SAVANNAH — Independence Day celebration and celebration of APBA's 100th year Anniversary could not be more fitting than in the historic setting of Georgia's First City, Savannah. "Fire on the Water", fireworks blazoning the sky, and the heat of the weather only exceeded by the heat of the competition.

GMC Pro Grade Super Vee Series has become the largest and hottest class in Offshore racing. All the major high performance manufacturers are fighting it out to be the best monohull on the water, including the legends Cigarette, Wellcraft Scarab and Donzi, and the new comers Fountain Powerboats, Skater and Phantom. Friday's events measured top speed and the race boats flew right down the river and back, right in front of the riverfront bars, restaurants and shops on the south side and the Convention Center and Westin Hotels on the other side. Thousands of people were magnetized to the river walls watching the high speed spectacle as the race boats screamed by one by one at over 100mph.

The highest average speed, down and back, was grasped by the #30 Miccosukee Indian Gaming at 106.6mph in the Super Vee Class. Second was the 39' Skater, # 8 Spiderman. Licensed by the hit movie, Spiderman, it goes to show 8 legs can be better than two! The team of Todd Welling (Driver) and Lance Henricksen (Throttleman) were spinning stories to increase the Arachnophobia and pull in the young fans. Third fastest was the #16 UTZ Potato Chips, followed by #7 Lucas Oil Scarab.

"I was pretty satisfied with the numbers we ran today", added Nigel Hook, Captain of the No 7. Lucas Oil Scarab. "We had spent most of the morning shooting a commercial for General Motors, and so we hadn't lightened the boat up and came out of the water 500lbs over weight", said Hook. Friday morning, Hook was giving his feedback on camera to questions put forth by Terry Andrzejewski which were captured for Speed Channel. "The GMC 8100 Vortec program is the biggest event to happen in Offshore racing; who ever heard of a full warranty on race motors?", said Hook. "It has not only made the class the most competitive in APBA, but it has also brought down the cost of racing". Hook went on to say, "It's also good to know that same technology is going to protect our investment in the new GMC Sierra Tow Truck". Look for Terry and Nigel next on Speed Channel.

Saturday racing consisted of the P classes and the Factory One class, followed by Happy Hour testing for the Super Series boats, over 68 race boats in total. By mid-afternoon, the seas off Tybee Island on the race track were running around two to three footers with a lot of disturbance. The #7 Lucas Oil Scarab ran the high-speed set-up and was able to skim across the tops of the waves at full throttle. This seemed to be the set-up of choice if the conditions remain the same overnight. The set-up on the Super Vee class typically entails looking at drive ratios, propellers and weight distribution for balance.

Sunday was the main race, with the Super Vee Class being delayed a full 40 minutes so that the patrol boats could safely marshal the huge spectator fleet. The turnout of fans lining the beaches was also much more than anticipated, with literally tens of thousands of people ready to enjoy the sand, sun and fun of racing. The pace lap started at 1:30pm and it was obvious the ocean was quite a bit more restless that the previous day. "It was all four footer waves plus out there with very little pattern", commented New Zealander, Craig Archer, #7 Lucas Oil Scarab. "We made the wrong call on propeller selection", he added. There as a lot of jostling mid-pack for the race boats to hold their position, with the Lucas Oil Scarab 4th from pole position.

From the green flag, it was obvious the #7 Lucas Oil Scarab had none of the fearsome acceleration it showed in the Marathon race, but it held onto a mid-pack position. To its advantage was the fact it was the only boat running the awesomely reliable Weismann Drives. These drives are built to take the monstrous torque of big commercial diesel engines and accordingly provide amazing reliability for gasoline engines. Even the considerable torque of the GM 8100 Vortec engines is handled all season long by the Weismann Drives with no maintenance required.

By the end of the race the Bob Bull in the Cigarette, #3 H&H Speed and Marine, took the checkered flag with Spiderman in hot pursuit and Lee Murray (formerly Nick Carter Racing) in Team Donzi a very close third. Fourth was Rick Turmel in Pier 57 and fifth place was #7 Lucas Oil Scarab. "We were clearly off the pace today", said Nigel Hook, "We selected the wrong propellers, we knew that during the pace lap that it was going to be a long day!", Nigel went on to say "the propellers we lent to Rick Turmel would have been better for sure. Rick had accidentally damaged his propellers before the race and we didn't think we would need the ones we lent him".

Thanks from the team goes out to Lucas Oil Products "The world's leader in high-performance and heavy-duty lubricants", Weismann Traction Products, General Motors Professional Grade and also support for the race from guests Rodrick Cox of Cox Marketing Group, Manager of the NASCAR Winston Cup program of Jeff Burton (CITGO) and Todd Bodine (Army National Guard), and Dave Goodman, liaison for the NASCAR Busch Series and the US Military. Thanks also from the in-boat crew to the Lucas Oil Team leaders of TC Miller, John Hanas, Keli Gunn.

For racing entertainment check out, if you haven't already, the wild weekly motorsports show called SpeedFreaks presented by Budweiser and Lucas Oil. Currently live on Sunday nights with the motherload Sports Byline USA Network (100 + stations), The Armed Forces Network, Sirius Satellite Channel 122 and our original base markets of Los Angeles, Dallas, Detroit, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, Sacramento, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois. Additional affiliates will be added throughout the year.