Thousands lined up along shore to watch Gary Smith lay down a 204.1 mph pass to earn the King of the Desert. Organizers retooled the Shootout, bringing in Ross Wallach of RPM Racing Enterprises to grow the Saturday event.

Two people were injured when an Outerlimits V-bottom crashed and sank, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. The poker run wasn’t without incident, however. “Walking from one end of the street party and back I almost had a heart attack.”įriday’s Desert Storm Poker Run presented by Anderson Powersports started with the parade through the Channel before the 100-plus boats ran on Lake Havasu. “It’s a lot bigger event than I expected,” Lindsey said. The 50-foot Mystic Powerboats with turbines drew a crowd checking out the canopy boat. His company was displaying the new XINSURANCE/Good Boy Vodka boat that will race Class 1.

Lindsey surveyed the crowd as the sun was going down on the warm spring evening. it was so crowded our staff could not drive down the street with their golf cart,” Ticknor said. City officials estimate as many as 20,000 people turned out for the street party that started at 1 p.m. The Street Party was a huge hit taking over 1 mile of McCulloch Boulevard with boats, trucks and trailers lining both sides of the street. Ilmor Marine even introduced a new sterndrive during Desert Storm. West Coast builders Eliminator Boats and DCB Performance Boats as well as MTI were well represented. The street party, poker run and shootout are the unofficial kickoff for summer on the West Coast and the boatbuilders turned out in force. We tried to keep things as much status quo and not reinvent the wheel this year because we had no time.” “We wanted to get through this year and put on a good show. “There are so many moving parts to this event, it’s more than just the poker run,” Ticknor said after Friday’s poker run. The late April event was a smashing success for Jim Russell and Steve Ticknor, who purchased the event in November 2022 and saved it from an uncertain future. More than 100 poker run boats participated in the poker run, a relaunched shootout saw a 204.1-mph run and organizers threw the biggest street party in the history of the event. The Desert Storm Poker Run on Arizona’s Lake Havasu celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2023 and the event’s new owners celebrated it in style.

Speed boats poker run lake havasu