The Anderson Powersports Desert Storm Poker Run, which celebrated its 28th anniversary last weekend in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. is best-viewed as three big acts that combine for one blockbuster go-fast boating show. Presented by KICKER Marine Audio, the event commands the stage Thursday with a street party takes over the downtown area. The poker run itself, which attracted 130 entries this time around, happens Friday. The fun ends Saturday with the Shugrue’s Top Speed Shootout.
To subtract any of those parts would make the Desert Storm affair less than its legendary self.
Though V-bottoms were far outnumbered by catamarans in the Desert Storm Poker Run, there were a few in the mix. Photos by Jeff Helmkamp copyright Helmkamp Photos.
As it is every year during the street party on McCulloch Boulevard, was lined for the better of a mile with stunning go-fast catamarans, center consoles and V-bottom sportboats from the nation’s top manufacturers. Exhibtors included American Marine Performance, Deep Impact Custom Boats, DWR/Doug Wright Powerboats, Eliminator Boats, MTI, Performance Powerboats, Skater Powerboats, Sunsation Boats, Valor Powerboats and more. Displays from high-performance marine industry businesses from KICKER Marine Audio to Teague Custom Marine to Wozencraft Insurance and Finance filled the spots between the boats.
From late afternoon till early evening, thousands of visitors filled the street as they strolled from one eye-candy exhibit to the next.
The owner of the first 35-foot catamaran from American Marine Performance, A.J. Johl piloted the boat to 129.2 mph in the shootout.
First-time Desert Storm participant/exhibitor John Wittenberger of Deep Impact Custom Boats spent Thursday on McCulloch Boulevard wide-eyed. Not only had the South Florida company’s transportation and concierge service manager never experience Desert Storm, it was his first visit to Lake Havasu.
The poker run impressed him as well.
First-time shootout participant John Teague ran DCB Performance Marine’s newest offering—a 45-foot-long full-tunnel catamaran with stern-drive engine power—in the top-speed contest.
“It was a very good and fun experience on Friday,” he explained. “I was on the Deep Impact 369 for the poker run and we had a Monster Energy drink rep on board. We did all the five poker stops and then ran up to Pirate Cove to grab some food and then ran back for a dinner with the guys from DCB Performance Marine. We did a photo shoot will all six Deep Impact center consoles on Saturday morning. Then we joined the Wozencraft Insurance and Finance crew for to watch the shootout—and we went to the dinner party that night.
“It was a great trip for Deep Impact and we are very excited to return next year,” Wittenberger added.
Despite the blustery conditions that consistently seem to plague the top-speed contest every year, the Saturday show went on with 28 boats in various classes competing. Stand-out performances on the course included a 175.5-mph pass by Cory Schmitz, which landed him the 2026 King of the Desert title—in a 2007 model-year open-cockpit 33 Daytona catamaran. Offshore racing Super Stock-class driver Leanna Shadlow of Demon Bikini team fame earned Queen of the Desert honors with a 154.3-mph blast in a canopied 2020 Skater 388 catamaran
Leanna Shadlow is the 2026 Queen of the Desert honors thanks to her 154.3-mph blast.
For marine industry veteran John Teague of Phoenix-based DCB Performance Marine, the top-speed competition was particularly memorable. Not only was it his first time competing in the event, it was the first time a new DCB M45 catamaran—the company’s latest full-tunnel catamaran—has been in the shootout mix.
Teague reached 155.3 mph in the Mercury Racing 1350 stern-drive engine-powered 45-footer.
“The boat rips,” he said. “But by the time I got my second run, we had a solid 10- to-15 mph headwind on the course. With different conditions propellers, I felt the boat had 155 plus in it. So when we got 155.3 mph we were happy with that and parked it”
The show is over. Save for pleasure boats on Lake Havasu, the stage is empty. But the three acts of the Desert Storm Poker Run will return next year.
And as always, the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts.
For John Wittenberger and the entire Deep Impact Custom Boats crew, their first Desert Storm Poker Run will not be their last.