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Rough and tumble

Big catamaran betters the waves at nearly 100 mph to win its class on the first day of racing in the gulf.

ST. PETE BEACH - MTI Catamarans are known as one of the fastest classes of race boats in flat water. But critics of the performance craft questioned whether the 40-footer could win in rough water as well.

"I think that we showed that it just can't be beat, regardless of conditions," said driver Mike DeFrees shortly after his Team CRC led from start to finish in the first race of his class at the 2005 Offshore Super Series World Championships. "This boat just flies."

There were two races Thursday, the first for the Catamaran Outboard, Vee Light and Cat Extreme classes, the second for Catamaran, Cat Light and Vee classes. After roughly two thirds of the fleet was damaged in the 7-lap first race, officials cut the number of laps from 14 to seven - a storm course - for the larger boats in the second race.

"We took some hard shots out there," said Dominic Visconsi Jr., driver for the Popeye's catamaran. "It was pretty rough ... one knock made me audibly complain."

Harris, throttleman for Team CRC, said the 3- to 4-foot waves might have actually helped his boat go faster.

"This was the roughest race that we have run all year," Harris said. "But the boat was balanced perfectly. We stayed on top of the waves. It was rough, but it was a fast rough."

The OSS Cats are capable of running close to 130 mph. But speeds that high are unusual in race conditions - the rougher the conditions, the slower the speeds. But in Thursday's wind and chop, Harris and DeFrees managed to maintain speeds close to 100 mph.

The five OSS Cats raced alongside six OSS Cat lites, a slightly smaller craft that can achieve similar speeds, and six OSS Vees, large 40-foot monohull boats.

While Team CRC dominated, the No. 2 two spot was hotly contested. Tom Abrams Reliable Carriers worked its way up from fifth, picking off one boat after another to finish second.

"We weren't sure if we were even going to race," said Abrams, who had a crew member severly injured in Corpus Christi last month. "We have always done well in the smooth water, but I am glad that we could show that we could run in rough water, too."

Billy Mauff of WHM Motorsports competed in both races Thursday. Mauff, a veteran Cat racer, sat in with Gary Ballough in his Outboard Cat Mapei. But the two flipped at the starting line, which led to speculation that Mauff would need a substitute for the OSS Cat race.

"I could never sit out," said a slightly dazed Mauff after finishing fourth in the Cat race. "I am a boat racer. We don't know how to sit out."

In other Cat action, national champions Ron and Scott Roman of Motley Crew continued their winning ways with another victory in the Cat Lite class. Paul Whittier and Slug Heffner in Dirty Duck finished second in their first race together.

"We had about 60 miles of testing together, and that is it," Whittier said. "But we out there to have fun. It was a blast."

In the OSS Vee class, Sarasota's Ray Delaney, along with his brother Steve, got off to an early lead in their boat Fury. But within one lap, national champion Spiderman had reigned them in.

"We were over-propped," Ray Delaney said. "We could get the motor up on the straightaways but we were a little sluggish in the turns."

Spiderman's Scott Conrad and Ken Bowen are not used to coming from behind.

"They had us, but we were able to pass them on one of the rougher turns," Conrad said. "They stayed pretty much with us the rest of the race.

Bowen, the driver, said the six-turn course proved challenging in rough water.

"It was like running a road race," he said. "You are constantly looking over your shoulder to keep an eye on everybody. Then you are looking ahead to set up for the next turn. It was a challenge."