Just three weekends away, the 2015 Buffalo Poker Run (Aug. 7-9) on Lake Erie in Western New York has registered 80 of its 100 slots. Organizer Tony Scioli said he expects the remaining spaces in the run—the signature event in the Western New York Offshore Powerboat Association’s annual schedule—to fill quickly. Last year, the event ended up with a waiting list, and Scioli and his fellow organizers expanded registration to almost 120 boats.

A returning sponsor, Nor-Tech and Outerlimits dealer Double Performance of Ontario, Canada, will have several of its customer’s go-fast boats in the Buffalo Poker Run fleet this year. Photo courtesy/copyright Tim Sharkey/Sharkey Images.

“We have a lot of new people coming,” Scioli said. “We have a bunch of new folks coming from Ohio. The entire local crew from Erie (Pa.) is coming—guys who have never done a poker run who got hooked on the idea during the Erie run (read the story). We added a lunch stop this year. I actually think it will be a better event than it was last year.”

Home base for the Buffalo Poker Run is Templeton Landing in the Erie Basin Marina. Returning “Gold Sponsor” Double R Performance will be well represented by its high-performance powerboat customers, according Scioli. New to the event’s Gold Sponsor rank is Industrial Fabricating Corp.

“The owner of the company, Myron Kocan, has a burgundy 38-foot Sonic,” Scioli said. “He called me up and said, ‘Hey, I want to come to your poker run and I want to be a major sponsor.’ So we’re really glad to have him and his company on board this year.”

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