Congrats Al Stoker

[TLH101]

My memory is failing me, but didn’t he used to make boats ? Similar to an HST, but before Hydrostream made HST’s ? Does he still make them if he ever did ?

Congrats to winning three in a row - pretty awesome. Obviously the guy can drive just reading the above posts

MDS

If I remember correctly, he built/designed the Stoker SST Mod VP tunnel.

[racer]

Thanks for all the kind words. It takes a team effort to run the enduro and I am lucky to be driving for a great team. This years race was close the entire way, we swapped the lead a couple times and were never more than 90 seconds apart until late in the race. At the 2 required pit stopes we were less than 15 seconds apart. We were late off the beach because it would not go into gear, something with the electronic shift, I had to cycle power and it then was ok. Race was not without issue but do to a good crew we only lost one minute during the first stop to change a battery.
Mike, the HST in large part was a copy of our 20SST bottom, the 224 run at the enduro is a much larger boat that has had and will continue to get changes in an effort to improve handling with the heavy engine.

[Rayzor]

Congratulations Al! It's a huge accomplishment to win the enduro even once, but to do it 3 times in a row is even more incredible - especially in an outboard that has been handicapped by rules against it. It's so cool to see the boat I talked to you about building over 10 years ago finally come into its own with these new high horsepower outboards. I can't even imagine the time you have into it to get it to handle well with all that weight hanging off the transom - huge kudos to you for making it happen! If I were still in the market for a small performance boat, I'd definitely be giving you another call.

[Baker343]

Congratulations Al! It's a huge accomplishment to win the enduro even once, but to do it 3 times in a row is even more incredible - especially in an outboard that has been handicapped by rules against it. It's so cool to see the boat I talked to you about building over 10 years ago finally come into its own with these new high horsepower outboards. I can't even imagine the time you have into it to get it to handle well with all that weight hanging off the transom - huge kudos to you for making it happen! If I were still in the market for a small performance boat, I'd definitely be giving you another call.

There's really no handicaps anymore. Racer ran in the same class as the Nordic, Unlimited I think. There's almost a class for every boat. JMO

[Instigator]

Was Al battling a full zoot IO??

If so, isn’t this the first time one of the fast IOs has finished?

I always see some amazing amazing rigs in the pits but not at the finish.

There's really no handicaps anymore. Racer ran in the same class as the Nordic, Unlimited I think. There's almost a class for every boat. JMO

[Rayzor]

There's really no handicaps anymore. Racer ran in the same class as the Nordic, Unlimited I think. There's almost a class for every boat. JMO

The biggest handicap of all against the outboards is that they won't let true tunnels race - let an old Champ boat enter and the race would be over before it even started. I'm pretty certain they still have gearcase height restrictions as well, but I could be wrong on that. I know they used to make the outboards run very limited heights, but I don't know if that's been changed since I last had any interest in possibly running a boat in the race (15 years ago). All of the restrictions on this race are why I've had no interest in it since it was brought back. I understand they're trying to keep it safe by keeping the speeds down, but if they really wanted to keep it safe, they should only allow capsule boats imo. You see what Al's in. The fact that Al wins this race in a 22' boat he originally designed for consumer pleasure use makes his accomplishments even that much greater in my opinion. Again, huge kudos to Al for beating the unlimited budgets of the Nordic team and their 3X horsepower advantage.

[Baker343]

The biggest handicap of all against the outboards is that they won't let true tunnels race - let an old Champ boat enter and the race would be over before it even started. I'm pretty certain they still have gearcase height restrictions as well, but I could be wrong on that. I know they used to make the outboards run very limited heights, but I don't know if that's been changed since I last had any interest in possibly running a boat in the race (15 years ago). All of the restrictions on this race are why I've had no interest in it since it was brought back. I understand they're trying to keep it safe by keeping the speeds down, but if they really wanted to keep it safe, they should only allow capsule boats imo. You see what Al's in. The fact that Al wins this race in a 22' boat he originally designed for consumer pleasure use makes his accomplishments even that much greater in my opinion. Again, huge kudos to Al for beating the unlimited budgets of the Nordic team and their 3X horsepower advantage.

A green F1 with a APX 250 led the first three laps!!

[Baker343]

Was Al battling a full zoot IO??

If so, isn’t this the first time one of the fast IOs has finished?

I always see some amazing amazing rigs in the pits but not at the finish.

Yes, the Nordic finished. Both Al and the Nordic can bust out of the 110.9 max speed. Don't know what the Nordic weights but it's got to be a pig compared to Al's Stoker

[racer]

The Nordic has the 1350/1550 package with a 6 drive. Rumor with the boost turned up, but that is just a rumor. Yes we are lighter but they can use all that power to push the boat through the dirty water while I go over it. What matters in the end is it was a great race that was also safe. I know the F1 boat, Nordic and ourselves were all running right at the max allowed speed. The F1 boat I heard only had a 27 gallon fuel tank which surely helped it's fast start, they did a great job to get across the early rough water. Safety has always been a concern of mine and why we will no longer race a non capsule boat, we also carry a full size scuba bottle and I wear a mask system designed for water.

[JBS]

Al, please post some pics of your boat !

[CUDA]

That Nordic must have a large tank to feed that Monster

A well-designed one at that, to prevent large amounts of fuel sloshing around, disturbing the ride.

Congratulations on another monumental task

Boating,

Al just showed everyone what true Efficiency is

From his hull design to the new outboard design

[Mark Poole ModVP]

Al's boat winning this race three years running proves to me that the big heavy outboards will work better on a high performance pleasure boat than on a true tunnel. Seems to me this could bring back Outboard Pleasure Craft racing. But too expensive for most people because of the cost of the engine.

[Baker343]

Al's boat winning this race three years running proves to me that the big heavy outboards will work better on a high performance pleasure boat than on a true tunnel. Seems to me this could bring back Outboard Pleasure Craft racing. But too expensive for most people because of the cost of the engine.

A well built 2.5 and a lot of luck and testing with flawless pit stops can win Div6. Winning the overall race is hard no matter what your driving especially for the average Joe.
I love preparing every year for this race in hopes that we can take the checkered flag. It's not easy to finish.

[Baker343]