Offshore racer Micheal Stancombe—who raced the Peppers Racing 368 Skater in Super Cat Light class from 2007 to 2015—has equipped the former I/O-powered hull with Mercury Racing 500Rs, and plans to run it in 450 Factory Stock class as early as this weekend, he says. The Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) is gearing up for its Great Lakes Grand Prix in Michigan City, IN, with registration today and Friday, followed by racing on Saturday and Sunday.

Stancombe will run Peppers with his father, George, in addition to the 42' MTI, JBS Racing, which he throttles with owner/driver Jeff Stevenson.

Stancombe explains that Peppers was equipped with 500Rs because the 450 Factory Stock class will be transitioning to 500 next year. "So we decided to put the 500Rs on it and be ready for next year. OPA consulted with racers in the 450 class and asked if it would be OK if we raced with them under a weigh parity deal as the season progresses. If the boat is too fast, we'll add weight to it."

Both the Peppers and JBS were at the Skater factory in Douglas, MI, on Thursday, as company president Peter Hledin did some final tweaking on the boats in preparation for racing this weekend. "We've installed crash boxes and it's been a Herculean effort," Stancombe says. The 500 conversion was done at Skater and the boat was tested at Lake X, with help from Mercury Racing engineer Mike Griffith.

If Pepper's finds its groove in the 450 Factory Stock class, Stancombe says he would like to order a brand-new 388 Skater to run it in 500 Factory Stock as early as next season. "If we can get a 388 Skater ordered," he says. "Skater is extremely busy right now. It’s great to see, and Pete has been a huge help on both projects." 

Stancombe adds that his focus will be getting JBS on the podium. The JBS competitor was most recently set to race in 1100 Extreme class at last week's meet in St. Clair, but did not start. "We'd done a last-minute transmission swap on Saturday night and thought we had the issue fixed, but it popped out of gear again at the start," Stancombe says. "We were rolling along, but when the green flag dropped, it went into neutral."

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