As listed on the Race World Offshore Key West World Championships registration sheet this morning, 14 Super Stock-class teams are registered. A few more may come in before the first race next Wednesday, but even if the fleet remains as it is competition will be ferocious.
The Super Stock class boasts unmatched parity in the offshore racing world. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
No class in the sport has more parity than Super Stock. Some six different teams notched podium finishes this season and some of them—such as both Bermuda-based outfits, TFR/Wozencraft, Allied Construction/STR Powerboats—notched more than one.
The newest Super Stock team in the mix, Cocoa’s Monkey/Lake America even claimed a first-place finish in only its second race.
Parity, indeed.
Super Stock-class competitor Chris Hopgood know this better than most. Not only does the New Englander own and drive the CELSIUS/Valvoline raceboat alongside throttleman Jay Muller, he represents the Super Stock owners group.
“Anyone can be on the podium on any given day in this class,” he explained. “GL Construction, TFR/Wozencraft, Allied/STR, Bermuda and Raymarine have been strong. Team Allen has been coming up, as had the Bad Decisions/XINSURANCE team. And Lake America has to be in there, too. They had our number in Englewood Beach.
Hopgood paused, then laughed.
“Our team could use some good karma in Key West,” he added. “She has not been kind in the past.”
As it happened, my fellow Englewood Beach Waterfest broadcaster Mike Yowaiski and I both picked Lake America, which recently added local Key West business Coco’s Monkey as its primary sponsor, to take the checkered flag there earlier this month. The team’s father-and-son cockpit duo of Pete Bogino and A.J. Bogino have extensive Super Stock-class experience. They ran a new 32-foot Skater catamaran, a model that has an excellent reputation for tackling rough water. And the Gulf waters off Englewood Beach were rough.
Still, it was a lucky guess.
But with three races and conditions that tend to change from day to day, Key West is a different animal. So I won’t ever consider hazarding a guess on which Super Stock teams will go home with titles.
Because all of them have a chance.
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