orange beach
08-22-2005, 07:35 AM
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08-22-2005, 07:42 AM
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Re: orange beach
Reliable Carriers cruises to win
Monday, August 22, 2005
By DEREK BELT
Sports Reporter
ORANGE BEACH -- Tom Abrams and throttleman Steve Curtis powered the Reliable Carriers Super Cat to a big victory in Sunday's "Thunder on the Gulf" feature race, besting points leader Mike Defrees and Team CRC by a whopping 23 seconds.
It was Abrams' first win in nearly two years, and was a huge step forward for the entire team considering what happened three weeks ago in St. Clair, Mich.
"We had a six second lead or so (in St. Clair) and we flipped the boat," said Abrams. "The team has worked extremely hard since then to get this boat back together, and we just got it back on Friday night. We had a short test time with it on Saturday, and to come out and win this race today certainly makes us happy."
From the shore, it appeared Reliable Carriers ran a flawless race, but Abrams said it was anything but a perfect ride.
"With three laps left in the race we lost all our steering," he said. "I could turn the steering wheel a quarter of a turn and then it would completely lock up. I think the fans on the beach might have seen the boat go into the infield at one time, and that's what happened. We had literally lost steering."
Curtis -- a six-time world powerboat champion in England -- was up for the challenge.
"The only way we could steer the boat was with the throttles," said Abrams. "We would go around the turn buoys and (Curtis) would back off the inside throttle so that the outside throttle would push us around. We had to literally hope and pray we'd get through those corners because we were still running 136 miles an hour with no steering whatsoever."
Whatever Curtis did, it worked. The Reliable Carriers boat completed all 15 laps of the 93-mile course in 50 minutes and 22 seconds. Team CRC was second, and Popeye was third.
Orange Beach native and fan favorite Gary Nichols finished in fifth place after a malfunction forced him to call it a day on the ninth lap, while Bacardi Silver finished in sixth place after flipping on lap four.
The Silver's crash came to pass on turn five directly in front of the Perdido Beach Resort, and brought the hundreds of fans watching along the beach and in the condos to their feet. Rescue divers were immediately deployed, and both the driver and the throttleman escaped without injury.
No one in the Bacardi Silver camp could be reached for comment, as they were still on the water tending to their capsized boat.
In other action, Screamin' Eagle took top honors in the V Light classification, while Wild Ride finished second and Wildcard Gen Pro finished third.
It was the first victory of the season for the Screamin' Eagle crew, which had a pair of runner-ups to its credit already this year.
"Today we had a plan and it worked beautifully," said throttleman Allen Campbell. "We had just enough speed to get past a boat and get on his inside, and then we had enough handling to beat him around the corners. It was an immaculate race from our perspective."
In V competition, Pier 57 finished the race in first place but was awarded second after being penalized a minute for not meeting its minimum weight requirement. The penalty gave Spiderman the victory, while The Switch finished third.
MOJO scored a six-second victory over Loan Shark in the Cat Outboard classification, with Bermuda Berrycuda taking third place.
The Cat Light race was probably the most thrilling of the day, as Scott Roman and Motley Crew stole a victory from Paul Winter and Ettore.
After spinning out on the race's first turn, Roman gathered his wits and went on the attack. He slowly chipped away at the lead and passed Ettore on the 11th lap for a thrilling come-from-behind victory.
"I tend to think I'm an exceptional turner, so I made up a lot of ground on the turns," said Roman. "That race was a war, and you like them to be a war. You like them to be competitive."
Monday, August 22, 2005
By DEREK BELT
Sports Reporter
ORANGE BEACH -- Tom Abrams and throttleman Steve Curtis powered the Reliable Carriers Super Cat to a big victory in Sunday's "Thunder on the Gulf" feature race, besting points leader Mike Defrees and Team CRC by a whopping 23 seconds.
It was Abrams' first win in nearly two years, and was a huge step forward for the entire team considering what happened three weeks ago in St. Clair, Mich.
"We had a six second lead or so (in St. Clair) and we flipped the boat," said Abrams. "The team has worked extremely hard since then to get this boat back together, and we just got it back on Friday night. We had a short test time with it on Saturday, and to come out and win this race today certainly makes us happy."
From the shore, it appeared Reliable Carriers ran a flawless race, but Abrams said it was anything but a perfect ride.
"With three laps left in the race we lost all our steering," he said. "I could turn the steering wheel a quarter of a turn and then it would completely lock up. I think the fans on the beach might have seen the boat go into the infield at one time, and that's what happened. We had literally lost steering."
Curtis -- a six-time world powerboat champion in England -- was up for the challenge.
"The only way we could steer the boat was with the throttles," said Abrams. "We would go around the turn buoys and (Curtis) would back off the inside throttle so that the outside throttle would push us around. We had to literally hope and pray we'd get through those corners because we were still running 136 miles an hour with no steering whatsoever."
Whatever Curtis did, it worked. The Reliable Carriers boat completed all 15 laps of the 93-mile course in 50 minutes and 22 seconds. Team CRC was second, and Popeye was third.
Orange Beach native and fan favorite Gary Nichols finished in fifth place after a malfunction forced him to call it a day on the ninth lap, while Bacardi Silver finished in sixth place after flipping on lap four.
The Silver's crash came to pass on turn five directly in front of the Perdido Beach Resort, and brought the hundreds of fans watching along the beach and in the condos to their feet. Rescue divers were immediately deployed, and both the driver and the throttleman escaped without injury.
No one in the Bacardi Silver camp could be reached for comment, as they were still on the water tending to their capsized boat.
In other action, Screamin' Eagle took top honors in the V Light classification, while Wild Ride finished second and Wildcard Gen Pro finished third.
It was the first victory of the season for the Screamin' Eagle crew, which had a pair of runner-ups to its credit already this year.
"Today we had a plan and it worked beautifully," said throttleman Allen Campbell. "We had just enough speed to get past a boat and get on his inside, and then we had enough handling to beat him around the corners. It was an immaculate race from our perspective."
In V competition, Pier 57 finished the race in first place but was awarded second after being penalized a minute for not meeting its minimum weight requirement. The penalty gave Spiderman the victory, while The Switch finished third.
MOJO scored a six-second victory over Loan Shark in the Cat Outboard classification, with Bermuda Berrycuda taking third place.
The Cat Light race was probably the most thrilling of the day, as Scott Roman and Motley Crew stole a victory from Paul Winter and Ettore.
After spinning out on the race's first turn, Roman gathered his wits and went on the attack. He slowly chipped away at the lead and passed Ettore on the 11th lap for a thrilling come-from-behind victory.
"I tend to think I'm an exceptional turner, so I made up a lot of ground on the turns," said Roman. "That race was a war, and you like them to be a war. You like them to be competitive."
08-22-2005, 12:06 PM
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Re: orange beach
No doubt the race of the day was in Cat Lite. Motley Crew ROCKS!!!!!!
A total come from behind win, even carrying an extra 350lbs in an effort to slow them down. Page had the race if they didn't break.
A total come from behind win, even carrying an extra 350lbs in an effort to slow them down. Page had the race if they didn't break.
08-22-2005, 02:41 PM
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Re: orange beach
Special thanks to OSS,GCPA,Gary Nichols!
What great race week-end from the trolleys bringing the fans to the pits, the police helping clear traffic for us, the whole town embraced us but the icing on the cake was the valet service at the cranes by the marine volunteers.
Great competition throughout!
Dan
What great race week-end from the trolleys bringing the fans to the pits, the police helping clear traffic for us, the whole town embraced us but the icing on the cake was the valet service at the cranes by the marine volunteers.
Great competition throughout!
Dan
08-22-2005, 10:37 PM
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Re: orange beach
what a great time we had.....
thanks to all involved in putting this event together.
Live Bait was rockin sunday nite and everyone let loose.
I'll post some pics when i get home.
thanks to all involved in putting this event together.
Live Bait was rockin sunday nite and everyone let loose.
I'll post some pics when i get home.
08-23-2005, 06:03 PM
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Re: orange beach
Thank you GCPA, OSS and Gary Nichols for a great event. We had a great time! In addition, about 50 Biloxi faithful fans made the drive over and said they would be back for Thunder 2006!
Someone had a camera in Live Bait? oops
great job,
Matt Reed
IMCO SVL #10
Someone had a camera in Live Bait? oops
great job,
Matt Reed
IMCO SVL #10
08-23-2005, 07:25 PM
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Re: orange beach
Orange Beach, and to Gary & Mrs Becky Nichols,
What a GREAT race!!! Thank you for all of the warm support and a well organized event.
And to Gary and Becky, Congrats!!!
What a GREAT race!!! Thank you for all of the warm support and a well organized event.
And to Gary and Becky, Congrats!!!
