PORT ANGELES — Sprint boat races will return to Port Angeles after the buyout of the company that owns the property Extreme Sports Park sits on, ASB Racing has announced.
“We’ve had so many people over the last year and a half keeping in touch, wanting this thing to go,” said Kelie Morrison, whose husband Dan Morrison has organized the annual races since 2011. “It’s going to be amazing.”
Dan Morrison said the races are scheduled for July 28 and Sept. 29 this summer and that with a little maintenance work the track will be ready for annual sprint boat races again.
He said that though the sale was Wednesday, those dates are confirmed “unless something drastic happens.”
He said KISM’s Brad & John show from Bellingham will be at the July 28 races and the national MAVTV is scheduled for the Sept. 29 races.
Dan Morrison said he bought out the other three partners who owned A2Z Enterprises, which owned the 85-acre property at 2917 W. Edgewood Drive.
“It closed yesterday,” Kelie Morrison said Thursday. “We can let it out now that we’re going to be out there every weekend and probably many nights after work getting it in tip-top shape for the races.”
She said “now that we own the property outright” she was looking forward to having more types of events at the venue, though this summer the focus would be on the races.
Micki Zozosky, whose husband Don Zozosky was one of the four partners, said they were happy the parties were able to come to an agreement.
She said there was give-and-take during the negotiations, but eventually an agreement was reached.
“We’re happy we’ve come to where we are and we wish him all the success in his ventures,” she said. “We wish him all the best.”
Dan Morrison said that now that the company is under his ownership he can move forward on some ideas he has had for the track.
“We have things we’ve never pulled the trigger on,” Dan Morrison said. “We’re definitely going to go forward.”
He said he has his eyes on professional mud drag racing, tough truck competitions and crawler competitions, though nothing is set in stone yet.
“We want to keep our racing kind of unique so you can’t just go to the next town,” he said. “We have a lot of irons in the fire.”
He said he hopes to see the property increasingly used for weddings as well. He said it had been used as a wedding venue in the past, but “now we’re going to get a little more involved with that.”
The Extreme Sports Park had been for sale for about a year, after A2Z Enterprises, of which Dan Morrison was a co-owner at the time, decided to sell the Extreme Sports Park west of Port Angeles.
At the time, the Morrisons had offered to purchase the property from A2Z to keep the races going, but there was dispute over whether there was a formal offer that included financing.
The Extreme Sports Park “has been the most popular and fastest Sprint Boat track in the United States since its inception,” ASB Racing said in a statement. “Crowds up to 9,000 are not unheard of and the facility is arguably the best in North America.”
The races have boasted attendance of upward of 9,000 to 10,000 people and average between 5,000 and 6,000.
Dan Morrison said those crowds are a boon to the local economy, which has been one of his motivations for getting the races going again.
Plans are in the works to improve the track and turn it into a “world class multi-sports facility with a variety of events scheduled throughout the year,” according to ASB Racing.
Dan Morrison said he is excited for sprint boat racing to return to Port Angeles and for the track to be used again.
“We’re totally excited for people who have never seen it before,” he said. “Now there’s another chance to come see this. We’re happy to serve our community.”
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
