Two time World and National Offshore Champion Nicky Cutro Jr. of Lake George, New York defended his last 2 years of Point Pleasant N.J. victorys in the Pro Stock Class on July 17, 1997. Nicky and his new driver- 1988 World Champion- Rich Middleton of Sarasota Fl. came hot off a strong second place finish in Chicago to pick up the checkerd flag here in NJ. All U.S. Offshore events are being covered by Prime Sports Network and the race from Pt. Pleasant NJ. will be broadcast Aug. 17 at 10 PM and Aug. 20 at 7 PM.
P-70 Pennzoil and P-27 Defender were tied in the National Championship Points Race going into todays race, considered by many as the Daytona of offshore racing, and the pressure was on. Pennzoil lead from the start but a neck and neck battle ensued with a virtual tie for 6 laps. Close side by side racing continued until coming out of turn 4, something went wrong on the Defender boat and the 3-peat was in the bag. "They tell me nobody has won 3 years in a row in New Jersey and we hadn't won for 13 years trying!" said Nicky in an interview. "...thats 3 years, 3 different drivers and 2 different boats!"
As with the Indy 500 and the spring race at Taladaga, mother nature forced a postponement in the start. The race was delayed 24 hours, for the first time in its 28 year history, due to a pea-soup fog that just would not lift. U.S. Offshore valiantly tried to get the race in with 1 hour delays on Wednesday, until 2:30 PM when the decision was wisely made to postpone.
Thursday started out mostly clear and the race was a go but Jersey's weather had more tricks in store. A steadily building south wind roughed up the course and packed the tunnels of the cat boats along the beach run, making for some of the hairyest air rides of the season and thrills for the fans. Joe Gates and Prime Sports Network promised that they got all of it on film for the broadcast.
" It was very close racing, so there could be zero mistakes through the turns ..." said throttle-man and team owner Nick Cutro. "Rich's (driver Rich Middleton) 12 years of racing experience showed as he set up a good line through each turn and navigated around the course even after a compass failure early on."
The Pennzoil Offshore Race Team also takes over the U.S. Offshore Pro-Stock points lead by 102 points in national standings as they gear up for the next race. Check out the Web-Site for details at:
The PENNZOIL P-70 32' Skater catamaran, powered by 3 Mercury 2.5 Litre Sport Offshore racing engines totaling 900 H.P., can reach speeds of 115 M.P.H..
In addition to their major sponsor, PENNZOIL, associate sponsors to this championship team are: Teleflex, Performance Custom Trailers, Weldon Racing Pumps, Raceday Products, Inc., J.Lucaraelli & Sons, Inc., Optical Access International, RSA Computer and All Waves Discount Marine. Thanks to The Boardwalk Restaurant and Marina in Lake George, NY for their continued support.