The Powerboat P1 Triple Crown Begins—Coverage From The New Orleans Grand Prix

At the New Orleans Powerboat Grand Prix that was held last weekend on Lake Pontchartrain off Jefferson Parish, the biggest challenges the race teams faced was trying to figure out what the conditions would be when they took to the 5.6-mile course. The winds would blow and ebb seemingly every 30 minutes.

Offshore racing and performance boating go way back in New Orleans and one team’s experience made the difference in the sport’s premier class. Photos by Danielle Gavagni copyright Powerboat P1.

Class 1 team owner/throttleman Tyler Miller said that between the time that he and his driver Myrick Coil took to the water, the winds and conditions changed multiple times.

Conversely, when the Team DeFalco crew looked at the winds and its setup, throttleman Billy Moore called on years of experience in poker runs and other events in myriad boats on the shallow lake with a nasty reputation.

“Being here in poker run boats in the past, it’s a short chop and you can stay on top of it,” said Moore. “Coming down and looking at the water before we actually put the boat in, we made the call to use the same setup as yesterday.”

In for the entire Triple Crown, the Defalco team came away from New Orleans Grand Prix with a checkered flag.

Because of the political upheaval in offshore powerboat racing at the start of the 2025 season, only two Class 1 boats made the trip to the New Orleans Grand Prix that is the first leg of the P1 Offshore Monster Energy P1 Triple Crown Series. They were part of a 27-boat fleet that brought offshore powerboat racing back to The Big Easy for the first time in nearly two decades. Many racers gave the venue and racecourse a thumbs-up and said they would be back for future events.

“The place is amazing, they welcomed us with open arms,” said Tyler Miller, owner of the Monster Energy M CON team. “There’s Lots of history here with Al Copeland and the Popeye’s chicken days. The fans were telling us about how much they loved it when we raced here 20 years ago and how happy they are for us to be back.”

He continued, “The layout of the pits is awesome, the crane is right by the pits. It’s a nice venue. Hats off to Jefferson Parish for putting together one of the top venues I’ve been to in a long time.”

Monster Energy/M CON team owner/throttleman and his crew did everything the could to bring home a win for their backer—and the event’s title sponsor—but couldn’t get there.

On Saturday night in the dry pits near Bonnabel Boat Launch, the Monster Energy team had a local crawfish boil for its members and guests. “You come all the way down here, you gotta have the local food so we called a local caterer and they took care of us,” said Miller.

Moore said that his team owner Mike Falco had some flight delays getting to New Orleans and the P1 Offshore race officials were accommodating. “We couldn’t test on Friday, so we asked for three laps on Saturday between the personal watercraft races and they helped us out,” said Moore.

New Orleans is the home of offshore racing legend Al Copeland, who founded Popeye’s chicken in the city and helped stage numerous races on Lake Pontchartrain in the 1980s and 1990s. One of the most famous moments on the waterway happened when Reggie Fountain II and Joey Detore used a triple-engine 47-foot Fountain V-bottom to beat Don Johnson’s four-engine 50-catamaran, Team USA, in the Superboat class. For decades after the event, the Fountain Powerboats booth at boat shows around the country would play a video with Fountain saying, “Bye bye movie star” when he passed Johnson and throttleman Richie Powers.

At the 2025 event, current racers were caught a little off guard in a good way by fans who had been waiting for the sport to return to the city. “The is a wonderful venue,” said Kirk Hanna, owner of the NMBRV Mod-V team. “The people in New Orleans are so welcoming.” Added 151 Express throttleman Nick Imprescia, “This is the Cajun Sheboygan. The locals welcomed us in gigantic fashion.” The teams will race in Sheboygan, Wis., later this summer in the second leg of the P1 triple crown.

If You Don’t Like the Weather
Lake Pontchartrain showed its schizophrenic sides throughout the weekend, causing delays for torrential run and lighting on Saturday and whipping up whitecaps and then calming to flat conditions on Sunday.

In the Class 1 race on both days, owner/driver Mike Falco and throttleman Moore in the 48-foot Victory, Team DeFalco, took dominant wins after accelerating to an unchallenged lead. Miller and driver Myrick Coil didn’t have any mechanical issues in the 43-foot Skater, Monster Energy M CON, they just missed the setup. “Momma always said there’d be days like this and this wasn’t the weekend we hoped for,” said Miller.

Team DeFalco did have one scary moment at the eastern end of the course when a gust of wind kept the boat from turning when Falco was trying to complete a corner. “We slid and hopped a couple times,” said Moore. “Mike saved it, we recovered quickly and got back on the gas.”

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Enjoy more images from the inaugural New Orleans Grand Prix.

Factory Stock class had the second largest fleet in New Orleans with five boats. The fleet also experienced the most chaotic weekend because of teams not holding their lanes and a strong front blowing through the area during its race.

On Saturday, the team of throttleman Giovanni Carpitella and driver Logan Adan in the 38-foot Doug Wright, Montlick Injury Attorneys/Liqui Moly, timed the start almost too perfectly and leapt out to a lead they would not relinquish. Owner/throttleman Michel Karsenti and driver Ervin Grant finished second in the 38-foot Doug Wright, Heritage Canados, followed by the father-son team of George and Micheal Stancombe in the 36-foot Skater, Peppers/JBS/Yardarm. After having a strong start, Imprescia and driver Ian Morgan in the 39-foot MTI, 151 Express, battled a starboard outboard cutting out in turns and came home fourth while Roberto Lo Piano and Alfredo Amato in the 38-foot Doug Wright, Pasta Amato, ran fifth. The team was also penalized for not holding its lane at the start.

When the Factory Stock boats returned to the 5.6-mile course on Sunday, the winds picked up and there were serious white caps at the end of the course near the Pontchartrain Causeway. Apparently the Pasta Amato team didn’t pick up on the importance of holding its lane position because the other four teams in the class said the boat started in the outermost lane, but came across the fleet before the boats got to the turn.

“The Italian guys pushed JBS against us and they ended up on our deck,” said Karsenti. Added Imprescia, “If you can’t rectify a problem you’ve already been penalized for, you shouldn’t be here.”

As the class representative, Micheal Stancombe scolded the other boats, saying, “In my visual, every boat but dad and I pushed the pace boat.”

Montlick Injury Attorneys took top honors on Lake Pontchartrain last weekend.

Imprescia countered, saying that if the starter doesn’t like what he sees with the boats’ alignment it’s up to that person to not wave the green flag. “When he drops the green flag, that asserts the responsibility to the flag man,” said Imprescia. “He says it’s fair and we have to go.”

After Montlick took an early lead, the race was red-flagged because of course-marking buoys getting blown out of place. Officials cut the lap count from eight to six while the teams waited for the course to re-open.

In the second re-start, 151 Express and Montlick ran deck-to-deck to the causeway turn. Adan, who is a successful dirt track racer at age 19, held the inside lane and took advantage of the shorter line around the course. 151 Express was getting light and Imprescia had to get out of the throttle to settle the boat. Heritage Canados was close behind in third.

Before the lead boats could start to navigate the dogleg in the middle of the course, the red flag was up again. In the turn at the eastern end of the course, Peppers/JBS got caught by a gust of wind, spun and rolled, landing right-side up, but tearing off both Mercury Racing 500R outboards. The Stancombes were not hurt in the incident and after the race were making plans to attempt to retrieve the motors from the lake that measures about 12 to 14 feet deep in that area.

Pete Riveiro and Ricky Maldonado of the Mikalyzed team earned the checkered flag in the Super Stock class. Photo from the Lake Guntersville HydroFest 2025.

With Peppers/JBS secured back at the pits, the race was restarted for the fourth time and the lap count was cut to four. Imprescia and Morgan again battled with Montlick at the start, but the latter had the inside lane again and resumed the lead. Imprescia said 151 Express was having electrical problems with the boat’s port motor that caused the team to fall back.

Karsenti and Grant held second place followed by 151 Express and Pasta Amato. The latter tried to make a late charge but Imprescia and Morgan managed their finicky motor well enough to claim third on Sunday. The scoring for the weekend was done with the team that complied the fewest points taking the overall win. For example, for first place on both days, Montlick Injury Attorneys scored two points, claiming the victory. With its two runner-up finishes, Canados Heritage took second and 151 Express claimed third.

Of the drag races to the first turn with 151 Express, Adan said, “That was awesome.” As he and Carpitella, who joined the team midway through last season, continue to get comfortable with each other, Adan said the conversation in the cockpit is “communication, not so much instruction.”

Last weekend was a winning one for the Mod V-class Kildahl family.

The largest fleet for the weekend was six boats in Mod V. They were the second race of the day on Saturday and the first on Sunday. On Saturday, they were on the course with the Super V, Bracket 200 and Stock 300 classes. On Sunday, only the lone Super V, Fountain Racing/Cortez Cove, with Rob Lockyear and Kirk Britto, raced with the Mod V boats. For Saturday’s races, the officials started the boats at a buoy and by raising the green flag in the pace boat near the marker. After input from the competitors, they reverted to the traditional starting method of the pace boat holding up a yellow flag to get the raceboats lined up and then raising the green when the alignment looks fair.

On both days, the conditions were similar with calm water and mild winds. The father son team of throttleman Steve and driver Stephen Kildahl in the 29-foot Extreme, Boatfloater.com, continued to show the speed they had exhibited a week earlier at Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., where they won on both days of the weekend.

Owner/throttleman Steve Miklos and driver Steven Fehrman gave chase in their 29-foot Extreme, El Bandito Tequila/Sunprint. They were followed by owner/driver Hanna and throttleman Mark Rinda in the brilliant red 29-foot Extreme, NMBRV, Travis Pettko and Tom Maddalena in their 30-foot Phantom hybrid, Relentless, and Howard Richardson and Tom Crowley in the 32-foot Bad Boy, R&S Racing. Charles McCarthy and Anthony Silveira had to pull off early with mechanical problems in Punisher.

The Kildahls quickly separated themselves from the pack both days, taking double checkered flags. The Saturday race was red-flagged once, but the restart was uneventful and didn’t change the standings. After the Kildahl family experienced some personal challenges in the last couple of years, the checkered flag drew an emotional response father and son got choked up in the post-race interview.

“It’s been two years since my dad and I have had a checkered flag,” said Stephen. His father Steve has been racing for decades and while he shows no signs of slowing down, the son knows they won’t be in the boat together forever.

“The old man’s still got it. I don’t know how much longer he’s going to do it, so we take these moments when we can get them,” said Stephen.

Miklos enjoyed the sport’s return to The Big Easy, but wasn’t in love with the course design. “It was turning into a one-route racetrack,” he said. “Any course with a dogleg, if you’re in the lead, you love it, but if you don’t, you hate it.”

NMBRV took third and gave kudos to the winners. “I knew he had me by a couple mph,” said Hanna. “We’re still working on props and setup. I was hoping it would be rougher.”

The class that had been the most voluminous in the first couple races of the season, Super Stock, had three boats in New Orleans. On Saturday Coil throttled, the 32-foot Doug Wright, Say Less MF, with owner/driver Chad Rudisill to the win followed by owner/driver Pete Riveiro and throttleman Ricky Maldonado in the 32-foot Fazza, Mikalyzed, and driver Leanna Shadlow and throttleman Chad Havens in the 32-foot Doug Wright, Demon Bikini.

This set up the winner-take-all showdown on Sunday and Mikalyzed moved to the front early and stretched out a lead they would not relinquish. Say Less MF finished in second and Demon Bikini ran third.

In the overall results for the weekend, Mikalyzed took the top honors with Say Less MF claiming second and Demon Bikini third.

Making A Little History
From the bracket classes only the boats in Bracket 200 ran both days of the weekend and in the end, the 39-foot Phantom, OC Racing, with owner Joey Olivieri and throttleman Billy Glueck, continued its winning ways, despite dropping the Saturday race. They came back on Sunday to beat the 39-foot Phantom, Justice League, with driver Richard Davis and throttleman Jack Fowler, giving OC Racing the overall win.

Scott McCormick and driver Bob Spitulski in the 26-foot Velocity, Velocity Powerboats, ran unopposed in Bracket 600 class, as did owner/driver Brad Christopher and throttleman Connor Langheim in the 22-foot Velocity, Dirt Legal, in Bracket 700. Owner/driver Jim Simmons and throttleman in the 34-foot Phantom, Simmons Racing, also ran solo in Bracket 400.

Three boats raced in Bracket 500 and the team that set a kilo record for the class on Thursday continued to show speed on Sunday. Throttleman Robert Bryant and driver Mike McColgan took the lead in their 28-foot Pantera, Tunnel Vision despite an early challenge from Damon Marotta and Damon Marotta Jr., in their 29-foot Warlock, Offshore Outlaws. That boat won the national championship in the class a couple years ago when it ran as Bulletproof. JD Ivines and Byron Unger ran third in YabbaDabbaDo.

Veteran offshore racer Micheal Stancombe came into New Orleans hot and departed even hotter.

Offshore Outlaws kept things interesting for the five-lap race, but in the end, Tunnel Vision continued its winning ways. The Bracket 500 results were provisional as of Sunday evening.

In Cat 300 class, driver Connor Langheim and throttleman Ricardo Maldonado made history in their 23-foot Argo with a Skater 38 canopy, Jackhammer, taking the first win in the new class when more than one boat was on the course. They beat the 24-foot Wicked, Lanier Custom Boats, with Mike Bethan and Sean Lanier.

“The boat was a rocket-ship,” said Langheim. “We ran as hard as we could to extend the gap and keep going.”