Shaun Torrente leads Terry Rinker and the rest of the pack over the choppy waters of the Saginaw

BAY CITY, Michigan – 22nd of June, 2008 – Shaun Torrente kept his winning streak alive by taking a nail biting close victory over fellow Floridian Terry Rinker in the 50 lap final at the 21st Annual Dow Bay City River Roar on the Saginaw River in front of thousands of fans for the 2nd Round of the 2008 F1-ChampBoat Series.

The 29 year-old driver from Miami, led from pole position and held the point for the full 50 laps despite putting on an aerial display that saw his Grand Prix boat almost go over countless times as he held off the 3-time winner Rinker in his bright yellow Amsoil sponsored Lee Craft boat.

“We pushed as hard as we dared all throughout the race and I knew that Terry was within 3 seconds of me all day long so I couldn’t let up despite the boat getting lighter and lighter with the fuel load going down at the same time,” said Shaun. “The Speedmaster Marine/Gary L Barton Corp. sponsored boat may have been one of the shortest in the race but it worked for me at the end.”

For the 3-time past winner of the race, “We did everything we could to make the pass at the end and I felt with a few more laps we would have been on the top step for the fourth time here but we just ran out of time,” said Terry. “Now it’s off to Pittsburgh and a race course that should favor our boat on the big water.”
Taking the final step on the podium and his 2nd trip of the season into the top-3 was veteran driver Lynn Simburger in his Playcraft Boats sponsored Seebold hull once again putting together a solid performance and sitting 2nd in the championship with 1084 points after two starts.

The other Amsoil boat of the older Rinker brother, Randy, got a well deserved 4th tying his best ever finish, while Tennessee driver Jeff Shephard took his Shephard Construction/Kroger boat to 5th and places him 4th in the championship with 1016 points.

Canadian driver Brian Venton came home 6th in a strong run in his new Grand Prix boat after receiving a penalty for a start violation in his Jenkinson Telecom/Hancock Inc. sponsored machine keeping him outside the top-5 at day’s end and 9th in the championship with 949 points.

After a spectacular fourth place finish in his first F1 outing, Thailand driver Nithat Khunjeng in his Singha Beer/Thailand sponsored boat put in a great performance using a new Seebold after getting only a few laps in the morning warm-up to learn the boat before the start of the race. The  impressive young Thai driver sits on top of the “Rookie of the Year” championship honors and is sure to be more competitive for race wins with new equipment this season.   

Matt Sadl finished 8th in his new Seebold hull as he starts his first full time season in F1-ChampBoat for the driver from Pacific, Missouri. First time runner Jose Medana Jr. from Miami came home a credible 9th place position.
Chuck Unkle, last year’s Rookie-of-The-Year came home 10th in his Mediacom/Make-A-Wish/Sunoco sponsored machine, while returning driver Dennis Klepadlo of Gaylord, Michigan dropped out early. The Bud Light Racing Team of defending series champion Tim Seebold and his teammate Todd Beckman both failed to finish losing points in the championship run.

The 2008 F1-ChampBoat Grand Prix Series now heads off to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the 3 Rivers Regatta for the 3rd and the 4th of July on the Alleghany River. The race first came to the city in 1982 and continues to be one of the most historic in all of North America. The question is can Shaun Torrente keep the winning alive as the series hits the big rough water of Western Pennsylvania. Follow all the action on the web www.champboat.com.