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| OSAGE BEACH, MO. - SEPT. 8, 1996 - The first 'Wake Up to Missouri USA Powerboat Championship,' funded by the Missouri State Tourist Development Council, literally boiled the water of the Lake of the Ozarks between mile markers 19-1/2 and 23-1/2 today and Thursday. Almost 40 offshore-type speedy water missiles gave many thousand of spectators on land, and aboard an island of boats on the lake, cheered and howled for their favorites during the two days of weather-perfect conditions.
In today's competition, BRONX PHANTOM, a 28' canopied V-bottom Phantom, streaked from green flag to checkered flag to grab the top honors in the Production Class. Robert Winoski and Louis D'Erasmo (both of the Bronx, NY) piloted the winner to victory; repeating the same performance they had turned in on Thursday. Jack McKay and Jim Buck, in TABU grabbed the second place plaudits; while Ed Steinmetz and Patt Dunn brought TEAM EXCITER in for the third place honors. The BRONX PHANTOM grabbed enough points to claim the USA Powerboat Championship in the class. In Sport Class, Jeff Haylett (Coldwater, MI) and Doug Popma (Grand Rapids, MI) aboard GREAT LAKES CASTER, took advantage of breakdowns of the early leaders to lay claim to today's victory, repeating the exact same scenario from Thursday, and also to claim the USA Powerboat Championship in this class. Tom Havey (Mt. Clemens, MI) and Al Reay (Windsor Ontario, Canada) Placed second in the class aboard B_FAST. Harry Turner's OBSESSION although suffering major mechanical problems, was placed in the third slot. Turner is from Falmouth MA, and throttleman Mike Fiore is from Hampton Bays, NY. In Pro-Stock action, Bob Hamlin (Davidson, NC) and Butch Taylor (Davie, FL) repeated Thursday's performance and led from wire to wire to sweep the win and the Championship in PATROIT. JAWS, with Ronnie Appleby, Dave Horstmann and John Stallings took the second place plaudits, while Tom Caruso and Carl Siatte grabbed the third slot in HAYWARD INDUSTRIES. Super-Stock honors were again for Robert Loeffler (Denver, SC) and Tom Russell (Ft Lauderdale, FL) in MOBIL-1; who, for the second time in four days blew away the rest of the class for both victories and the Powerboat Championship. Second place honors were for WHIPLASH-DANKA/SHARP, with John Flanigan and Dr. Steve Thiele in the cockpit. Keith Holmes and Barry Glovik in CAT-CAN-DO hung tough for the third position. In the Modified Class, UDDERLY FANTASTIC, with Andy Trauth (Cold Spring, KY) and Rob Stevenson (Cincinnati, OH) continued their undefeated streak by taking the win, repeating Thursday's performance. The M-OO team won the Powerboat Championship, in class, hands down. Second place honors were for Frank Blatt, Ron Umlandt and Mark Machen in PRIORITY. Jason and Bob Mueller in TROPIC HEAT rounded out the honors in the class. Starting the second race of the day, the premier 10 boat Open Class posted the largest entry in almost 10-years of offshore history. Open speedster OHIO STEEL again jumped out to an early lead but suffered the bite of mechanical gremlin, putting them out of the contest. Bill Durham (Mullica Hill, NJ) and John Woolley (Manasquan, NJ) in LIGHTING JACKS, took advantage of the setback, and turned the speeds up to 131 mph, going all the way to the checkered flag - grabbing enough points combined with Thursday, to win the USA Powerboat Championship title in the class. Carlton Meyers (Canadice, NY) and Joey Imprescia (W. Babylon, NY) managed to maintain enough speed in HOW SWEET IT IS, to grab the second place slot and stay ahead of Jack Carmondy (Houston, TX) and Art Lilly (Millersville, MD) in the SPIRIT OF TEXAS. |
