Somerset —
Lake Cumberland Grand Prix racing teams and their sleek powerboats will start their engines for the official launch of the Lake Cumberland Grand Prix 2010 Offshore Super Series (OSS) powerboat race today.
The sleek, top perfor-mance powerboats—capa-ble of reaching speeds of up to 200 mph—were on display to the public in a Friday night “Parade of Boats” on U.S. 27 that began just as a heavy rain storm rolled into Somerset.
"We certainly don't mind a little water," joked one race official.
“We are proud to welcome back the OSS racing team to the Lake Cumberland area and look forward to a great week-end of racing at Waitsboro Recreation Area,” said Jack Keeney, executive director of Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce.
Activities will move to the 4.8 mile race course at Waitsboro Recreation Area today and remain there through Sunday for the official start of the Lake Cumberland Grand Prix at noon when approx-imately 20 powerboats compete for top prizes and points in the second race of the 2010 OSS schedule.
Seven parking lots near the race site at Waitsboro Recreation Area, located off U.S. 27 just past Traffic Light 29, have been secured by race volunteers as designated parking areas for spectators to use during the races.
“We strongly encourage spectators to use these designated parking areas since traffic coming in and leaving the race site will be limited both days due to activities surrounding the race,” Larry Combs, event coordinator and director of business services for The Center for Rural Develop-ment, said. “Shuttle ser-vice will be provided from all four parking lots for a small fee to allow spec-tators and families to enjoy the race with the least amount of traffic headaches.”
A shuttle service will run from designated park-ing lots at the following locations: The Center, located a short distance north of the race course on U.S. 27 at Traffic Light 15; the North and South Campuses of Somerset Community College on Monticello Street; Pulaski County Area Technology Center off US 27; South-ern Elementary School, located behind the Somer-set Mall on Enterprise Drive, Southern Middle School and Coldwell Bank-er Foster Real Estate close to light 29.
Cost of riding the shuttle each day is $10 for adults and $5 for children ages three through 12. The shuttle service will make continuous stops at the designated parking lots throughout both days of the race.
Each rider will receive a colored wristband, which gives them access to race viewing areas and transportation to and from the race site at any time during the day.
There will be no public parking for spectators at Waitsboro Recreation Area, the premium site to view the race from land or water.
The awards ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. on Sunday at Race Village following the conclusion of the final race, which has been likened to "NASCAR on water."
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