Photo courtesy of speedonthewater.com
Coming off 2 intense race weekends, and a few podium finishes, we are excited to be headed back home to reflect and celebrate our successes. While we did not yield a victory for our MCON Racing Class 1 Skater, we did get multiple podium finishes to be proud of. This past weekend unfolded with a double dose of races, granting us the golden opportunity to clinch dual checkered flags and secure the ultimate triumph. Despite our utmost efforts, victory narrowly eluded us, gifting us a well-earned second-place podium finish in the inaugural race and a valiant third-place podium position in the subsequent race. Ultimately, we secured a commendable third-place standing in the overall weekend standings at the Mercury Racing Midwest Challenge in Sheboygan.
Still celebrating our Super Cat first place finish just the weekend prior at the 2023 Great Lakes Grand Prix in Michigan City, driver Myrick Coil and throttleman Tyler Miller secured an early lead in their 38-foot Skater, enduring challenging weather conditions with rough seas on day 2 of the event! Despite the fierce competition, they maintained their lead and clinched a victory, making a strong statement about their intentions to repeat as Super Cat National Champions.
Continue reading below to read the article from speedonthewater from the thrilling Michigan City race.
Great Lakes Grand Prix Day No. 2—Getting Defensive
In the roughest offshore powerboat race of 2023, owner/throttleman Tyler Miller and driver Myrick Coil jumped out to an early lead in their 38-foot Skater, M CON/Monster Energy, at the Great Lakes Grand Prix presented by XINSURANCE in Michigan City, Ind., and remained there until they were presented with the checkered flag.
Coil and Miller stuck to their usual race-day morning, completing the required physicals, and then headed to the beach to check out the conditions. After racing was delayed a few hours because of fog, the teams finally got to head out on the 4.4 mile course at the southern end of Lake Michigan.
“We both had an idea in mind about what our setup was going to be and we stuck with our gut from our decision this morning,” said Miller.
Weather was the story of the weekend. Lake Michigan whipped up confused seas that the most veteran competitors called the roughest they’d seen in recent memory. The competition for the 56-boat fleet started with bracket racing in clear conditions on Saturday and then the Class 1 teams qualified in the rain, followed by the Super Stock fleet racing in a downpour.
Sunday morning brought fog that limited visibility and kept the safety helicopters from flying. Officials from the Offshore Powerboat Association were left with no choice but to push back the start time for racing by about three hours.
The eight boats in the Super Cat class were the second race of the day and the teams agreed to cut back from the original 13 laps to eight. M CON/Monster Energy jumped out to the lead followed closely by owner/driver Billy Mauff and throttleman Jay Muller in the 40-foot Skater, WHM Motorsports, and owner/driver Chris Grant and throttleman Billy Moore in the 38-foot Skater, Graydel. After winning the previous two races, the 40-foot MTI, Valder Yachts, ran fourth followed by Rollin’ Transport, CR Racing, Dirty Money and Wicked.
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Original article published on speedonthewater.com
