Florida Powerboat Club

Daytona Poker Run, Sponsored by Daytona Performance Marine

In the undisputed motorsports capitol of the world, where stock cars, hot rods, motorbikes and monster trucks have ruled the city streets, sandy beaches and steep banks of the world famous Daytona Speedway, one question remained unanswered…where’s the speedboats? Until now. It took a while, but after four decades since the first truly “stock” car races took place on a southern section of Daytona Beach known as Ponce Inlet, APBA offshore racing and a Florida Powerboat Club poker run provided a weekend double-header of powerboating fun and excitement. The fanfare drew thousands of offshore racers, pleasure boaters and curious spectators from all over the southeast, filling the hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops from Ponce Inlet to Ormond Beach, making it a much-welcomed event by the local business owners, who hadn’t seen a major event since Bike Week pulled out of town five weeks earlier.

On the APBA calendar, it was their second visit to Daytona on the national tour, and their first for the 2002 season, so naturally everyone was curious to see who the players were for this year’s offshore series. For FPC members, the fanfare was not just about the racing, but also about getting re-acquainted with fellow members and seeing some of the beautiful waterways from Daytona Beach to St. Augustine. It was event number five in our 2002 Powerboating in Paradise Series, and we welcomed our new sponsor, Daytona Performance Marine, the local dealer for Fountain Powerboats. Owner John Reed learned the true meaning of weekend double-header, participating not only in the club’s poker run as our title sponsor, but also racing in his brand new Fountain Super-Vee light for the first time, with Wyatt Fountain at the throttles.

The poker run agenda kicked of Thursday night with a welcome party at Marina Bar & Grill, located at Halifax Harbor Marina, our homebase for the event. It was unusual to stage a Friday format for the poker run, but we wanted to give our club members the opportunity to catch both days of racing Saturday and Sunday. (As it turned out, this was an added advantage to APBA’s race organizers, who were in dyer straights locating the much-needed race course patrol boats to martial the race.)

We took off in perfect conditions, heading southbound in the Halifax River at breakneck speeds of eight miles per hour. Unfortunately, speeds zones have been implemented in much of the central Daytona ICW, but it gave everyone a chance to get out the cameras and ride safely alongside some of the other boats for some snapshots and video clips. It was easy to see that Daytona Performance Marine’s participation had pulled several Fountains into the mix, with nearly half the fleet bearing the mark. As always, a full range of wild looking machines provided a colorful mix. Russ Floyd’s newly dressed 31 Bullet, Paul Tordik’s colorful 35’ Café Racer and Paul Depoo Jr’s brand new 38 Twin Step provided Cigarette Racing Team with good representation. A pair of 38 Powerquests were re-united by owners Mark & Eileen Fisher from South Florida and Daryl & Teresa Donaldson from Maryland. The locals put on a good show as always, as we were joined by the Lisa & Billy Show, a.k.a Team Loose Cannon, along with Ralph & RoseAnn Zell of Team Gang Way. A newcomer on the scene provided our first in-water closeup of the new Donzi 38’ Daytona. The Rossmeyers, a name synonamous with Harley Davidson dealerships from Daytona to Fort Lauderdale, had recently purchased Donzi’s latest creation, and while Bruce hung out on land due to a recent knee surgery, son Wil took the beautiful machine on his first run with the club.

Winning the “big dog” award was Randy Sweers, who arrived with the 45 Sonic Pay-to-Play, a triple engined beast that sports some of Jay Ross’s latest design features.

We had a pleasant ride northbound, enjoying the scenic ICW waterways through Ormond Beach, Palm Coast and Matanzas, arriving in St. Augustine, where we laid our fleet to rest at the Conch House Resort & Marina. Lunch was served and we were soon en route to the historic center of town, where our cultural experience de jour awaited…our tour train! No kidding. It was a mission we’d attempted many times before, but for some reason we can never get the gang to break away from the lunch stop, so this time we were prepared! Our knowledgeable guide took us to every point of interest, as we rode around and enjoyed an informative tour of America’s oldest city, with landmarks dating back to the late sixteen hundreds. Historic churches, inns, pubs, boutiques and brothels lined cobblestone streets and with dozens of horsedrawn carriages added to the mix, making this truly a worthwhile attraction.

Soon we were back in the boats making our southbound track along the ICW. Of course that wasn’t the original plan. We had hoped, like many times before, to make the return portion of the trip offshore, but unfortunately high winds created some unmanageable seas offshore, so we stayed in the comfort of the Intracoastal Waterway. From Rick Rosen’s 38’ Fountain “Loaded Miles”, we soon spotted our helicopter which joined our poker run fleet for most of journey southbound, capturing the highlights along the way. We’re certain that the excitement of having the helicopter dive down with camera rolling has a direct relationship with the speeds of our poker run boats, but somehow we squeezed through another poker run unscathed. No speeding tickets, no wake zone violations, and no blown engines. Now that’s a first!

Saturday provided us with a great day of boat racing, as many of our members volunteered as APBA patrol boats, while others watched from the high above the southernmost turns on the course at our FPC hospitality suite. The fun continued on Saturday night at our Poker Run awards party, where the cards were played out and the best poker hand belonged to Russ Floyd of Savannah, Georgia, who took home cash and prizes that didn’t come close to what he put into his 31’ Cigarette over the last six months! Oh well, let’s face it…Russ, like every other poker run junkie, is just “ate up with offshore.” Stu Jones

The next visit to Daytona Beach by Florida Powerboat Club takes place in October 17-19, as the club returns for the Annual Boatoberfest Poker Run. This annual event overlaps one of Daytona’s most popular motorbike festivals, Biketoberfest, providing members with an action-packed weekend of boating followed by two days of two-wheeled fun!

Can’t haul your bike?? FPC will provide Harley Rentals through our local affiliates. Call the club office at 954-618-CLUB or check out www.flpowerboat.com. SJ