SARASOTA — 11:57am precisely, and the orange flare is lit by the lead GMC Pace Boat. This broadcasts the three-minute signal for starting the pace lap. The GMC Pro Grade Series main event for the v-hulls is under way. Over twenty race boats begin a full lap of the track.

Jim Poplin communicates with all his turn boats and checks with his sweep boats that the course is hot. Tens of thousands of fans line the beaches off beautiful Siesta Key Beach to the East, hundreds of spectator boats lined up to the West in the far side of the track.

In keeping with the charitable tradition of offshore racing in Sarasota, which has become known within the sport as the Indy 500, this race is dedicated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. For more information, visit their website.

The 5 mile track has eight turns, one right hand turn and all the rest left-handers. The sea conditions in the gulf are calm, but beginning to get stirred as the race boats round turn 6 in formation for the end of the pace lap. The #16 UTZ Snacks, powered by GM Vortec 8100 engines, has the pole position on the inside, perfect conditions for this current World Speed Record Holder. Next inline the #88 boat of the Delaney Brothers, Ray and Steve, the new 39' Phantom built locally in Sarasota by Will Smith. The French entry of the Rodriguez Group is a DNS, so next is the #8 Spiderman, flanked by #7 Lucas Oil Scarab. To the outside is #1 Pier 57, reigning National Champion, and all the other entries lined up for the rolling start.

The Green Flag! Right on time. Rooster tails fly as the racing fleet trim out to get maximum acceleration. Heading north up the beach all the boats roar flat out. The tight pack begins to break out and the top three boats vie to reach Turn 1 first. It's UTZ on the inside, Spiderman and Lucas Oil Scarab neck and neck, with the rest of the class in hot pursuit.

Three-wide into the first corner, with no one backing off. Two ninety degree turns point the boats back in a southerly direction towards the almost immediate chicane, swinging to the right for Turn 3. Mitch Miller driving the #88 UTZ, takes the inside lane holding off #8 Spiderman and #7 Lucas Oil Scarab, squeezing every inch of water to enter the right hand Turn 3 in first place. The chicane forced the three-wide battle into single file with the #7 Lucas Oil Scarab getting nasty end of the foaming boat wakes to hold onto third place. Turn 4 is a sweeping ninety degrees left hand corner, which the boats take at over 100mph.

"The intense level of competition that has resulted from everyone running GM engines, whether the 8100 Vortec or the Mercury 525, has pushed the limits of what an offshore V-hull can do", said Nigel Hook, Captain of the #7 Lucas Oil Scarab. "We have to race into the corners flat-out now, which makes every turn an adventure!"

In the last race in Milwaukee, Speedchannel had awesome coverage of the spinout of the Lucas Oil Scarab as they fought hard for second place in the late stage of the race. In Sarasota, it was the #75 Ettore Squeegee's turn to spinout. Having edged by Lucas Oil Scarab, and in second place with one lap to go, Dennis Sigalos had the throttles buried in an attempt to catch UTZ for first place. Dennis, a former International Speedway rider, is used to sports having no brakes, but his new 40' Fountain cut him no slack. Entering Turn 1 for the final time, they spun out in spectacular fashion.

"We approached with caution, ready to render assistance" said Nigel Hook, "but amazingly they got their bearings back really fast and hammered back right on track".

The Lucas Oil Scarab raced after them, right on their transom and launching into the last two corners just a boat length behind.

"Ettore swung wide, we cut over their wake to take the inside lane, but they closed us out as they apexed the final turn in perfect form. We cut back outside their wake and raced them down the beach," recounted Hook. Later, after craning the #7 Lucas Oil Scarab out of the water, it was clear that a chunk missing from one of the propellers had robbed them of the speed that could have altered the result.

First place, and congratulations, to #88 UTZ Snacks, and to second place #75 Ettore Squeegee. The #7 Lucas Oil Scarab took third place.

Lucas Oil Scarab welcomes aboard a new team member, Nick Pavlicheck, President of the Alton Company, who performed the amazing "stretching" of the team's GMC 3500 Team Cab tow vehicle. Nick is the team's "Jesse James" — ace-fabricator extraordinaire.