in it, you will not know what an experience it is...
If any of you have not raced in AC waters yet, well....picture Point Pleasant being a lake. There is some strange things going on off that beach.
Last edited by SHARKEY-IMAGES; 06-23-2003 at 11:40 PM.
