A 60 hour nightmare trip from New Zealand to Sarasota, USA, proved worthwhile for the Kiwi Pro-Floors team, with a win in round 3 of the American Offshore Championship.
Pro Floors Racing, claimed a hard-earned checkered flag in the Super Cat class at the 37th annual Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix, with owner/driver Wayne Valder enthusiastically waved the chequered flag as the MTI catamaran idled along Lido Beach with the fans cheering. This was the third event in the eight-race American Power Boat Association Offshore Championship Series.
The boat ran well and Wayne drove a great race,” said Pro Floors throttleman Grant Bruggemann of Grant’s Signature Racing. “We’ve been testing a lot and the boat ran great.”
Bruggemann said he also had been dealing with some health issue in the weeks leading up to the race and he’s finally feeling better so he was on his game in his hometown.
Added Valder who flies up from New Zealand for each race, “We had a hell of trip getting here. We’re very happy.”
When the green flag flew in the third race of the day on the 6.7-mile course in the Gulf of Mexico, M CON owner/throttleman Tyler Miller and driver Myrick Coil charged out to an early lead in Miller’s Skater Powerboats 388. Pro Floors, the only 42-foot MTI and the oldest boat in the Super Cat fleet, ran second not far behind and owner/driver Chris Grant and throttleman Billy Moore held a solid third position in their 38-foot Skater Graydel while owner/driver Billy Mauff and throttleman Jay Muller ran fourth in their 40-foot Skater WHM Motorsports.
With M CON leading the fleet of seven boats, they had a slight ‘oops’ on the outer leg of the course, and Miller and Coil launched skyward. “We were listening to our spotters and were about 3 to 4 seconds ahead,” Miller said. “Just about the time I thought I could trim up a little and we took a flyer.”
Their time in the air let Pro Floors gain ground as the two boats rounded the turns at the northern end of the course. When the boats passed a buoy that created a small dogleg before the start-finish line, where Pro Floors set up at an angle that positioned the boat for a straight shot to turn No. 1.
“We felt we had the legs on them and we hoped the length of straightway was long enough to enable us to do it,” said Valder, adding that when the boat’s Kasse Racing engines spooled up, it out-accelerated M CON and took the lead in the turns at the southern end of the course. With clean water in front of it, Valder and Bruggemann pulled away.
“Once you get clean water, you can drive wherever you want,” Brueggemann said. “We got the fuel burn right. We had the drive height correct. It was just a good day.”
M CON took second in Super Cat, but Graydel ran out of fuel and was passed by WHM Motorsports for third, unofficially.
Pro Floors now sits second in the championship with the next race in Michigan City 6 – 7th August.
