The Heritage Coast Celebrates Father's Day
June 19, 2013
The Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) converged on Tawas Bay in Michigan for the Second Annual Heritage Coast Grand Prix. The cities of Tawas City and East Tawas rolled out the carpet for the second stop on the OPA Racing Series. With stop one taking place on Mother's Day, it was only appropriate to celebrate Father's Day on the majestic shoreline of Northern Michigan. With the obvious theme being about fathers, a total of seven teams were father and son pairings (Cleveland Construction, Pirate Racing, Velocity Racing, Pushin Tin, Country Service, Miss PTM & Lilly Sport Boats) with Class 6 showcasing a father competing against his two sons (Hurricane Force vs Wazzup II). The threat of rain was around all weekend but with the exception of a short shower during the drivers meeting it was smooth sailing for the race to go off without a hitch.
Race 1 showcased eighteen of the twenty-three boats in attendance and provided the fans with non-stop action from start to finish in Classes 4,5,6, and SVL. In Class 6, Hurricane Force Detailing made a driver change and featured none other than Ed "Smitty “ Smith ( President of OPA) behind the wheel . The results were immediate, Hurricane Force has now established themselves as a team to be reckoned with the rest of the season. They crossed the finish line first, however, after the GPS boxes were read, it revealed they exceeded the maximum speed of their bracketed 70 mph, which awarded the win to Smitty's sons, Anthony and Nick, in Wazzup II. Class 5 turned into a total domination by the father and son team of Paul and Jake Jenkins in their boat, Pushin Tin. PFE Racing debuted their new boat after formerly being a heavy favorite in Class 6, but unfortunately were plagued by mechanical gremlins the whole weekend, but were able to hold on for 2nd place with former Super Stock team, BK Motorsports rounding out the podium. The David and Goliath matchup was in Class 4 and featured Tyler Crockett Marine Engines, a 26 foot single engine boat, versus Velocity Racing, which is a whooping 39 footer with twin engines. It was a battle with "The Crockett Rocket" pulling out the victory while Erie Monster came in third. Pirate Racing lead from start to finish 1st in SVL.
With most of the boats racing in Race 1, Race 2 showcased five of the big boys from Extreme, Classes 1, and 3. They did not disappoint. Phoenixparts.com featured throttleman, Anthony Smith, who has basically turned OPA into his little playground. After obtaining three OPA National Titles in 2012 and claiming the win earlier in the day in Race 1, Anthony went out and showed the way for the Extreme Class, followed by BROADCO Cat 5 and Cat-Can-Do. Class 1 was a run away with the father /son team of Ed and Shawn Smith of Cleveland Construction crossing the stripe first. Bull on the Beach continued their winning streak to maintain their lead on top of the Class 3 standings.
The Heritage Coast Grand Prix has established itself as one of the favorite race sites of the race teams with the red carpet always being rolled out, but the teams will have to have short memories as they have to turn around and travel to New Jersey for the Atlantic City Offshore Grand Prix the following weekend. While back to back races do not happen often, it does separate the racers and allows the cream to come to the top.
NEXT RACE: ATLANTIC CITY OFFSHORE GRAND PRIX in Atlantic City, NJ
For the complete results and more info about OPA Racing go to: www.oparacing.org and www.oparacing.org/standings.html
Photos provided by Lucididee Fast Boats
