Story and select photos by DinaRella / Additional photos from RWO, Ryan Walker & Class 1

Apart from two days of Race World Offshore (RWO) pro-racing, it’s what went down on the pavement from the parties on the piers to the street parades of pony power that best define the 2022 Key West Speedboat Fest. The asphalt escapades were of course… thanks to Nicole wiping out the liquid ones. Despite her climatic identity crisis choosing to hit as a tropical storm or hurricane, buckets of rain, raging 12-foot-plus swells and spells of wind wreaked havoc on everyone's slated programs to get to the Key West.

Port Miami operations closing all bridges and announcing no active safety response measures would be available caused another layer of drama, plaguing Florida Powerboat Club staff with more planning pandemonium. For the FPC 30th birthday Key West Poker Run this meant two things: more boats would depart on Thursday and a last-minute Friday run had to be added. However, scratching the RWO Wednesday opener (whereby reducing battles down to just a duo of duels for the 59 offshore teams) would be the last eradication, and as the dreaded weather moved northbound, the hordes headed toward Mile Marker 1 for a few final days of madness and high-performance bad-azz-ness, documented as best as could be by RDP.

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3 LEDs at the Conch Republic.JPG
5 Hardin Marine trailer Mike Clesari.JPG
6 FPC poker run village.JPG


Gilberts by Day, Sandbar Grille by Night

Catapulting over six-foot and climbing white capped crests, loads of the 120-plus FPC crews literally rock and rolled their way to Gilbert’s Resort in Key Largo. By the time I got there, plates were as full as the docks of customary, cutting-edge crafts for the Wozencraft Insurance co-sponsored luncheon serving as a concluding event for its 2022 Poker Run World Tour.

Raft-ups and rejoicing were kept to a minimum Thursday afternoon due to the rougher than wanted conditions in store for the remainder of the run, and the fact, the legendary Speed On The Water “Racing To Rebuild” Key West Bash presented by CMR Construction and Roofing, now in its 9th year, was next on the weekend line-up a few hours later. But before bolting, Devin Wozencraft and Tanah Kinsey were kind enough to provide a couple pieces of dockside dessert, dishing out sweet hats and tees to all.

Crazy enough, prior to the nighttime party, the Sandbar Sports Grille and surrounding block on Greene Street were mobbed with more than just the MTI, Skater and Doug Wright on display. The spot morphed into a mini Powerboat P1 press conference staged to announce M-CON Racing’s new Monster Energy title sponsorship. Team owner/driver Tyler Miller’s new 438 Skater powered by two Mercury Racing 1,100 Comp engines will be the first catamaran to completely meet the UIM safety and construction standards in Class 1 for the 2023 season. This news was quite a big deal on the pro side, “We are happy to have Monster Energy sponsoring the new M-CON Skater. This is further proof racing is returning to world championship standards,” Azam Rangoonwala, head of P1 told me the next day when I bumped into him and Stuart Halley, the general manager of Mercury Racing at the Outer Mole watching the races.


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8 Gilberts lunch stop.JPG

9 Tanah Kinsey.JPG

10 Conch Republic docks.JPG

11 Conch Republic Deep Impact.JPG

12 Phantom Will and Gayle Smith.JPG

13 MTI at SOTW party.JPG


Teasers Crowd Pleaser
Back to the Thursday bash, following the media Monster reveal, Rangoonwala and Halley who were both in attendance, stayed on for cameo appearances inside the Sandbar where broadcasters Rick Lopez and Todd Swofford of “The Zone” on 97.7 FM Sport Radio dedicated their two-hour live on-air show to interviewing racers and those responsible for making all the fastboat festivities in Key West go off without a hitch including Larry Bleil of RWO and Mark Waddington of Performance Boat Center.

And as luck would have it, another of those undertakings, the Friday night street parade of raceboats sprawled across Duval Street and beyond was on the agenda less than 24 hours after the SOTW soiree. Ramping up the tone a notch – oozing with loud beats, lots of booze, boobs as big as Merc 600s, and I swear I saw beads being tossed too – this year the grounds around Rick’s, Sloppy Joe’s and The Bull resembled a mini-Mardi Gras zone. Boobs and beads aside, the titillating turnout comes courtesy of the Teasers Gentlemen’s Club sponsorship which Andy Imhof, owner of Maryland Offshore Performance Marine Center, secured for his 36-footer closed-cockpit Skater.

The former Showtime raceboat currently blessed with twin 1,100-hp engines fit right in line stacked among the aquatic armada, armed with Teaser’s dancers doing their thing on the deck. The 2022 Key West Speedboat Fest was the final stop of the Teaser’s Tour for the Skater, seeing that, it’s the hometown of the famed club’s owner Dave Johnson. (Who? What? Is there something River Dave has not told us? Does Stacy know?)

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15 50 Mystic df Young.JPG
16 Ken Bolinger and Ray Lee.JPG
17 Super Stock Team Allen Lawn Care Duval St.JPG
18 Super Cat Skater Graydel.JPG
19 36 Andy Imhof Skater Teasers.JPG
20 Skater deck Teasers dancers.JPG


Wins and Spins

In other Friday news, after slipping into five-point harnesses for the first liquid face-offs of the 41st annual Offshore World Championships, waves picked up and winds kicked up resulting in a few spins “on top of” the wins. The worst being in the twin 300-hp Mercury Racing outboard-powered Super Stock class of 13 which has “strived for, but struggled with” maintaining their lines on more than one slippery occasion.

Hooking a hard left storming into turn one on the last lap Play Tradez sailed sideways off a swell into the next lane, leaving Jackhammer with nowhere to go but up and over. Both the 32’ Doug Wright and 32’ Victory suffered significant damage; fortunately all four racers were unharmed. Following the mishap, ten boats tore past the green flag for the double distance and points clincher. Coming off a steadfast first half, a blown fuse knocked the winning lights out for Big East Construction, opening up the victory lane to Team Allen Lawn Care and Landscaping in first and Performance Boat Center chasing the leaders in second place.

Despite the fact Sunday gave way to calmer seas, suffering started early on in race one in the Stock V single engine class between a pair of Phantoms when Shocker went soaring, spinning and slapping Octane out of the contest in its overtake attempt. When all was said and done, Fastboys Racing brought home the gold.

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22 Super Stock start.jpg
23 Play Tradez Jackhammer pile-up.jpg
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25 Play Tradez Friday damage.jpg
26 Stock V Shocker and Octane rdc.jpg
27 Stock V Octane.JPG


Chaos ensued for Class 1 as the orange go-time smoke dissipated, the Extreme class 52-footer Ocean Cup deviated from the outside toward the caravan forcing Sir Steve Curtis and Brit Lilly in the 47-foot Victory Huski Chocolate through the Mystic’s rooster tail. Sucking in saltwater and sucking away Huski power, opened the gap for legendary throttleman John Tomlinson and driver Carlos de Quesada in Huski/Alegra Motorsports (the second boat on the same Huski team) to squeeze through the pack with a few seconds lead… and never look back.

The 16-lap showdown for the Super Cat crown started with a field of nine; it ended with M-CON heading home to LOTO with its first world championship joined by CELSIUS and SV Offshore Racing rounding out silver and bronze triumphs, after Graydel was forced to retreat with trim issues and WHM blew a new motor.

Next to be blown will be MINDS and not MOTORS – the Miami International Boat Show (Feb 15- 19) is officially one month and counting!

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29 Merc Racing game time.JPG
30 Stuart Halley with Azam Rangoonwala.JPG
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