Milwaukee Sunday - Way to go Jen!
08-01-2004, 09:41 PM
#1
Registered
Thread Starter
Milwaukee Sunday - Way to go Jen!
08/01/2004
Author: Michelle May-Schmidt
MILWAUKEE, Wis (8/1/04) - - Jennifer Youngblood finally had her day. The 39 year old from Nashotah, Wisconsin, teammate Dan Murphy from Cincinnati, Ohio and Crew Member Kevin Krueger managed to take their 24’ Reindl Powerboat to a checkered flag finish at the 2004 GMC Milwaukee Offshore Gran Prix.
Youngblood won one for her dad, who passed away on the same date in 1977.
“Although we had problems yesterday with overheating, the boat ran cool and we ran the best we ever ran. I think my dad had the throttle open for me,” said Youngblood, who is a Natural Resource Technician.
Youngblood, who ran in the first of two race competition heats also thanked the 22 APBA Offshore GMC Pro Grade Series Tour competitors for “showing her town a great time.”
Later in the day, Jeff Stevenson, of Winneconne, Wisconsin, with Joe Skrocki on the throttles, fanned the crowd taking a second consecutive checkered flag finish over the weekend, their sixth win this year.
At one point the team headed towards the seawall, in what fans thought was a ride by. In actuality, the team lost their steering.
“We broke. We lost our steering on the last lap and we weren’t really flashing the crowd. We came pretty close, but Jeff managed to turn us around,” said Skrocki.
“Wilma and Brian (Ross) were on us all day. We both stayed up all night. We changed our set-up and they changed theirs, we just came out on top today. Yesterday, we couldn’t shake them, today we did.”
Stevenson was equally pleased with their flawless performance, completing all 12 laps of the race on the 4.77 mile course ahead of the Ross’s F2-1 AC Delco, the third place F2-45 Simmons Racing, and the F2-71 Pantera Racing who continued suffering gremlins and a fire that kept them from competing on day two.
“Everything shut down and we turned around and realized we caught on fire,” said Jo Nunez, driver for Pantera Racing from North Miami.
“The water was different today than yesterday. It was fun today, we enjoyed competing two days in row in two different waters,” said Sean Reilly, throttleman of the Simmons Racing Team.
Gremlins continued to plaque a number of teams in the Sunday competition, and while many worked overnight to get the job done, some, including the #53 Hidden Agenda Super Cat, and the #51 Extreme Vortec Super Vee Light. Both were unable to splash the waters with the rest of the fleet.
“On Saturday, an ignition coil on the port engine took its toll. We took it out, cleaned it, flushed it and we were ready to go,” said Roy Schrader, driver from Goleta, California.
“During a pre race inspection of the boat, we detected a more serious problem in the starboard engine. We ended with a dead cylinder and no way to repair it,” said Chris Carmody, owner/throttleman, who flew in Saturday evening to compete in the Sunday races at Veterans Park.
“We broke and it can’t be fixed here,” said Shane Barrett, throttleman of the SVL #51 entry who along with Gary Deciucies of Newport Richey, Florida competed in the Saturday competition as well.
Team owner, Jennifer Barrett was pleased with the weekend, and due to a no show by the Wild Ride #5 Team, the points earned in Milwaukee pushed them into a strong first place lead and the potential for yet another consecutive APBA Offshore GMC Pro Grade National Title.
In the Super Vee Class, the #11 Pier 57 team, with assistance from a number of race teams was hopeful for a return to the water after breaking a tie bar, and cracking their crash boxes in the Saturday race.
The Sarasota, Florida based team of Bill McComb, driver and Lisa Matthews on the throttleman went out long enough to make the start, keeping their minimum points score which will be added to their accumulated National Standings.
“We did everything we could do with what we had, and it just wasn’t enough. We’d like to thank all the teams for helping us try and get back out on the water today,” said Matthews.
With thousands of fans seating on the edge of course just off Veterans Park “Race Village”, the show went on with spectacular racing action on the 4.77 mile course with winds upwards to 20 miles per hour and a hefty chop of ever changing water conditions.
Watching the second race of the day, the crowd was shocked and enthused when the #3 CMS Mechanical team of Bob Bull and Mitch Miller went to the wall and literally splashed them with their spray, taking the uncontested win in Super Cat Light ™ Class and earning them the “Seawall Squeegee Award.”
Continued below
Author: Michelle May-Schmidt
MILWAUKEE, Wis (8/1/04) - - Jennifer Youngblood finally had her day. The 39 year old from Nashotah, Wisconsin, teammate Dan Murphy from Cincinnati, Ohio and Crew Member Kevin Krueger managed to take their 24’ Reindl Powerboat to a checkered flag finish at the 2004 GMC Milwaukee Offshore Gran Prix.
Youngblood won one for her dad, who passed away on the same date in 1977.
“Although we had problems yesterday with overheating, the boat ran cool and we ran the best we ever ran. I think my dad had the throttle open for me,” said Youngblood, who is a Natural Resource Technician.
Youngblood, who ran in the first of two race competition heats also thanked the 22 APBA Offshore GMC Pro Grade Series Tour competitors for “showing her town a great time.”
Later in the day, Jeff Stevenson, of Winneconne, Wisconsin, with Joe Skrocki on the throttles, fanned the crowd taking a second consecutive checkered flag finish over the weekend, their sixth win this year.
At one point the team headed towards the seawall, in what fans thought was a ride by. In actuality, the team lost their steering.
“We broke. We lost our steering on the last lap and we weren’t really flashing the crowd. We came pretty close, but Jeff managed to turn us around,” said Skrocki.
“Wilma and Brian (Ross) were on us all day. We both stayed up all night. We changed our set-up and they changed theirs, we just came out on top today. Yesterday, we couldn’t shake them, today we did.”
Stevenson was equally pleased with their flawless performance, completing all 12 laps of the race on the 4.77 mile course ahead of the Ross’s F2-1 AC Delco, the third place F2-45 Simmons Racing, and the F2-71 Pantera Racing who continued suffering gremlins and a fire that kept them from competing on day two.
“Everything shut down and we turned around and realized we caught on fire,” said Jo Nunez, driver for Pantera Racing from North Miami.
“The water was different today than yesterday. It was fun today, we enjoyed competing two days in row in two different waters,” said Sean Reilly, throttleman of the Simmons Racing Team.
Gremlins continued to plaque a number of teams in the Sunday competition, and while many worked overnight to get the job done, some, including the #53 Hidden Agenda Super Cat, and the #51 Extreme Vortec Super Vee Light. Both were unable to splash the waters with the rest of the fleet.
“On Saturday, an ignition coil on the port engine took its toll. We took it out, cleaned it, flushed it and we were ready to go,” said Roy Schrader, driver from Goleta, California.
“During a pre race inspection of the boat, we detected a more serious problem in the starboard engine. We ended with a dead cylinder and no way to repair it,” said Chris Carmody, owner/throttleman, who flew in Saturday evening to compete in the Sunday races at Veterans Park.
“We broke and it can’t be fixed here,” said Shane Barrett, throttleman of the SVL #51 entry who along with Gary Deciucies of Newport Richey, Florida competed in the Saturday competition as well.
Team owner, Jennifer Barrett was pleased with the weekend, and due to a no show by the Wild Ride #5 Team, the points earned in Milwaukee pushed them into a strong first place lead and the potential for yet another consecutive APBA Offshore GMC Pro Grade National Title.
In the Super Vee Class, the #11 Pier 57 team, with assistance from a number of race teams was hopeful for a return to the water after breaking a tie bar, and cracking their crash boxes in the Saturday race.
The Sarasota, Florida based team of Bill McComb, driver and Lisa Matthews on the throttleman went out long enough to make the start, keeping their minimum points score which will be added to their accumulated National Standings.
“We did everything we could do with what we had, and it just wasn’t enough. We’d like to thank all the teams for helping us try and get back out on the water today,” said Matthews.
With thousands of fans seating on the edge of course just off Veterans Park “Race Village”, the show went on with spectacular racing action on the 4.77 mile course with winds upwards to 20 miles per hour and a hefty chop of ever changing water conditions.
Watching the second race of the day, the crowd was shocked and enthused when the #3 CMS Mechanical team of Bob Bull and Mitch Miller went to the wall and literally splashed them with their spray, taking the uncontested win in Super Cat Light ™ Class and earning them the “Seawall Squeegee Award.”
Continued below
08-01-2004, 09:41 PM
#2
Registered
Thread Starter
Re: Milwaukee Sunday - Way to go Jen!
continued from above
The fans also applauded Gregg Reichman and Mike “Gordo” Gordon in the #2 RMS Motorsports for their participation, competing twice on Saturday and again twice on Sunday in both the P2 and Super Vee Class competitions.
Harry Turner’s Massachusetts based team, P2-8 TKO Obsession with throttleman Walter Collins and navigator, Steve Britton took an impressive lead, with P2-2 RMS still working out the kinks from the changes made after the Saturday racing action.
When TKO got knocked off course and missed a pin, it pushed the RMS team into victory lane.
In the Super Vee Class they weren’t as lucky, with the #7 Lucas Oil – Alton Company taking a position out in front at the start. Nigel “Captain” Hook and Nick Pavlichek took the same strategy on Saturday and it worked again today as they and managing to hold off the national points leader #18 Team Adrenaline for most of the race.
In fact, the teams competed so aggressively that on back to back laps just past the start finish line, they almost swapped paint.
“The first couple laps we were tight and on two laps we almost touched,” said Scot Conrad, driver for the team, who along with Ken Conrad share the current national points lead, but the lead is getting slimmer by the race.
“Am I scared? Yeah, I’m getting scared… They had us covered both days and we raced as hard as we could to get ahead of him on the first lap, but they got us. Then we spent our time trying to catch them. I don’t know if it will be any different in Washington, I don’t know if we’ll be able to find the speed on these shorter courses. We have good acceleration but not top end speed, so we’re concerned for Washington but we are definitely looking forward to Orange Beach. I’m glad for them, they worked hard.”
Colgate, Wisconsin resident Rick Perthel and Mark Lee of Oshkosh in the Pair-A-Dice PX-77 did what they could to repair their boat and put on a great show back and forth with the #3 CMS Mechanical Team. The crowds just loved it as the two seemed to play cat and mouse before Pair-A-Dice showed it’s highers peeds on the last lap. It wasn’t their regular top speed, but it was upwards of the 128+ miles an hour. It was enough to satisfy the legions of fans and friends who headed out to watch their Wisonsin based team.
“The boat ran much better today,” said Perthel.
“We are sending the boat up over to Marine Technology (MTI) before this Washington race and they are going to check to see if there is an air leak in the fuel lines. The team stayed up most of the night, we called everywhere in the state and couldn’t find a thing, so we took apart the fuel diaphram, rebuilt it and it helped get us out there. The team wasn’t going to let our fans down today and we went out and had a lot of fun with Bob and Mitch. The crowd loved it.”
In the A Class, A-71 Don’t Blink took the third place slot in front of a number of family members. Doug Sutherland and Pat Mumper took a hose down on Saturday, but by Sunday they meant business taking the lead at the start. It didn’t end that way.
“We had an oil pressure deficiency, lost a quart and a half of oil and the same thing today, so we backed it off so we could go to North Carolina. On the way in we lost shifting in the drive and only had reverse, so we actually backed into the ramp. I want to thank the Great Lakes Caster Team for helping us get it fixed and we are all set now for Washington. In fact, the boat is headed there now.”
One good deed deserves another and the good deed must have paid off in advance for the A-30 Great Lakes Caster Team taking a second win added to the first on Saturday. Jim Valako, the crew chief and engine builder for the team stepped in to throttle the boat, and earned his first checkered flag.
“This is my first time racing. I’ve been in this business and testing boats for 15 years, but this is the first time that I went out under race conditions. It’s a riot. I’ve done poker runs before and this is much better. I kind of broke it to my wife that I wasx going to race yesterday, so I just called her to tell her we won and she was pretty happy.”
“Good competition, good time, good spectators and good event. What more can I say,” said Todd Lyonnais of the Michigan based team.
Doug Popma, usually behind the sticks had a great time watching from shore.
“It felt good meeting them at the dock, pulling the plug and finding an inch of water. I can remember when we pulled the plug in Port Huron and half of the Lake went with it,” laughed Popma.
Mike McManus from Marion New York and Brian Frederick from Bellbrook, Ohio took a second day of slamming the surf in their A-4 Bounty Hunter, who ended the day in second.
The fans also applauded Gregg Reichman and Mike “Gordo” Gordon in the #2 RMS Motorsports for their participation, competing twice on Saturday and again twice on Sunday in both the P2 and Super Vee Class competitions.
Harry Turner’s Massachusetts based team, P2-8 TKO Obsession with throttleman Walter Collins and navigator, Steve Britton took an impressive lead, with P2-2 RMS still working out the kinks from the changes made after the Saturday racing action.
When TKO got knocked off course and missed a pin, it pushed the RMS team into victory lane.
In the Super Vee Class they weren’t as lucky, with the #7 Lucas Oil – Alton Company taking a position out in front at the start. Nigel “Captain” Hook and Nick Pavlichek took the same strategy on Saturday and it worked again today as they and managing to hold off the national points leader #18 Team Adrenaline for most of the race.
In fact, the teams competed so aggressively that on back to back laps just past the start finish line, they almost swapped paint.
“The first couple laps we were tight and on two laps we almost touched,” said Scot Conrad, driver for the team, who along with Ken Conrad share the current national points lead, but the lead is getting slimmer by the race.
“Am I scared? Yeah, I’m getting scared… They had us covered both days and we raced as hard as we could to get ahead of him on the first lap, but they got us. Then we spent our time trying to catch them. I don’t know if it will be any different in Washington, I don’t know if we’ll be able to find the speed on these shorter courses. We have good acceleration but not top end speed, so we’re concerned for Washington but we are definitely looking forward to Orange Beach. I’m glad for them, they worked hard.”
Colgate, Wisconsin resident Rick Perthel and Mark Lee of Oshkosh in the Pair-A-Dice PX-77 did what they could to repair their boat and put on a great show back and forth with the #3 CMS Mechanical Team. The crowds just loved it as the two seemed to play cat and mouse before Pair-A-Dice showed it’s highers peeds on the last lap. It wasn’t their regular top speed, but it was upwards of the 128+ miles an hour. It was enough to satisfy the legions of fans and friends who headed out to watch their Wisonsin based team.
“The boat ran much better today,” said Perthel.
“We are sending the boat up over to Marine Technology (MTI) before this Washington race and they are going to check to see if there is an air leak in the fuel lines. The team stayed up most of the night, we called everywhere in the state and couldn’t find a thing, so we took apart the fuel diaphram, rebuilt it and it helped get us out there. The team wasn’t going to let our fans down today and we went out and had a lot of fun with Bob and Mitch. The crowd loved it.”
In the A Class, A-71 Don’t Blink took the third place slot in front of a number of family members. Doug Sutherland and Pat Mumper took a hose down on Saturday, but by Sunday they meant business taking the lead at the start. It didn’t end that way.
“We had an oil pressure deficiency, lost a quart and a half of oil and the same thing today, so we backed it off so we could go to North Carolina. On the way in we lost shifting in the drive and only had reverse, so we actually backed into the ramp. I want to thank the Great Lakes Caster Team for helping us get it fixed and we are all set now for Washington. In fact, the boat is headed there now.”
One good deed deserves another and the good deed must have paid off in advance for the A-30 Great Lakes Caster Team taking a second win added to the first on Saturday. Jim Valako, the crew chief and engine builder for the team stepped in to throttle the boat, and earned his first checkered flag.
“This is my first time racing. I’ve been in this business and testing boats for 15 years, but this is the first time that I went out under race conditions. It’s a riot. I’ve done poker runs before and this is much better. I kind of broke it to my wife that I wasx going to race yesterday, so I just called her to tell her we won and she was pretty happy.”
“Good competition, good time, good spectators and good event. What more can I say,” said Todd Lyonnais of the Michigan based team.
Doug Popma, usually behind the sticks had a great time watching from shore.
“It felt good meeting them at the dock, pulling the plug and finding an inch of water. I can remember when we pulled the plug in Port Huron and half of the Lake went with it,” laughed Popma.
Mike McManus from Marion New York and Brian Frederick from Bellbrook, Ohio took a second day of slamming the surf in their A-4 Bounty Hunter, who ended the day in second.
08-01-2004, 09:42 PM
#3
Registered
Thread Starter
Re: Milwaukee Sunday - Way to go Jen!
continued from above
Unfortunately for the Saturday fans who returned to see the wild ride racing style showcased the day prior, battling with the longer #30 took its toll and the team said it best.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the oil has left the room.”
The team blew a motor, but it was a “fine weekend to race, none the less.”
Enjoying the fine weekend and the weather that came with it, a number of the Hudson, Wisconsin based Konrad employees and guests spent the second day in a row watching the sleek performance by the P4-33 Konrad- Fountain of Youth Team.
Brian Bunch, owner/throttleman from Gilbraltar, Michigan, and Jim Lijana from Gibraltar at the helm added a new navigator to their team for the race, Lijana’s soon to be son-in-law, Bill Vinton.
“He did great. He comes form a circle track racing background and as a navigator he did his job,” said Bunch.
“He looked around for us, and did what we needed. Good news for us is that we don’t have to fix the boat going home and this is the first time that our boat hasn’t broken. We’ve got the gremlins worked out.”
Also uncontested today, but out to give the fans a show was the team from Virigina, the P5-10 High Priority Team. Mack Clark, throttleman from South Hill and Warren Miller, driver from Boydton, stayed the day and put their boat back on the course so they could wave to the fans a little more.
And the fans waved back.
“That’s the great thing about the people in Milwaukee. They love our race teams,” said Jim Poplin, President of the APBA Offshore Racing Association, who says that the organization has plans to return for the next three years.
It’s a announcement that gathered great applause from the fans as well.
“We’ll see you next year,” a fan said, passing Race Control set in a Sky Box Suite off the Start Finish.
“Thank you Milwaukee, we’ll see you next year!” was the answer they heard.
The 2004 APBA Offshore GMC Pro Grade Series Sponsor Team includes GMC, Racing Communications, Bio-Kleen, Snap On, Freeze Frame Video Productions, duPont Registry, Innovation Marine, Velocity Powerboats, Formula, Extreme Marine of Tampa Bay and Competitive EDGE Marine.
The 2004 GMC Milwaukee Offshore Gran Prix is presented by GMC and is hosted by the Milwaukee County Executive and the Milwaukee County Parks Systems, the Milwaukee Sailing Center and the Milwaukee Yacht Club. Host Hotel is the Downtown Howard Johnson Inn & Suites, joined by Sponsor Hotel, the Ramada Inn Downtown. Additional sponsors include Miller® Brewing Company, FM 106.1, OnMilwaukee.com, and Studio Gear by Bob Wiese.
Race Village included a Burlington RV and Coach Liner display, a high tech boat show by Shipyard Marine and Black Thunder Powerboats and an impressive line-up of GMC Vehicles and Powertrain engines.
Special Thanks to the United States Coast Guard Group, the Department of Homeland Security and the numerous volunteers who assisted in the 2004 event.
For all information on the 2004 GMC Milwaukee Offshore Gran Prix, and the Official Race Results, visit www.apbaoffshoreracing.com.
Unfortunately for the Saturday fans who returned to see the wild ride racing style showcased the day prior, battling with the longer #30 took its toll and the team said it best.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the oil has left the room.”
The team blew a motor, but it was a “fine weekend to race, none the less.”
Enjoying the fine weekend and the weather that came with it, a number of the Hudson, Wisconsin based Konrad employees and guests spent the second day in a row watching the sleek performance by the P4-33 Konrad- Fountain of Youth Team.
Brian Bunch, owner/throttleman from Gilbraltar, Michigan, and Jim Lijana from Gibraltar at the helm added a new navigator to their team for the race, Lijana’s soon to be son-in-law, Bill Vinton.
“He did great. He comes form a circle track racing background and as a navigator he did his job,” said Bunch.
“He looked around for us, and did what we needed. Good news for us is that we don’t have to fix the boat going home and this is the first time that our boat hasn’t broken. We’ve got the gremlins worked out.”
Also uncontested today, but out to give the fans a show was the team from Virigina, the P5-10 High Priority Team. Mack Clark, throttleman from South Hill and Warren Miller, driver from Boydton, stayed the day and put their boat back on the course so they could wave to the fans a little more.
And the fans waved back.
“That’s the great thing about the people in Milwaukee. They love our race teams,” said Jim Poplin, President of the APBA Offshore Racing Association, who says that the organization has plans to return for the next three years.
It’s a announcement that gathered great applause from the fans as well.
“We’ll see you next year,” a fan said, passing Race Control set in a Sky Box Suite off the Start Finish.
“Thank you Milwaukee, we’ll see you next year!” was the answer they heard.
The 2004 APBA Offshore GMC Pro Grade Series Sponsor Team includes GMC, Racing Communications, Bio-Kleen, Snap On, Freeze Frame Video Productions, duPont Registry, Innovation Marine, Velocity Powerboats, Formula, Extreme Marine of Tampa Bay and Competitive EDGE Marine.
The 2004 GMC Milwaukee Offshore Gran Prix is presented by GMC and is hosted by the Milwaukee County Executive and the Milwaukee County Parks Systems, the Milwaukee Sailing Center and the Milwaukee Yacht Club. Host Hotel is the Downtown Howard Johnson Inn & Suites, joined by Sponsor Hotel, the Ramada Inn Downtown. Additional sponsors include Miller® Brewing Company, FM 106.1, OnMilwaukee.com, and Studio Gear by Bob Wiese.
Race Village included a Burlington RV and Coach Liner display, a high tech boat show by Shipyard Marine and Black Thunder Powerboats and an impressive line-up of GMC Vehicles and Powertrain engines.
Special Thanks to the United States Coast Guard Group, the Department of Homeland Security and the numerous volunteers who assisted in the 2004 event.
For all information on the 2004 GMC Milwaukee Offshore Gran Prix, and the Official Race Results, visit www.apbaoffshoreracing.com.
08-02-2004, 06:40 AM
#4
VIP Member
VIP Member
Re: Milwaukee Sunday - Way to go Jen!
Congrats Jenn!
__________________
P4-13 Team THE JERSEY BOYZ OFFSHORE POWERBOAT RACING, OPA/ SBI/APBA/UIM. PRESIDENT: THE JERSEY BOYZ , VICE-PRESIDENT: OPA RACING, THE GREAT SOUTH BAY RACING ASSOCIATION. WAZZUP RACING ENGINES
P4-13 Team THE JERSEY BOYZ OFFSHORE POWERBOAT RACING, OPA/ SBI/APBA/UIM. PRESIDENT: THE JERSEY BOYZ , VICE-PRESIDENT: OPA RACING, THE GREAT SOUTH BAY RACING ASSOCIATION. WAZZUP RACING ENGINES
08-02-2004, 06:55 AM
#5
Member #9
Charter Member
Re: Milwaukee Sunday - Way to go Jen!
Was another good event and the seats at the edge of the course are the best. Also the Milwaukee venue allows spectators to be right up front where the crane and dry pits are.
Thanks Milwaukee
Thanks Milwaukee
__________________
Member of the Liquid Jungle
Member of the Liquid Jungle
08-02-2004, 07:35 AM
#6
Registered
Thread Starter
Re: Milwaukee Sunday - Way to go Jen!
More news-
Feisty chop bumps up challenge
Lucas Oil duo score emphatic victory
By DAVE KALLMANN
Posted: Aug. 2, 2004
The wind kicked up Sunday, and the Milwaukee harbor - almost glassy smooth a day earlier - presented a new set of challenges to competitors on the final day of the GMC Milwaukee Offshore Gran Prix.
"These V-bottoms are just flying on the side and then on the other side, just trying to get around the course," said Nigel Hook, driver of the Lucas Oil Scarab.
"You have the boat trimmed out to get nice speed, and all of a sudden, whoops, and you've got to tuck it in again."
Despite the unpredictable chop, everything was smooth sailing for Hook and his throttle man, Nick Pavlichek, as they scored their second victory in two days of APBA Offshore competition off Veterans Park.
The pair again topped the Adrenaline Racing Donzi of Ken Bowen and Scott Conrad, the series leader in the Super Vee class for twin-engine, V-bottom, canopied racing boats. After winning a squeaker Saturday, Lucas Oil scored a more convincing victory on Sunday, finishing about 8 seconds ahead after 14 laps around the 4.77-mile course.
"We've been struggling all season for seconds and thirds," said Hook, an Englishman with 20 years of experience in the sport. "So finally we've come back."
Other class winners Sunday included Great Lakes Caster.com, which completed a weekend sweep in Outlaw A; RMS Motorsports, which benefited when Saturday Outlaw Performance 2-class winner TKO Obsession veered off course Sunday.
JBS Racing, an open-cockpit Donzi owned and driven by Jeff Stevenson of Winnecone, won in Factory 2, and Jen Youngblood, a rookie driver from Nashotah, bounced back from an overheating problem that eliminated her Saturday to go the distance Sunday.
A political division among teams involved in powerboat racing resulted in another race in St. Clair River, Mich., and diminished the fleet for the Milwaukee race. Several categories ran with single entries.
But even in such cases, the racers seemed to go out of their way to put on a show for several thousand fans.
Take, for example, CMS Mechanical Services, a Super Cat Light-class twin-engine, twin-hulled catamaran. CMS battled back and forth with the Outlaw PX-class Pair-A-Dice and then buzzed the shoreline twice, splashing fans, after Pair-A-Dice slowed with mechanical trouble.
"We wanted to get everybody's attention when we went by," said Bob Bull, the owner and throttle man of CMS, who acquired the license to operate APBA Offshore in the off-season.
"This city is a great place to have a race, and there were a lot of spectators out here, so we wanted to at least run it by the wall, as close as we could."
Bull calls this a "rebuilding year" for his group and hopes the politics of the sport cool so a larger field of competitors comes to Milwaukee next year for APBA's third attempt.
"I've been racing personally since the early '90s, and I've been in the politics and out of the politics, and it's, like, 'Hey, guys, let's just go have some fun and start racing again,' " Bull said. "If we do that, it'll all get back together again."
Chuck Collins, a local promoter who worked with the sanctioning body to produce the event, hopes that's the case. A larger field and a little more advance planning, he believes, could help the weekend grow in profile and stature.
One winning driver thinks it deserves that chance.
"This is a great place, Milwaukee," Cook said. "Everyone here is motor racing fans, everyone rides Harleys, and everyone is so friendly."
From the Aug. 2, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Feisty chop bumps up challenge
Lucas Oil duo score emphatic victory
By DAVE KALLMANN
Posted: Aug. 2, 2004
The wind kicked up Sunday, and the Milwaukee harbor - almost glassy smooth a day earlier - presented a new set of challenges to competitors on the final day of the GMC Milwaukee Offshore Gran Prix.
"These V-bottoms are just flying on the side and then on the other side, just trying to get around the course," said Nigel Hook, driver of the Lucas Oil Scarab.
"You have the boat trimmed out to get nice speed, and all of a sudden, whoops, and you've got to tuck it in again."
Despite the unpredictable chop, everything was smooth sailing for Hook and his throttle man, Nick Pavlichek, as they scored their second victory in two days of APBA Offshore competition off Veterans Park.
The pair again topped the Adrenaline Racing Donzi of Ken Bowen and Scott Conrad, the series leader in the Super Vee class for twin-engine, V-bottom, canopied racing boats. After winning a squeaker Saturday, Lucas Oil scored a more convincing victory on Sunday, finishing about 8 seconds ahead after 14 laps around the 4.77-mile course.
"We've been struggling all season for seconds and thirds," said Hook, an Englishman with 20 years of experience in the sport. "So finally we've come back."
Other class winners Sunday included Great Lakes Caster.com, which completed a weekend sweep in Outlaw A; RMS Motorsports, which benefited when Saturday Outlaw Performance 2-class winner TKO Obsession veered off course Sunday.
JBS Racing, an open-cockpit Donzi owned and driven by Jeff Stevenson of Winnecone, won in Factory 2, and Jen Youngblood, a rookie driver from Nashotah, bounced back from an overheating problem that eliminated her Saturday to go the distance Sunday.
A political division among teams involved in powerboat racing resulted in another race in St. Clair River, Mich., and diminished the fleet for the Milwaukee race. Several categories ran with single entries.
But even in such cases, the racers seemed to go out of their way to put on a show for several thousand fans.
Take, for example, CMS Mechanical Services, a Super Cat Light-class twin-engine, twin-hulled catamaran. CMS battled back and forth with the Outlaw PX-class Pair-A-Dice and then buzzed the shoreline twice, splashing fans, after Pair-A-Dice slowed with mechanical trouble.
"We wanted to get everybody's attention when we went by," said Bob Bull, the owner and throttle man of CMS, who acquired the license to operate APBA Offshore in the off-season.
"This city is a great place to have a race, and there were a lot of spectators out here, so we wanted to at least run it by the wall, as close as we could."
Bull calls this a "rebuilding year" for his group and hopes the politics of the sport cool so a larger field of competitors comes to Milwaukee next year for APBA's third attempt.
"I've been racing personally since the early '90s, and I've been in the politics and out of the politics, and it's, like, 'Hey, guys, let's just go have some fun and start racing again,' " Bull said. "If we do that, it'll all get back together again."
Chuck Collins, a local promoter who worked with the sanctioning body to produce the event, hopes that's the case. A larger field and a little more advance planning, he believes, could help the weekend grow in profile and stature.
One winning driver thinks it deserves that chance.
"This is a great place, Milwaukee," Cook said. "Everyone here is motor racing fans, everyone rides Harleys, and everyone is so friendly."
From the Aug. 2, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
08-02-2004, 08:50 AM
#8
Registered
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Okauchee Lake, WI
Posts: 79
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: Milwaukee Sunday - Way to go Jen!
A GREAT BIG THANKS to all the teams who showed up in Milwaukee to let the public know that Wisconsin can be a force in offshore (not just football hehehehe). I want to say thanks to all the officials and volunteers who made the event wonderfully successful.
It was chamber of commerce weather ( I told some of you it would be....)
I have heard so many POSITIVE comments from people here about the weekend and they hope Milwaukee is a venue for years to come. They particulary enjoyed the Sunday races with all their excitement.
It was great racing at home and showing folks from Pier 57, Extreme Vortec, RMS and many others some fine "cheesehead" hospitality
Thanks guys for all your help and support.
Thank Augie and Phantom. I couldn't do this without GREAT folks around me helping me out!!!!
LETS DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!
God Bless to all and a big thanks to my dad...may he rest in peace, who kept the thermostat open so we had a great Sunday in his honor!!!
See you all soon.
It was chamber of commerce weather ( I told some of you it would be....)
I have heard so many POSITIVE comments from people here about the weekend and they hope Milwaukee is a venue for years to come. They particulary enjoyed the Sunday races with all their excitement.
It was great racing at home and showing folks from Pier 57, Extreme Vortec, RMS and many others some fine "cheesehead" hospitality
Thanks guys for all your help and support.
Thank Augie and Phantom. I couldn't do this without GREAT folks around me helping me out!!!!
LETS DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!
God Bless to all and a big thanks to my dad...may he rest in peace, who kept the thermostat open so we had a great Sunday in his honor!!!
See you all soon.
Platinum Member
08-02-2004, 01:07 PM
#10
Registered
Re: Milwaukee Sunday - Way to go Jen!
Hey guys,
We chased a ground wire problem on the starboard side 525 EFI and a bad fuel pump regulator the entire weekend. The boat will be ready to go for the Alabama race.
Want to say thank you to Innovation Marine, the entire APBA staff,and a few OSO members that helped trying to locate a fuel pump regulator on Sunday.
Would race this weekend at the Fountain race but I am getting Married on Saturday.
Regards,
Jo - Pantera Boats
F2-71
We chased a ground wire problem on the starboard side 525 EFI and a bad fuel pump regulator the entire weekend. The boat will be ready to go for the Alabama race.
Want to say thank you to Innovation Marine, the entire APBA staff,and a few OSO members that helped trying to locate a fuel pump regulator on Sunday.
Would race this weekend at the Fountain race but I am getting Married on Saturday.
Regards,
Jo - Pantera Boats
F2-71
