FOND DU LAC, Wis. — Hugh Fuller of Clearwater, Fla., and John
Tomlinson of Miami piloted Lake Cumberland Marine/Drambuie On Ice to
win the Super Cat class race Sunday at the Daytona Grand Prix in Daytona
Beach, Fla. The April 24-25 race was the first round stop of the 2001 American Power Boat Association Pro Series offshore race season.


A field of 90 boats representing 12 classes competed in the two-day event. Daytona Motor Speedway was the backdrop for race headquarters and dry-pits for all competitors. High winds churned up the Atlantic, producing treacherous race conditions with 4-5 foot seas on Saturday and even larger 5-8 foot seas Sunday.


Saturday's racing was cut short by the emergency landing of a LA4200
airplane being used by APBA Offshore officials to patrol the racecourse for
manatees and sea turtles. Robert Braunig, pilot of the plane, notified
race officials he had a fuel pump failure and needed to make an emergency
landing on the beach. No one was injured. (Florida law requires a
manatee watch plane patrol the racecourse one hour before and during the
complete event.) The Outlaw, Outlaw Performance and Factory 1 class racing event was called with only a few laps completed.


In Super Cat, Team Yahoo bolted into the lead of the 10-boat Super Cat field at the start of Sunday's 10-lap race. Yahoo's lead was short lived, as throttleman Curtis Morris of Houston suffered severe back pain from the impact of the 40-foot Skater catamaran crashing down off 6-8 foot swells. Although Morris tried to continue the pain would not subside, and he instructed driver Jamin Jones to pull off the course. (Jones won the Super Cat Light Inboard event moments before.)


Pat Patel of Toms River, N.J. and Felix Serralles of Mercedita,
Puerto Rico battled Lake Cumberland Marine/Drambuie On Ice to finish
second in Don Q Rum. Pier 57, with David Woods behind the wheel and Art
Lilly on the throttles, took third place.


Fourteen Factory 1 boats endured the rough Atlantic waters to compete for bragging rights as winner of the inaugural 2001 Factory 1 national race. Glenn Murray of Bridgewater, N.J. and Randy Schleuss of Edison, N.J. piloted
Schleuss's Typhoon Racing, a 26-foot Kryptonite V-bottom to win the six-lap event. Neville Moberley of Winfield, W.Va., and Brian Hollis of Gainsville, Ga., proved PokerRun.com/Prototype Boats, a 28-foot Prototype Boats V-bottom, could master the rough seas, finishing second. Freedom Offshore finished third.


Tres Martin of Davie, Fla. and Todd Klindworth of St. Croix, USV Island
won the Factory II event in their 38-foot Cigarette, Team Virgin. Lake
Cumberland/Wallace, a 32-foot Fountain piloted by Jim Arvis of
Mechanicsville, Va. and Mitch Miller of Cornelius, N.C. finished
second. Twisted Styx finished third.


Round two the APBA Offshore ProSeries 2001 tour is the 'Hooter's Offshore
Grand Prix,' Ft. Myers Beach, Fla., May 19-20.