Champion Catamaran

Mercury Racing Dominates Oss Winston Offshore Cup

FOND DU LAC, WI., June 15, 2006 – Twin consumer performance engines coupled to dry-sump Mercury Racing Six drives powered Team CRC, a 39-foot MTI catamaran hull piloted by driver/owner Mike DeFrees of Vancouver, Wash., with veteran throttleman Jeff Harris of Greenville, N.C., on the sticks, to a win in the OSS Cat Extreme competition at the OSS Winston Offshore Cup, Sunday, June 11, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The race was round three of the 2006 Offshore Super Series (OSS) season national points chase.

Team CRC and Budweiser Select, another MTI hull powered by twin 1,500 hp Sterling race engines with world champion throttleman John Tomlinson on the sticks and team owner David Scott behind the wheel, had an intense duel in the first two laps. Team CRC closed the window coming out of turn three at the start of lap three. Team CRC pulled away from Budweiser Select and never looked back to capture the checkered flag. Budweiser Select and Cintron rounded out 2-3. Team CRC now leads the OSSCX national points chase with 290 points, followed by Budweiser Select and Cintron with 286 and 282 points, respectively. Team CRC owner/drive Mike Defrees was ecstatic with the win and the performance of the 1075 SCi consumer engines.

“The 1075 SCis ran flawlessly,” said DeFrees. “They are amazing. We have two poker runs and three races on them – plus tons of test time. They just continue to purr like kittens – they haven’t missed a beat.”

“We haven’t had to touch them,” added DeFrees. “Our competitors are rebuilding engines every race. I think they are curious to know how we can continue to run as well as we have with consumer engines – particularly against purpose-built race engines that have a 400 horsepower advantage.“

“This was a tough race – which required a lot of set-up. Prop selection, boat set-up and balance were critical. Jeff’s throttling skills were invaluable here. I’ve never seen him work as hard as he did in the rough open water that we had here,” said DeFrees.

OSS Cat
Billy Mauff and Jay Muller extended their OSS Cat national points lead by winning their second consecutive OSS Cat competition aboard WHM Motorsports, a 40-foot Skater catamaran powered by twin Mercury Racing OSS Cat race engines coupled to Mercury Racing dry-sump Six drives. WHM led the race from start to finish. Reliable Carriers, a Sterling-powered MTI catamaran piloted by Tom Abrams and Steve Curtis, placed second. WarPaint rounded out third. WHM has a total of 295 national points and has accumulated bonus points for completing three consecutive races without an engine rebuild. Reliable is second with a total of 286 points. JB Byrider rounds out third in the OSS Cat points chase with 186 points.

OSS Cat Lite
Twin Mercury Racing HP525 EFI engine packages coupled with dry-sump Six drives-powered Motley Crew, piloted by Scott and Ron Roman, to its third win of the season. The win showed the Crew can dominate in rough water like it did in the calm waters of the previous races. The Roman brothers were way ahead throughout the race, followed by Hooters in second and Reliable Carriers in third. Reliable and Lightning Jacks were both penalized – moving Popeye’s into third. Reliable and Lightning Jacks rounded out in fourth and fifth place. All were powered by twin Mercury Racing 525 EFI engine packages.

OSS Vee
Wazzup, a Fountain hull piloted by the father-and-son team of Ed and Anthony Smith, continued its winning streak claiming their third consecutive race after leading the field start-to-finish in OSS Cat Lite competition. Fury was on their heels for most of the race, but a mechanical failure forced it out of the race on lap seven. Miccosukee Indian Gaming finished second, with Black Pearl rounding out third. Miccosukee was accessed a three-minute penalty as its propeller was found to be illegal during inspection. The penalty placed Black Pearl in second and Miccosukee third. Fury and Bad Boy Powerboats/God Speed rounded out fourth and fifth place. All were powered by twin Mercury Racing 525 EFI engine packages.

OSS Vee Lite
Laveycraft pilots Brian Devlin and Kevin Cooper won their first OSS Vee Lite race of the season. Wild Ride, WHM MINI Me, Senor Frog and Screamin’ Eagle rounded out second through fifth place. All were powered by twin Mercury Racing 525 EFI engine packages.

OSS Cat Outboard
Twin Mercury Racing 2.5 EFI Race Offshore outboards powered Medella Light to win its first OSS Cat Outboard race this year. Mapel, Loan Shark Mojo and American Dream Home Builders rounded out second through fifth place. All were powered by twin Mercury Racing 2.5 EFI Race Offshore outboards.

Mercury Racing supports OSS with a $150,000 contingency prize purse for the 2006 racing season. The purse rewards racers who use Mercury Racing-approved outboards and sterndrives in OSS National Series events in OSS Cat Lite, OSS Vee, OSS Vee Lite and OSS Cat Outboard class competition. OSS Cat class competitors using Mercury Racing-approved OSS Cat engine packages will be rewarded a separate Mercury Racing Winners Circle promotional credit program.

27/08/2008 http://boatstuff.info