Go, Speed Racer: Garvey Races Sunday

The Jersey Outlaws Racing Association will hold its fourth race of the season in the waters of Silver Bay starting at noon on Sunday.

The racing association had its beginning in the early 1950s among clammers who would brag about who had the fastest garvey, or flat-bottomed workboat indigenous to the Barnegat Bay.

Today, the races are conducted in three basic classes of boats: garveys, Jersey speed skiffs and ski boats. Sub-categories include stock, super stock and outboard classifications. The boats can reach speeds in excess of 85 mph.

Participant Kathleen Halbing, a Toms River native and world championship, said she was excited to be racing in her home waters. She will be piloting her boats, each named "Katscratch," in the stock and super stock classes.

Halbing said she felt Sunday’s locale would prove to be popular for spectators.

“It’s a mile of open beach. It really is going to be a great site,” she said of the venue.

The racers are scheduled to arrive at Cattus Island Park by 10 a.m. and launch their boats from the ramp off Bandon Road.

While the races should be visible from the main section of Cattus Island, the better vantage point should be the side of the park by the Ocean County Parks and Recreation offices.