Just eight days ago, the Performance Boat Center team claimed first place in the Super Cat class of the Offshore Powerboat Association’s Lake Race on the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri. That the victory happened on the team’s home water was particularly sweet for the Osage Beach, Mo., full-service powerboat dealership’s Mark Waddington and Brett Manire, who have devoted significant resources to fielding the team’s Skater Powerboats 388 catamaran powered by Sterling Performance engines and manned by Performance Boat Center employee/driver Myrick Coil and throttleman John Tomlinson of Miami-based TNT Custom Marine.

Performance Boat Center’s offshore racing efforts have yielded benefits beyond victories on the racecourse. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

With back-to-back Super Boat International national and world Superboat-class championships in 2016 and 2017, it’s safe to say the Performance Boat Center team has succeeded on the racecourse. But according to Manire, the marketing benefit—always the primary goal of the company’s offshore racing campaign—has been just as significant.

“Our racing program definitely sets the stage for what we are doing at Performance Boat Center and now Performance Boat Center of South Florida,” said Manire. “The same people who are doing all the rigging on our race boat are working to service our customers boats—it’s the same talent. We’ve gotten a lot of people in this area into following the sport, and they wear their Performance Boat Center gear at events all over the country, from Michigan City, Ind., to Clearwater, Fla. We recently sold a Cigarette 42X to a gentlemen who said, ‘I’d never even heard of you guys until I started seeing your race boat online and in the Speed On The Water Year In Review magazine. That’s pretty cool.”

“We’ve even gotten a few teams from our area into the sport,” he added. “The CR Racing, M-CON and new Team Allen Lawn Care raceboats were rigged by us,” he added. “And our own Rusty Williams and Craig Amptmeyer even raced a Wright Performance Powerboats 360 catamaran in the Lake Race last weekend and took first place in their class.”

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