Team Bermuda and Nuff Said have local powerboat racing enthusiasts in a frenzy as they continue to put the island on the map in the IHRA Offshore Series Championship in the United States.

Three races into the seven-race series, Team Bermuda, comprised of Steven Bridges and David Selley, lead the 18-strong Super Stock class by 27 points and are showing no signs of letting up.

Nuff Said, whose team is made up of driver Luis Martins and throttle man Nick Imprescia, are holding their own in fourth but are 97 points adrift of the leaders.

Bridges and Selley are off to a flying start after winning the St Petersburg Grand Prix and Thunder at Cocoa Beach and finishing second at the New Orleans Grand Prix in their 32ft twin-engined catamaran.

They held an eight-point advantage at the summit heading into Thunder at Cocoa Beach, making their third appearance at the event at which they narrowly missed out on the podium on their debut in 2024 and finished sixth last year.

Their confidence -boosting victory at the St Petersburg Grand Prix was especially sweet as it was their first at this level and also their first starting from the pole.

“After competing in this race series for three seasons, this victory represents the result of an extraordinary amount of hard work, dedication and teamwork,” Selley said.

Also doing the island proud at the recent Thunder on Cocoa Beach was Martins and Imprescia, who placed sixth in punishing conditions not for the faint in heart.

“What a race, very rough conditions,” Martins said.

It was the first time the team have gone the distance at the event as Martins and former colleague Andy Stoneham flipped their boat on their race debut last year.

“Went into the race with memories from last year, so just wanted to finish safely and keep the boat intact,” Martins said.

Martins hailed compatriots Bridges and Selley’s second win of the campaign.

“S25 had an awesome race, finishing first again making Bermuda proud,” he said. “Congrats to them.”

Martins and Imprescia have also been consistent this season having finished in the top six at every race to date, with a best showing of fifth at the New Orleans Grand Prix.

“I’m definitely happy and over the moon with our finishes having only been doing this not even a full year yet,” Martins said.

“The first race (St Petersburg) was excellent although we had a little mishap. I missed the buoy and fell back in position, which was my fault.

“We then went into the second race (New Orleans) and had a difficult start and fell back into like twelfth place or so. But then we came up and finished fifth so that was great.”

Imprescia has enjoyed considerable success alongside of Martins in the cockpit since replacing Stoneham on the throttle heading into last year’s Race World Offshore Key West World Championships in Florida, where they finished runners-up first time racing together.

“We came into Key West just hoping to put together three solid races, especially with this being our first race together in the boat,” Martins said.

The IHRA Offshore Series is a new professional racing Championship boasting a total prize purse exceeding $2 million for this year’s inaugural season.