Team AMSOIL Battles Lake Michigan for 3rd at SBI Great Lakes Grand Prix
 

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Immediately after a stellar performance at Saint Clair, Michigan, Team AMSOIL Offshore crossed the state for the SBI Great Lakes Super Boat Grand Prix in Michigan City, Indiana. It was the first time since 2010 that the Team had raced at Michigan City and the large local spectator turnout that year had them anticipating another great event! Not only does the picturesque white sand beach pack with people for miles, there is a Saturday night street parade and block party that, combined with the race, attract over 100,000 fans!

While the conditions in Saint Clair are almost always fast and flat, Michigan City is on the south east coast of Lake Michigan, which is generally rough and treacherous. Aside from the rough water final race at last year's Key West World Championships, the team had not run the AMSOIL 368 Skater in its current Superboat configuration in rough water "washing machine" conditions commonly found on the Great Lakes and in the Gulf. Bearing that in mind, they went to work Friday and Saturday to find the right setup. Throttleman Bob Teague and Driver John Teague tested multiple setups on Saturday as the Lake whipped up inconsistent 3 foot waves. After 60 miles of hard running, they felt confident in their setup for the conditions.

Unfortunately, conditions on Lake Michigan can vary day to day. The waves can be wind driven locally, or from 400 miles away, and stormy weather this time of year can be difficult to predict. Making things more difficult, it is almost impossible to judge the severity of the water from the shore. On Sunday, after hearing conflicting reports from some local sources, and further conflicting reports from participants in the first race of the day, the Team had a setup dilemma on their hands. Ballast must be solid form and set prior to racing since there are no pumped liquid or movable ballast systems allowed. Stern drive gear ratio is also set at a 1.61:1 reduction per class rules. This makes propeller selection one of the few and most critical decisions a team can make for any given race setup. After some debate, Bob and John settled on a set of propellers, and went out to the race course.


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Official AMSOIL Site: http://www.amsoil.com/racing.aspx

Official Teague Custom Marine Site: http://www.teaguecustommarine.com



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