Terry Rinker Wins St. Louis Grand Prix

[Scream And Fly]

OptiMax Powers Merleau to Champ 2 Victory!

FOND DU LAC, Wis., Aug. 05, 2008 – Terry Rinker of Tampa, Fla., won the 37th annual Bud Light St. Louis Grand Prix on Creve Coeur Lake, just outside of St. Louis, Mo., Sunday, Aug. 3. The race was round four of the 2008 seven-race F1-ChampBoat Series. Rinker ran a perfect weekend - starting with setting the fastest qualifying lap, followed by a heat race win and culminating with his third St. Louis victory in the past five years.

Thousands of fans lined the beach to witness a classic St. Louis three-boat battle to the first pin. Rinker blasted off the dock with local favorite Tim Seebold of Osage Beach, Mo., and series points leader, Shaun Torrente of Homestead, Fla., in hot pursuit. Torrente worked his way around defending series champion Seebold in the first 1/3 of the race and took up the charge to catch and pass Rinker on lap 44. The cat-and-mouse game between the two drivers ended when Rinker used traffic to his advantage to capture his first victory of the season.

“We did a great job on the setup since the moment we rolled into the paddock,” said Rinker. “We set fast lap in qualifying, won our heat race, and today won the Grand Prix, so we went three-for-three - you can’t do anything better than that.”

Torrente did everything he could to take his winning streak to four from the start of the season, but just couldn’t catch Rinker – having to settle for second. Tim Seebold, Todd Beckman of Fenton, Mo., and Terry Rinker’s brother Randy of Syracuse, Ind., rounded out places 3 through 5.All were powered by Mercury 2.5 EFI Champ race outboards.

“We did what we could to keep the winning streak alive but just ran out of time,” said Torrente. “Importantly, we continue to lead the championship, and we can keep our heads up as we now have 4 straight podiums this season at the halfway point.”


Champ 2
Mercury’s OptiMax low-emissions – direct fuel injected 2-stroke technology dominated Champ 2 competition. Jimmie Merleau of Fannville, Mich., drove his low-emissions Mercury OptiMax 200XS SST race outboard-powered hull to win the 30-lap Champ 2 event. John Flemming of Woodlands, Texas., placed second in a Mercury SST 120 race outboard powered hull. Jose Mendana of Miami, Fla., John Jorewicz of Houston, Texas., and Tony Terry of Lumberten, Texas, rounded out places 3 through 5.

Round five of the 2008 F1-ChampBoat Series is on the St. Clair River in Algonac, Mich., Aug.9-10. Additional information can be found on the official Web site for the F1-ChampBoat Series at www.champboat.com.

About Mercury Racing
Based in Fond du Lac, Wis., Mercury Racing, a division of Mercury Marine, is a leading provider of high-performance marine propulsion systems to discriminating boaters worldwide, offering an exciting and fulfilling powerboating experience on the water.

Using leading-edge technology, Mercury Racing produces high-performance outboards, sterndrives, propellers, parts and accessories.

Mercury Racing-powered boats worldwide win more races and set more records than any boats powered by other marine engine manufacturers.

Mercury Marine is a division of Brunswick Corp. (NYSE: BC), the world’s leading manufacturer of recreational products, including pleasure boats, marine engines, fitness equipment, and bowling and billiards.

[Fish]

Congrats to Terry and Shaun.