It’s been less than a year since Wake Effects in Osage Beach, Mo., became an MTI dealer, and now the company is making plans to compete in an offshore raceboat this season.

According to Rusty Rahm, owner of the Lake of the Ozarks dealership, service center and retail shop, Wake Effects is teaming up with veteran offshore racer Randy Kent of Marine Concepts to race Kent’s 44-foot MTI that was for sale up until now.

Rusty Rahm (left) is excited to be teaming up with Randy Kent to race the 44-foot MTI in 2016. Photo courtesy Wake Effects

“We took a real hard look at the Broadco MTI, but our plan is to build a new state-of-the-art MTI to campaign in the Superboat class in 2017, so this year we opted to join Randy Kent and gain some racing experience with his assistance,” Rahm said in an interview this week. “The MTI is going to be the Wake Effects boat with of course Marine Concepts and other sponsors on board for support.

“We have some of the best Mercury-certified technicians around,” he added. “Jamie Depew is going to be the crew chief for our team and he’ll be supported by the rest of the Wake Effects technicians. We’re also expecting to get plenty of advice from (MTI owner) Randy Scism and Bob Bull, the CMS team owner who has more experience than most racers.”

Rahm said the team won’t compete in all of the Super Boat International races this season, but that he and Kent will be doing several races—beginning with the local Lake Race in early June—and plenty of testing to get him the seat time he needs to be prepared for the 2017 in a lesser-powered raceboat.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to race with Rusty,” said Kent, who will throttle the MTI, which is powered by twin 1,600-hp engines, this season. “We’ve been friends forever so joining up like this made a lot of sense. The boat worked so well in Key West as far as the setup, but we battled some computer issues after we spun out at the Clearwater National Championships the month before (read the story). The hard part—getting the setup just right—is done. Now Rusty can jump into a boat that’s perfectly dialed in and concentrate on getting the feel for it rather than having to worry about the setup.

“Running this boat—a boat that accelerates super hard and goes into the corners at up to 150 mph—will provide a great learning curve for Rusty to prepare to move down to the Superboat class,” Kent added. “What we’re focused on this year is safety. Of course we have a competitive nature in us but we’re looking at this like we’re building a new NFL team. You can’t expect to win the first year out; this season is about gaining experience and getting comfortable in the boat.”

Kent said he also expects additional support from Bull and Scism, who have provided his team with parts, propellers and plenty of guidance the past couple of seasons.

“I’m real excited to be racing in an MTI with a friend and an associate who we do a lot of business with,” Rahm said. “As an MTI dealer, the opportunity to race an MTI is a win-win for everyone. We have some cool things planned for the latest and greatest MTI raceboat coming in 2017—just wait.”

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