Spirit of Qatar… Unlimited Champion and Team Maritimo… Superboat Champion
Key West (November 15, 2012) – The 2012 Super Boat International (SBI) Key West World Championships was truly a global event with two international teams winning top honors. The Spirit of Qatar, driven by Sheik Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani and throttled by Steve Curtis, won the biggest and fastest class in offshore racing… Superboat “Unlimited”. Team Maritimo, with Australian racers Ross Willaton and Peter McGrath, won the new “Superboat” Class. This new class, engineered by founder of SBI John Carbonell, was developed this year in an effort to combine multiple classes while encouraging more competition. It proved to be very successful.
Team Cintron wins title at Palm Beach County World Offshore Powerboat Championships
JUPITER — For the first two laps of the marquis race, it looked like the Palm Beach County World Offshore Powerboat Championships was going to go down to the wire. But as the big boats battled rough seas and wind, Miss Geico throttle man Scott Begovich of Jupiter felt the starboard motor begin to lose power and knew the race was all but over. By virtue of its win on Friday and second-place finish on Sunday, Team Cintron won the overall world championship title. Team Cintron, a sleek 50-foot silver Mystic with 1,500 horsepower engines, was throttled by Rich Wyatt and driven by owner Hugh Fuller of Clearwater.
The Solomons Offshore Grand Prix is not like any other race. It is the culmination of the season long grind where some teams can put the cherry on top or those not too far behind can pull an upset and be crowned the 2012 AMSOIL Offshore Powerboat Series National Champion sanctioned by OPA. For the third year in a row, Solomons has been the final stop of the OPA National tour which features race sites from Maryland to Michigan and even competes in Canada. These various sites provide different water conditions from bone rattling high seas of the Atlantic Ocean to the calm flat of lakes and rivers. As shown in all forms of racing, consistency proves the elite from the rest of the pack, a win or two doesn’t hurt either.
For the second year in a row, the cities of Port Huron, Michigan, USA and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, teamed up and promoted the International Offshore Powerboat Race. On Thursday evening, approximately twenty teams caravanned into the site throughout the streets of Port Huron to the cheers of the awaiting fans. Desmond Landing hosted the Race Village which showcased all the hardware of the participants, a concert featuring local bands, and even the first annual golf cart mud bog in the parking lot which was won by the pit manager, Brian Kowalski. Inclement weather did its best to hinder the weekend’s festivities, but the teams and fans didn’t let a little bit of rain dampen the spirits of Race #4 on the AMSOIL Offshore Powerboat Series.
In the days leading up to the 18th Annual St. Clair River Classic Offshore Powerboat Race, rain was becoming an issue. When the teams started to roll in, the sun came out and showed everyone the “Blue Water” that makes this region famous on the circuit. Being the third stop on the 2012 AMSOIL Offshore Powerboat Series, sanctioned by OPA, St. Clair has always attracted the best of the best to challenge the daunting and notorious Turn 4. With most courses across the country being raced in a counter-clockwise (left turns) direction, St. Clair is traditionally run clockwise (right turns) and when you factor in the seven mile an hour current, Turn 4 plays havoc on every race boat turning back into the oncoming current. Also with the speed of the current, the boats in the bracket classes have to be on top of their game to hold it under the break out speeds of their respective classes.
Fans flock to the shore for Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix
SARASOTA - No one was getting sunburned on Lido Beach Sunday. The beach umbrellas were planted so thick they provided a hammock of shade for thousands of race fans angling for a view of the power boats speeding by.
Lido Beach is now the prime viewing spot for the Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix, but Tommy Moller remembers when the track ran from the Venice jetties all the way up to the Skyway Bridge.
Offshore powerboat racing to stay in Tawas four more years
EAST TAWAS – Thousands of fans, curiosity seekers and spectators lined the shores of Tawas Bay from East Tawas to Tawas City Sunday for the inaugural Heritage Coast Offshore Grand Prix.
The event was put on by the Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) and sponsored by the Heritage Coast Sailing and Rowing Company.
And the best news is Heritage Coast Sailing and Rowing Co. President David Wentworth announced Monday morning .........................
(Ocean City, MD) - The Bull on the Beach Offshore Grand Prix was the first stop of the AMSOIL Offshore Powerboat Series sanctioned by OPA Racing. Ocean City is the first event of a seven race series.
After a two-year absence, the once annual Offshore Powerboat races came back to Ocean City in 2012. Bull on the Beach owner Phil Houck was instrumental in bringing the event back to Ocean City this year. “I love offshore racing. It’s just an exciting sport. I’ve been racing 15 or 16 years,” said Houck. “[The event] helps promote the sport and the town of Ocean City, so it’s great for the community.”
COCOA BEACH — The third annual Thunder on the Beach Space Coast Super Boat Grand Prix roared to a fitting finale Sunday off the coast of Cocoa Beach with the world’s fastest speedboats vying for valuable points in a successful kickoff to the 2012 National Series.
Thirty-one boats competed in eight divisions with the fastest time recorded by GASSE, which captured the Super Boat Unlimited category with an average speed of 94.56 mph.
