Sometimes boat racing is a war of attrition. Take the high-powered Extreme Unlimited class in Saturday’s Lake Race on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks—four boats started the Offshore Powerboat Association-sanctioned event, but only one finished.
After missing a turn buoy early in the Lake Race, Alex and Ani teammates Serafino Cazzani and Herb Stotler had luck on their side as the three other Extreme Unlimited class boats were unable to finish the race. Photo by Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix
Two of the favorites to win—CMS 3 and Wake Effects (the former CMS 03 boat)—suffered mechanical issues that prevented them from finishing, and the 2015 Lake Race winner Cat Can Do couldn’t pull off the victory after dropping out with a mechanical issue while in the lead on the final lap.
At the start, Wake Effects came out to an early, aggressive lead, with CMS 3 pressing hard behind. Meanwhile, after two laps, Alex and Ani missed the buoy at the first turn and had to circle back and go around the buoy, which appeared to have cemented the team in last place. At least until the other teams succumbed to mechanical woes.
Check out a few more photos from Lake Race courtesy of Pete Boden and Jeff Helmkamp.
Read the full story here on LakeExpo.com.
To read more of the LakeExpo.com coverage from the fifth annual Lake Race, check out the links to the individual class stories below.
The Supercat class brought excitement in two rounds of racing on Saturday afternoon. WHM gave the world-champion Performance Boat Center/Jimmy John’s team a run for its money, and the WHM team came out on top.
The four original Class 2 entries included four catamarans—MarineMax, Speed Racer, Wide Open and Batman—but MarineMax and Speed Racer never made it past the pace lap.
The competitive Class 5 battle between Allen Lawn Care and Midwest Boat Party ended with a Lake Race victory for Billy and Andre Allen.
A group of five pontoons kicked off a day of racing at Lake of the Ozarks.
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