Waters Rise on OPA's National Season Opener

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

05/07/2014

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After the long offseason and one of the roughest winters in sometime, teams from the Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) converged on Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, for the National Series opening race. Thirty-three boats made the trek, coming from as far as Canada & Michigan, and several teams that call New Jersey home. After receiving torrential rain for days leading up to the event, the sun came out and shined brightly just in time for the event. Lake Hopatcong is one of the favorite events on the tour as it a non-traditional course that is only 2.3 miles. Normal courses are approximately 5 miles, which just as in auto racing has Superspeedways and Short tracks, this brings the cream to the top as this course lay out does not allow the rhythm you can usually obtain in the long straight away of the 5 mile courses. With all this build up, Mother Nature showed her mighty force and lead the NJ State Police to issue a "No Wake" order on the lake the day prior to race day. Due to the excessive rain in the area, the water level rose well over 9 inches at the dam on Sunday morning. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection’s order overrode both the NJ State Police, who issued the initial permit for the event, and Jefferson Township officials, to cancel the race due to the water level with the concerns of dock damage and potential excessive shoreline erosion that would be caused by the boat wakes.

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Special thanks go out to Jay Muller and his staff for welcoming OPA into his home community and exposed the racers to one of the most beautiful parts of the country showing all of us the true reason New Jersey is known as the "Garden State". So many sponsors and partners came on board in these efforts to produce this race. The promoters and OPA organization are thankful for all the support.

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All focus now turns to the second race on the OPA National Series at Lake of the Ozarks known simply as "Lake Race". Look out Missouri, you said "Show Me" a boat race, well, there are a bunch of teams chomping on the bit to get this hunt started for the National Championship. So watch out, it will be a show to remember!!!