Photo Finish! ‘Cat Can Do’ Is Lake Race Winner After Official Review

LAKE OF THE OZARKS — You know it’s a great race when the excitement continues for days.

After official review, Cat Can Do/American Ethanol has been declared by the Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) to be the 2017 Lake Race winner.

Lake Race Director Mike Shepherd confirmed the change on Monday afternoon.

It was a photo-finish, Shepherd explained, and while the OPA official on site had declared newcomer Alex & Ani to be the winner of Saturday’s Extreme class, a closer look revealed the crippled Cat Can Do beat Alex & Ani across the finish line.

The race was intense and the outcome proved elusive: Wake Effects came out to a strong start, with CMS #3 pressing close behind. The two big cats battled it out for several laps before both ran into the same problem: a water intake hose broke loose, and the boats began taking on water.

Cat Can Do—having struggled to tune their engines before the race (one was running lean while the other was running too rich, Shepherd recalled)—maintained a healthy lead over the only remaining competitor, Alex & Ani, for most of the rest of the race.

But on the final lap, one of Cat Can Do’s twin engines ran out of fuel. The boat limped toward the finish line as Alex & Ani pressed hard, seeing an unexpected chance to win.

The Alex & Ani team received the trophy and purse money on Saturday at the awards ceremony, but Shepherd said they’ll have to give it back now that Cat Can Do has been ruled the winner.

This year’s Lake Race brought more race boats than ever, Shepherd said. The total number of entries was 38, which puts it among the largest sanctioned powerboat races in the country.

Trophies & Cash For Lake Race Victors [PHOTOS]

An exciting day of racing ended with victors taking the spoils.

Lake Race 2017 brought plenty of familiar faces to the course, but there were surprises in store. Some of the fastest boats couldn't last the full length of the race, and the checkered flag went to racers whose boats held together in the Supercat and Extreme races.

FULL RACE RESULTS:

Extreme Class

1st — American Ethanol/Cat Can Do

2nd — Alex and Ani

3rd — CMS (DNF)

4th — Wake Effects (DNF)

Supercat Class

1st — WHM

2nd — Performance Boat Center/Jimmy John’s

3rd — Cleveland Construction

4th — MCON

5th — HP Mafia (DNF)