The first competitive round under the International Hot Rod Association's stewardship of offshore powerboat racing produced the kind of opening chapter the sport needed: a boat climbing from second on the grid to the class win, the qualifying pacesetter finishing Race 2 with a zero, pole positions overturned on race day, and one competitor posting the highest aggregate score across all 11 classes and every boat in the field.
The Monster Energy 6th Annual St. Pete Powerboat Grand Prix Presented by Visit St. Pete-Clearwater ran from 27 to 29 March at the St. Pete Pier and Spa Beach Park in Florida, marking the first round of competition under IHRA management after the association had taken over from the series' former promoter in late 2025. The organisation opened its stewardship with a record $2 million total prize purse, which included $650,000 in tow money and a separate $250,000 allocation for the personal watercraft fleet. Around 50 elite powerboats competed across 11 offshore classes on a circuit laid out just off the St. Pete Pier, where speeds routinely exceeded 100 mph.
The weekend's programme began on Friday evening with a free Pit Party at Albert Whitted Park, giving spectators the opportunity to walk among the boats and meet the crews before racing started. Saturday afternoon was given over to the numbered bracket classes, Classes 200 through 700, with heats running back to back. Sunday's schedule carried the premier classes: Factory Stock, Super Cat, Superstock, and the second of two Pro Class 1 races.
Pro Class 1 provided the weekend's most compelling narrative, turning entirely on what happened between Saturday and Sunday.
Friday qualifying established DMR Performance at the top of the order with the fastest single lap recorded at the entire event, a time of 2:55.22. Driver Myrick Coil and throttleman and owner Tyler Miller put Monster Energy/M-CON into second, just 0.38 seconds back at 2:55.60, a margin that amounts to almost nothing at these speeds. MTI/GC Racing locked in third at 2:57.77, meaning the entire top three were covered by 2.55 seconds. XINSURANCE North, crewed by driver JJ Turk and throttleman Nick Buis, never completed its qualifying run after a rollover, while Discrete Offshore Racing did not go out at all.
Saturday's Race 1 followed the qualifying order closely enough. DMR Performance converted pole into victory and 50 Day 1 points. Coil and Miller brought Monster Energy/M-CON across the line second for 45 points, with MTI/GC Racing third and WHM Motorsports fourth. Turk and Buis shook off their qualifying misfortune to finish fifth, while Outta Pocket Racing retired and Discrete Offshore Racing was once again absent.
Sunday reversed the standings in the most decisive way possible. Coil and Miller won Race 2 outright, while DMR Performance, the pace-setter across every meaningful session of the weekend to that point, did not finish and scored zero for the day. The points arithmetic shifted sharply in Monster Energy/M-CON's favour: 45 from Race 1, 50 from Race 2, and 5.5 bonus points combined for a round total of 100.5 and the class win. MTI/GC Racing held on for second overall on 91 points. Turk and Buis recorded matching scores of 38.5 in each race, their consistency rewarded with third place on 80.0.
Miller brings to the Monster Energy/M-CON programme the same precise calculation from the shore that he applies from the cockpit, a combination that has previously produced national and world title results. Coil is among offshore racing's most recognisable competitors at the sport's premier level, and the St. Pete victory puts the crew at the front of the 2026 championship standings.
Turk arrived at St. Pete carrying 13 championships across multiple classes and a stated ambition to claim a Pro Class 1 victory before the 2026 season is out, describing the current campaign alongside Buis as the most ambitious of his career. IHRA noted that Sunday had been a difficult day for XINSURANCE North given the rollover, but the team departed Florida with points on the board and clear motivation heading into the next round.
DMR Performance's weekend delivered a lesson that offshore racing occasionally insists on teaching. Fastest qualifier. Race 1 winner. Zero in Race 2. Sixth overall.
Superstock attracted 16 boats to Saturday morning qualifying and ultimately produced the event's standout aggregate result, with the class winner recording a higher points total than any other competitor across all 11 classes combined.
Team Bermuda qualified on pole, won the race for 100 Day 2 points, and added 15 bonus points to finish on 115, the highest total posted by any boat at the event. Allied-STR Powerboats recovered from a qualifying fourth to claim second overall on 104 points. Wozencraft rounded out the podium on 96.
Several individual stories ran through the Superstock field and gave the class depth beyond the top three.
Driver Chris Hopgood and throttleman Jay Muller, racing Ignite Celsius, came to St. Pete carrying the momentum of a strong 2024 season that included Hopgood's first career win at Lake of the Ozarks. Hopgood grew up around boats, took his first competitive start in a 24-foot Bat Boat in 2003, and has been building methodically toward a national championship ever since. Against one of the largest and most competitive grids anywhere in offshore racing, the pair finished eighth.
Leanna Shadlow, at the wheel of Team Demon Bikini, and throttleman Chad Havens returned for 2026 as an established pairing, having first raced together at the 2024 Key West World Championship. Shadlow held the distinction of being the only female driver in Super Stock throughout 2025, with credentials including Fastest Solo Female at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and results at the Desert Storm Shootout. The pair finished 14th at St. Pete on a programme built around consistency. Havens' pre-race focus on fuel calculations, prop configuration, and weight balance reflects that approach precisely.
Billy Allen, throttleman and owner of Team Allen Lawn Care and Landscaping, brought new driver Sabrina Kowalik into the class for her first offshore season. Allen is a former Offshore World Champion whose competitive career runs from dirt stock cars in the 1980s through multiple title campaigns on the water. Entering a first-season driver into a 16-boat field at the opening round is an aggressive call; the team came home 11th.
Gregg Reichman and driver David Whelan, campaigning Moxie Racing/XINSURANCE, qualified eighth and raced to seventh. Reichman has rigged and prepared the boat himself throughout his career, holds an official APBA kilo world speed record, and runs the programme to a fully professional standard. His objective is straightforward: win in every class the team enters.
Factory Stock, a class running Mercury Racing 500R engines throughout, saw Jackhammer set the qualifying benchmark on Friday with a time of 3:25.81 before backing it up with the race win on Sunday morning. LWR Lake Wiley Racing finished second, and Say Less MF completed the podium.
The LWR Lake Wiley Racing crew of driver Joe Spoloric and throttleman Garrett Coonrod carried one of the round's quieter but genuinely meaningful stories. Their qualifying time of 5:15.11 left them well off the leading pace, and a one-minute penalty for missing weight compounded the situation further, placing them effectively last among those who had gone out. Finishing second in the race from that position was the sort of result that tends to pass without fanfare but deserves better. Spoloric's road to a race seat began on the spectator banks at Key West, where he spent years watching the sport before eventually securing a drive of his own. A second-place finish early in that career is not a minor thing.
Caleb Mead, driving the MTI-built MFR/Mead Family Racing alongside legendary throttleman Johnny Tomlinson, arrived at St. Pete having rebuilt the boat following a blowover at Turn 2 during the 2025 Key West World Championship. The rebuilt machine performed, and the crew came home fourth. Goodboy Vodka produced its own notable recovery, going from a DNS in qualifying to fifth in the race.
Super Cat qualifying produced a result that CR Racing would rather not dwell on. The pole-sitter finished fifth on race day, while Dirty Money Racing, which had qualified second, took the win. C.J. Grant Racing/Graydel finished second, and Wicked completed the podium despite having qualified last of the six-boat field. Three of the top four qualifiers ended the day in entirely different positions from where they had started, a sharp reminder that the Friday timing sheet rarely predicts how Sunday unfolds.
Mod V offered its own story of continuity and family. NMB RV Resort won Sunday morning's race, with Boatfloater.com/Scott Free Racing taking second and Clouatre Cartel Racing third. Stephen Kildahl, who drives Boatfloater.com/Scott Free Racing with his father Steve Kildahl on the throttle, first entered Mod V as a teenager the moment he reached the minimum age requirement. Now in his 19th season, he has accumulated race wins, national championships, and a world title in the class. The father-and-son combination that started the programme remains its foundation, and Kildahl notes that competing alongside his own children has become part of the broader picture in the current season. Second place at St. Pete was a solid way to begin it.
Six bracket classes ran across Saturday afternoon in two groups. Classes 600, 700, and Super Cat went first; Classes 200, 300, 400, and 500 followed.
Class 500 drew the largest bracket field of the day with seven starters. Back inAction won from Fuel 1 Team in second and Whiskey Throttle Racing in third.
Class 600 went to Bad Attitude Racing, with Ride Legal second and Hammerheads third.
Pist'n Broke won Class 700 ahead of Team Progression REDRUM in second and Dirt Legal Velocity Factory Racing in third. Safe Cash/Xinsurance competed but registered a zero total, pointing to a post-race penalty.
Class 400 went to Team 407 Offshore, with Hartman/Xinsurance second and Shocker Offshore third. Kyle Dietzen, driving the Larry Smith-designed Burning Man Offshore Racing Speedster alongside throttleman Chris McElwee, took that third place. Dietzen has been part of the sport since 1999, developed Formula Powerboats into an F2 and F1 programme, and won national and world championships with Simmons Racing in 2009 and 2010. McElwee crewed for F2 Team Aquanator from 1999, stepped away from the sport for more than two decades, and returned in 2025 with a class win in St. Clair, Michigan. Their third-place result at St. Pete was an encouraging start to the new campaign.
OC Racing won Class 200, with Justice League second and LM Marine third.
Class 300 produced the tightest grid of the weekend, just two boats. WeHaulBoats.com won from Team Woody Racing.
Beyond the class results, two returns to competition carried particular weight around the paddock. Vinnie Diorio and Sean Conner of SV Offshore Racing/Rollin Transport came back to racing following a rollover on Day 2 of the 2025 Key West World Championship, their presence at St. Pete acknowledged across the offshore community. Damon Marotta, a veteran whose career highlights include multiple world championships and an undefeated season, also returned, competing in the Mod V class. Marotta has raced in Open AMT Stock and Classes 200, 400, 500, 600, and Mod V across more than two decades of competition, and his pre-race routine has remained unchanged throughout: watch off, necklace removed, wallet pocketed, a quiet prayer, then to work.
Monster Energy/M-CON and Team Bermuda lead their respective classes as the 2026 IHRA Offshore Powerboat Championship moves on from St. Pete. With a $2 million prize pool distributed across the season, the opening round delivered fast, unpredictable racing with stories that will carry into the next round.
Full results:
