OPC Chairman Sherron Winer of the Powerboat Superleague said

We missed it as much as everyone here. It is wonderful to be back. The regatta kicks off the powerboat racing season in the U.S. and draws in participants from around the country to come to Manatee County to compete.

Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown said

What’s happening in this community with the partners and all the collaboration is fun to see. We’re going to grow on that — it’s going to the best regatta we’ve had.

Before the action got under way Ashton Rinker was asked about what it was like racing his new Outkast F1 boat in his home waters?

To have it here for the opening of the 2022 season is good. I mean it’s the first one built by Paul Trolian and we’re working out kinks here and there. We haven’t even really scratched the surface on set up yet, so this is more a testing session for us I would say, getting it ready for the start of the NGKF1 series at the end of April. I’m not going to push it to the limits here, after all this is only the second time I’ve sat in the boat.

Making its race debut with Tyler Welch was a new BaBa hull.

It’s an incredible boat and drives great. I really have no complaints just have to find the right propellers for it. I’m not a stranger to composite hulls after running a Hoffman designed one for quite some time but this is a much more updated full composite one. To start with it’s got crash boxes on it and various safety things built into the boat which is one of the reasons I wanted to get it.

Performance wise, it handles well in the corners and eats anything I put in front of it, plus the ability to set up the boat, position the pedals and the seat makes me feel extremely comfortable, very at home in the boat which allows you to drive hard with one less thing to think about.

As the drivers sped away from the start pontoon Mark Welch from Minnesota was left stranded on the dock and claimed the honour of being first back to the dry pits.

Although Terry Ricker had secured the all-important pole position it would be Chris Rinker that would come out ahead of the pack after the commitment buoy. Following him through the turn would be Ashton Rinker but by the third lap he had been caught and passed by his father Terry.

Heading back to the dock by now was the Bradenton resident Mike Quindazzi after he had taken out a turn mark, something he’s getting familiar with. Meanwhile, out in front in the bright yellow Moore hull was Chris Rinker but by now he had started to encounter back markers around the one-kilometre course.

Terry Rinker now had closed the gap and was just looking for the leader to make a slight error. With just two laps remaining that precisely what happened, and Terry surged into the lead. Just as the lead was changing hands Bobby Briggs took out the last buoy at turn four which prompted the drivers to convert the four-pin course to a three pin one.

Now the crowds lining the bridge running alongside the front straight could see Ashton Rinker closing in on Chris for second place but with not enough laps remaining he was unable to catch him so the APBA Champion would have to settle for third.

Formula 200 Final Result

1 – Terry Rinker, 15:26.66 (30 laps)

2 – Chris Rinker, 15:43.52

3 – Ashton Rinker, 15:47.39

4 – Tyler Welch, 15 :33.47 (29 laps)

5 – Jimmy Kerr, 15:36.56

6 – Fred Durr, 15:40.23

7 – Bobby Briggs, 15 :41.85 (26 laps) **

8 – Jeff Reno, (5 laps)

9 – Mike Quindazzi, (4 laps) **

10 – Richard Young, (3 laps)

11 – Mark Welch, (0 laps)

**Quindazzi and Briggs were given 1-lap penalties for destroying turn buoys.

SST-45 Class

Just before the start of SST-45 Qualifying session Randy Partch and Ricky Sober from the Liquid Revolutions Racing Team, who reside just forty-five minutes away from the dry pits said

Well, we’ve done a bunch of work this winter. Randy’s building a brand-new boat that unfortunately he didn’t get to debut this weekend but he’s close. We are fortunate that RJ West has really helped us out a lot with it. It’s the second year for my boat and we found some secrets at the very end of the year last year that will hopefully help us out a bunch this year. It felt good out there in the testing run this morning but we all know that in this formula it can get a little dicey in the corners, but we are keen to keep the silverware here in the great state of Florida.

In the SST-45 Final JW Nelson from Atlanta, Georgia looked to heading for victory in this ‘Formula Lite’ class, but his celebrations were cut short with just one lap to go. He had led the five-boat field from the green flag and by the half race distance mark had pulled out a half lap lead. With just one lap remaining a kill switch issue stopped him in his tracks which allowed Mike Harris from Leonardtown, Maryland through to first place followed by the two Port Charlotte residence Partch and Sober into second and third.

Liquid Revolutions Racing Team said

What a wild ride for our team today. Randy with running issue and Ricky with a hole in his boat in the first heat race and neither of them were able to make the second heat race. Fortunately, both were able to make repairs to make it out for the final and then to finish second and third was amazing.

Results SST 45 Final

1 Mike Harris, 5:44.23 (10 laps)

2 Randy Partch, 5:45.29

3 Ricky Sober, 5:50.89

4 JW Nelson, 5:02.41 (nine laps)

Jason Bonnano, DNS

For 2022 the ISM-USA sports management firm, which has produced the River Regatta in the Florida city just north of Sarasota since its debut back in 2015, will combine Powerboat Superleague F200 (F2) racing with the SST-45 (F3) class to create the largest single day racing event on the APBA circuit calendar.

Amongst those racing in the SST-45 class referred to as the ‘Formula Lights’ include five of the USA’s top ten contenders including Jose Mendana Jr, J.W. Nelson, Ricky Sober, Thomas Schlarb and Randy Partch. Mendana, Sober and Partch are from the greater Bradenton area.

OPC Chairman Sherron Winer of Powerboat Superleague said.

It is great to be coming back to Bradenton after a year’s absence. The city estimated 100,000 spectators at the race held in 2020. For those participating, this will be the largest crowd they will probably ever see at a boat race.

Each year Powerboat Superleague works to create an exciting and diverse race program for the Regatta, and we are especially excited about this year’s racing lining up. The `Formula Lights,’ add a unique perspective as there is a visible difference between the engine, horsepower, speed, and size of the boats, and whilst the SST- 45 are smaller, their impact on the water still remains impressive.

Many of the Superleague’ s F-200 pilots, including former-champion Ashton Rinker of Tampa, FL, and Bradenton’s own Mike Quindazzi, who moved from Arizona to Bradenton, right after the 2020 race because he loved the area so much, are returning to the Regatta to battle for the day’s honours. Coming out of retirement to race against his son Ashton and the other highly regarded pilots, is Terry Rinker, who back in 2012 became the first driver to sweep all the tour races in Formula 2 (six) in one season and is also a former Bradenton Area River Regatta champion.

Sherron Winer concluded by saying.

It will take all their highly honed skills and instincts to negotiate the tight turns and tricky Manatee surf to win the day. The event will be entirely free and concludes at 7pm with a ballistic array of pyrotechnics, produced by the world-renown first family of fireworks Zambelli International.

A series of qualifying runs (from approximately 10:30-noon) precede time trials, beginning at 13:00 local time (GMT-5) for the F200 Class and 14: 00 local for the SST-45 Class. Championship racing starts at approximately 16:00 for the F-200 and 17:00 for the SST-45 Class.