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2003 Race: Daytona Beach, Florida





 

Race Report: April 15, 2003 •••finished 8th place, mechanical problem
Reporter D.C. Williams interviews Nigel Hook for Daytona Beach News-JournalDAYTONA BEACH — In covering the GMC Pro Grade Series for the Daytona Harley-Davidson Grand Prix APBA Offshore race, reporter D.C. Williams (shown in picture interviewing Nigel Hook) said it best, "In racing, there's the fast and there's the steady. Both racing styles can win."

In the April 13th edition of The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Williams wrote:

U.S. SPIRIT — EVEN IF A BRIT
Race cars and boats are loaded with sponsor decals to the point that there sometimes hardly seems enough room for even the smallest additional sticker. However, it looked as though there wasn't an APBA Offshore boat that wasn't showing the team's support in some manner for the troops overseas. Another racer, Nigel Hook, originally of Staffordshire, UK, is the owner and throttleman from the red #7 LUCAS OIL Scarab Super Vee which will race later today. In December Hook joined NASCAR's Jerry Nadeau, Gary Lewis, Brett and Geoff Bodine on a December morale-boosting trip visiting U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Kuwait. "We were face-to-face with the true heroes of the world. Their courage is amazing." Hook said. "We're race drivers. But these guys are fighting for a much more important race: our freedom. It was my honor to salute them."

Following the D. C. Williams line, the #7 LUCAS OIL Scarab team of Craig Archer and Nigel Hook was fast in Friday practice, and drew the pole position for the Sunday finals in the Super Vee class. Steady was missing. A brand new water hose, common to all the race boats, chose the wrong time to burst. One of the incredible featured of the GM Vortec engines in the race boat is their ability to detect adverse condition and restrict the power accordingly thereby saving the engine.

All the new entries in the top Vee Bottom class made for some exciting and very close racing right from the green flag. Fisher Offshore spun out on the first turn and managed to take out the buoy, causing the safety officials to throw a yellow flag and run the race under caution for 4 laps. Once the orange buoy was back in place and the wrecked boat cleared from the course, the fleet was unleashed and intense racing ensued again.

On the final lap the lead by #16 UTZ Potato Chips held through to the checkered flag. On the last turn, #192 Team Donzi edged second place from #29 Stainless Marine. The #7 LUCAS OIL Scarab finished in 8th place, ahead of #3 H&H Speed and Marine in the Cigarette.

Seventy-eight race boats competed in the weekend's racing, with Super Vee being the largest class in the Sunday Super Series racing.

Quoted in the current issue of Powerboat Magazine:

The GM Vortec engine, which first saw action in Super Vee Light, has made racing more competitive and affordable. Many teams raced the whole season last year on one set of engines, and as a result, many factory teams are moving up into what could be APBA Offshore's largest class. "We may have 20 boats by year's end," said Nigel Hook, throttleman for the Lucas Oil Scarab Offshore team. "There will be new Phantoms, Fountains, Extremes, Cigarettes, Donzis and even some Skaters. It will be quite exciting."

Television coverage for this race will be aired on SPEED Channel on the following schedule:

Season Preview May 10, 2003 Saturday 10:00 AM
Daytona Beach May 17, 2003 Saturday 10:00 AM
Daytona Beach May 31, 2003 Saturday 10:00 AM

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