Offshore racing has proven to be booming with massive crowds and team entries in last year’s event. This year is expected to be even bigger so don’t miss out as teams prepare for the first race of the season! Continue reading to find out what plans are in store for this year’s Thunder on Cocoa Beach event scheduled for May 19-22, as well as comments from M•CON’s, Tyler Miller!
Coming out of the pandemic-decimated 2020 offshore powerboat racing season, no one knew how the 2021 season would play out. And as the key organizer of Thunder On Cocoa Beach, the first race of the 2021 American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championships Series, Florida’s Kerry Bartlett would be the first to learn if the sport could come back from a season of almost total dormancy. There were no guarantees.
As it turned out, he had nothing to worry about. Boasting typically nasty Cocoa Beach water conditions, the 2021 event attracted 62 teams, topping its prior 59-boat record set in 2019, and Bartlett could exhale.
The lost season certainly didn’t help the sport. But it hadn’t killed it.
Once again opening the APBA series, the Cocoa Beach event is scheduled for May 19-22 and Bartlett is expecting another record-setting turnout.
“Everything looks perfect and is going really well here,” he said. “We are expecting a big fan showing and more race teams than we’ve ever had.”
Bartlett has cause for optimism. For openers, Ryan Beckley, the Super Stock-class representative, is expecting 11 to 13 teams to take the green flag in Cocoa Beach.
Though the Super Cat class had below-average boat counts during the 2021 season, the fleet was up to five boat for the American Power Boat Association Union Internationale Motonautique Offshore World Championships in Key West, Fla. The year ended on a positive note and the momentum continued into the off season.
Class representative Tyler Miller, the owner and throttleman of the M CON team, said that in addition to his own outfit the WHM Motorsports, SV Racing, Chariots of Fire, Dependable, Graydel and Pro Floors Racing have committed to the season-opener.
Click here to continue reading!
Original article published onspeedonthewater.com
