One year after a tragic racing accident at Patchogue, N.Y., the community pulled together to put on a spectacular racing festival: The OPA Battle in the Bay. This first-class event had participating entities including fire and police departments from several neighboring communities.
With Hurricane Bill approaching the Northeast, it was anticipated that the racing conditions were going to be rough. Water conditions on Friday were quite choppy in the Great South Bay. By Saturday morning, conditions began to calm which necessitated the Team AMSOIL crew to change the set up on the boat back to a calmer water configuration. As it turned out, it was a good move. The testing on Saturday proved that the boat would be competitive if the conditions held. The conditions were slightly calmer on Sunday and the Team AMSOIL boat was entered in the last two main event races.
Team AMSOIL Offshore Racing ran in the race with the P-1 class boats and exhibited a dominating performance. The next race produced a deck to deck race for Team AMSOIL #77 with the highly competitive Motley Crew #00 team in their 368 Skater. The Crew drew the pole position lane with Team AMSOIL in lane two. The two Skaters ran deck to deck swapping positions a couple of times until Team AMSOIL pulled on the inside lane on the front straightaway of the 5 1/2 mile course. As Team AMSOIL was nearing on the inside of the Crew, a guardian condition in their left motor caused them to veer sharply to the left toward Bob Teague and Paul Whittier in the Team AMSOIL boat. Bob and Paul were able to maneuver the boat in order to avoid a collision and continued in the pass of the Motley Crew boat. Team AMSOIL continued holding onto first place for the balance of the race.
The Patchogue race was the second in the Geico Triple Crown series. The win by Team AMSOIL resulted in an unbeatable first place position for the 2009 Cat Lite Triple Crown title. Currently, Team AMSOIL #77 is also in the points lead in the OSS and OPA sanctioning organizations, and is tied for first place in Super Boat International.
Up next for Team AMSOIL is the combined OPA/OSS race in Point Pleasant, N.J. on September 12-13.
Until then, we'll see you at the races.
With Hurricane Bill approaching the Northeast, it was anticipated that the racing conditions were going to be rough. Water conditions on Friday were quite choppy in the Great South Bay. By Saturday morning, conditions began to calm which necessitated the Team AMSOIL crew to change the set up on the boat back to a calmer water configuration. As it turned out, it was a good move. The testing on Saturday proved that the boat would be competitive if the conditions held. The conditions were slightly calmer on Sunday and the Team AMSOIL boat was entered in the last two main event races.Team AMSOIL Offshore Racing ran in the race with the P-1 class boats and exhibited a dominating performance. The next race produced a deck to deck race for Team AMSOIL #77 with the highly competitive Motley Crew #00 team in their 368 Skater. The Crew drew the pole position lane with Team AMSOIL in lane two. The two Skaters ran deck to deck swapping positions a couple of times until Team AMSOIL pulled on the inside lane on the front straightaway of the 5 1/2 mile course. As Team AMSOIL was nearing on the inside of the Crew, a guardian condition in their left motor caused them to veer sharply to the left toward Bob Teague and Paul Whittier in the Team AMSOIL boat. Bob and Paul were able to maneuver the boat in order to avoid a collision and continued in the pass of the Motley Crew boat. Team AMSOIL continued holding onto first place for the balance of the race.
The Patchogue race was the second in the Geico Triple Crown series. The win by Team AMSOIL resulted in an unbeatable first place position for the 2009 Cat Lite Triple Crown title. Currently, Team AMSOIL #77 is also in the points lead in the OSS and OPA sanctioning organizations, and is tied for first place in Super Boat International.
Up next for Team AMSOIL is the combined OPA/OSS race in Point Pleasant, N.J. on September 12-13.
Until then, we'll see you at the races.
