Lake Hopatcong, NJ - OPA returned to Lake Hopatcong New Jersey after very successful summer events in the Midwest. In the second year of the event, it attracted over 60 boats including the 20 some JSBR boats that raced all day Saturday. In what was described as the Bristol (NASCAR short track) of Offshore Racing by Ed “Smithy” Smith, name that suits very well because of the short course and tight pits. The 2.25-mile course with constant turns required lots of skill on the driver side and lots of patience by bracket classes throttleman's because of the extremely calm waters.

First Sunday race was a 14-boat field in Class 700. With lots of prayers by organizers and everyone in attendance all 14 boats took the green flag and went down to turn 1 at the limited 60mph. The start was as nerve-wracking as amazing seeing all boats together in a tight pack was awesome. Some locals were not too enthusiastic about the 60mph speed limit, and breakouts were the order of the day. Once settled, the checkered flag belonged to 3rd Edition, followed by Lake Hopatcong locals of Chug It. Hamma Sticks arrived in third and Just the Tip and Red Rum finishing the top 5.

The second race was an 11-boat field between 500 and 600 classes. In Class 600 Logan Heroes took an early lead and never looked back. The current class 600 National Champions commanded the race over Lake Hopatcong locals of J&J Racing and third place Dirty Martini. Even though all 3 boat hulls look basically identical there all different brands of the famous 24/7 design. In fourth place was team American Hustle in a Warlock and finishing fifth the legendary Team Horizon Donzi.
Class 500 had a great early battle, between TC Marine, We Haul Boats and Evil Ways. The neck and neck battle lasted about 3 laps when Evil Ways started stretching their lead followed by, We Haul Boats. Veteran team of TC Marine did not take pursuit and maintained their speed limit capturing the checkered flag over outboard powered Team Progression. We Haul Boats and Evil Ways finished third and fourth respectively. Team Shocker which had mechanical issues at the start claimed the fifth spot.

Race 3 had one of the most interesting matchups between the Muller family. The sole Super Cat and Super Stock entries had a great matchup in the short course that the Super Stock Celsius Doug Wright took full advantage of over the Wicked Motion Super Cat. The race was a back and forth all 20 laps, with both of them winning their respective classes, but Jay Muller and Chris Hopwood took the bragging rights to the next team dinner over the Muller boys.

Alongside the Muller feud, Bracket 400 class was racing with what seemed like a good initial battle between American Express, 8Ball, and GMS but only lasted 3 laps. The heated battle caused all 3 boats to break their 85mph speed limit, and some of them just ran flat out the rest of the race. In that dynamic, American Express ran their beautiful 30ft Chris Cat in the lead but finishing 4th. The only one not broke out was Crazy Rhythm, which awarded them the checker flag. Gascot Marine finished 2nd for the third time this season and 8Ball in third.

Only the 300 class boats took the start on the 4th race. Mr. Herbott-O Fountain had a cockpit change with Keith Herbott daughter Heather Herbott joining him in the cockpit for her debut. Jr’s Team Apache ran alongside Mr. Herbott-O until both had some issues that had them retire early giving the win to Jr’s Team Apache having covered more distance.

The last race of the day had 4 Super Vee Fountains running together, it was a great battle and a very loud race. Wazzup and Knucklehead took the lead and went to battle side by side and after the first few laps, Anthony and “Smithy” stabilized themselves in the lead and never looked back. American Custom Marine was allowed to race their Mercury powered Fountain with the rest of the spec-powered Super Vees. A rough start and the outside lane had ACM playing catch up the rest of the race. In the final lap, ACM was able to reduce a 15-second lead from Wazzup to about 4 seconds. Knucklehead slowed down after 10 laps falling into third, allowing Twisted to catch them and have a close battle for a few laps until Twisted pulled in early.

The atmosphere thru out the entire event, including the Friday Fun Run, was one of camaraderie and family-oriented fun, which makes racers and organizers already commit to a bigger and better for next year. Next Race will be the Englewood Beach Waterfest OPA World Championships which will also close the OPA National Championships.