The Big Cats Battle: Wake Effects, Miss GEICO & More

The Extreme Class is where the big cats come out to play, and this year’s lineup promises plenty of excitement.

First up: Hometown favorites Wake Effects

The boat, driven by owner Rusty Rahm and throttled by Jeff Harris, is a 48-foot MTI, and was formerly part of Bob Bull’s orange Team CMS fleet. “We have made changes to the graphics,” Rahm explained, “[and] purchased additional engines to give us the flexibility to choose what engines to run at a particular race.” Wake Effects came in a disappointing third place in the Superboat Unlimited category at the Super Boat International World Championship in 2017.

“We came in leading in points,” he said. “So it was really ours to lose. Unfortunately we suffered a mechanical issue that put us out of the race, but we certainly enjoyed the battle.” He’s referencing the battle with ultimate winner Miss GEICO. That team won the OPA and SBI championships in 2017, so they’re certainly the team to beat. However, Wake Effects won the SBI World Championship the year before, and Rahm says facing GEICO this year, his team is “looking for some redemption!” 

Rahm’s team is young: it just started in April 2016. And he attributes much of his success to Team CMS icons Bob Bull and Randy Scism. “Team CMS has been very instrumental in our success,” he said. “We very much value the relationship and mentoring we have received from Bob and Randy.” The teams seem to be on the same wavelength, though: neither was able to finish in Lake Race 2017. Both boats limped off the course around the same time, suffering from the same malady: broken water intake lines.

But Rahm has big plans for his team. He sold his Wake Effects boat dealership in Dec. 2017 to Big Thunder Marine. “My passion for racing is very deep,” he said. “I intend to keep going hard at it for the foreseeable future. We will be bringing on a new primary sponsor for 2018 that we are very excited about. Our goal is to ultimately become a multi-boat team competing in multiple classes.”

The team to beat: World champ Miss GEICO 

This team is coming off OPA and SBI championships from 2017. They’re well-funded, and have a formidable string of wins. “Our most notable victories have been the 9 World Championships that we have accumulated over the years,” said Team Manager Scott Colton. “This last one was perhaps the sweetest because we hadn’t won a title since 2015 and we had spent lots of money on our engine program and didn’t have a world title to show for all our hard work and effort.” 

Colton says the 47-foot Victory catamaran can hit a top speed of 205 mph, but fans won’t see that speed at Lake Race. “You’ll see them running safe and smart and within their limits so they don’t break,” he explained, adding, “Because it’s not fun if you break.” The last time Miss GEICO came to Lake Race was in 2014, but that ended in disappointment, when a problem with the exhaust manifold forced them off the course and they weren’t able to finish racing.

Perhaps the most important question of all: does the Miss Geico team race with the iconic gecko aboard? Nope, Colton says: not even in bobblehead form. “But,” he noted, “the racers all carry their own good luck charms.”

Of the Wake Effects team, Colton said, “They are our primary competitor and we have a great rivalry with Rusty Rahm and his Wake Effects team. We’re looking forward to seeing them at Lake Race.”

Trying again at Lake Race: Alex & Ani

(UPDATE: Alex & Ani didn't make it to Lake Race after all. But they were definitely a crowd-pleaser in 2017. Here's what we wrote in anticipation of their 2018 return...)

The stunning 40-foot canopied Platinum catamaran, that sometimes runs as Stotler Turbo Power and other times as Alex & Ani will be returning, after an exciting and bizarre finish in 2017. Owner Serafino “Jimmy” Cazzani said of Lake Race, “We are looking forward to it!” 

Alex & Ani was one of the two boats that finished the race in 2017’s Lake Race Extreme Class. Bob Bull’s CMS and Rusty Rahm’s Wake Effects only made a few laps around the track before both limping off the course due to (oddly identical) mechanical issues. Alex & Ani kept on—despite missing a buoy and having to go back to re-circle it, and being outmatched by the only remaining boat in the race: Cat Can Do. But Cat Can Do lost an engine in the last lap, and the Platinum cat pressed hard to the finish. Initially, Alex & Ani was declared the winner. The team received the trophy and purse money on Saturday at the awards ceremony. But a review revealed Cat Can Do had actually won the race. It would have been Alex & Ani’s first win. They’ll be back this year for Lake Race redemption.

Who else will race? It’s hard to say for sure: last-minute registrations and mechanical problems make it impossible to predict. But rumor has it the CRC team and two boats from the Jesse’s Ranch team will be competing. Bob Bull has hinted he won’t be racing in his orange CMS boat at Lake Race, but we’ll see who shows up at the starting line.

But for those who are on the fence, Rahm says the Lake is the place to be. “Being able to compete in our backyard is awesome,” he said. “We really enjoy hosting others from out of town and being able to show off that LOTO is truly the Performance Boating Capital of the World.”