May 7, 2008
Outerlimits OSG Racing Kicks Off the 2008 Powerboat P1 Season
with Kiton
As offshore race boats arrive in Italy’s
Adriatic Sea Port town of San Benetto del Tronto, the SV 43 Outerlimits
Powerboat is one of the most photographed boats on the docks. Its
sleek, long hull design suits the high-fashion image that it touts, with
its new Kiton title sponsorship. Details of this weekend’s
upcoming Powerboat P1 season opener event are available at www.powerboatp1.com,
where fans can log into the Virtual Spectator page on May 9 and get ready
to watch racing action from the cockpit of the Kiton Outerlimits Powerboat
and experience the race through the technology of 3-D telemetry.
The Powerboat P1 Evolution Class SV 43 Outerlimits
Powerboat owned by Giancarlo Cangiano, of the “Operazione San
Gennaro” OSG Racing Team, is supported by a large, prestigious
contingent of neighboring businesses from the Naples, Italy area.
“This boat was built specifically for the requirements
of Powerboat P1,” states Mike Fiore. “We learned from racing
last year in P1 that the combination of sprint and endurance courses and the
variable nature of the international seas were ideal for the Outerlimits hull. The
Mercury Racing 711 engines were also designed for the power-to-weight ratio,
so we feel we have a winning combination in this #88 boat.”
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April 30, 2008
New York National Boat Show Gets New Dates
Following an extensive analysis of exhibitor feedback and in-depth discussions
with both exhibitor and show committees, the New York National Boat Show
will move to a new set of dates beginning this year. The new dates are
December 13-21, 2008, nearly two weeks earlier than originally scheduled.
After five years of less-than-ideal dates
that straddled the Christmas and New Years holidays, the earlier date
pattern opens up new marketing opportunities for the long-standing
show, as well as the ability to piggyback off continuous holiday media
attention. The earlier dates are also likely to ensure increased consumer
attendance, as the show’s boating
demographic is home preparing for the holidays instead of vacationing
out of town, which has been the case with previous years’ dates.
The show will retain its nine-day format
at Manhattan’s Jacob
K. Javits Convention Center, and space renewal applications will be mailed
to exhibitors sometime in mid-May.
For more information about the New York National Boat Show or the recent
date change, contact show manager Michael Duffy at (212) 984-7016; mduffy@nmma.org.
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May 1, 2008
REMEMBERING KEVIN BROWN
The offshore community deeply mourns the loss of Kevin Brown, who lost
his brave fight against cancer on April 18, 2008.
Kevin possessed an insatiable passion for the sport of offshore racing,
whether on the course as a competitor or off course as an official/race
organizer. Kevin began his racing career in 1985 when he competed in
Offshore B Class and captured a series of titles until 1999.
The Sarasota resident was a cornerstone
of the Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix Festival and served as Race Chairman for the past eleven
years. Kevin was also a Board Member of the Suncoast Foundation
for the Handicapped Inc., which raised funds for the local community.
Kevin was a Board of Governor and served as Chief Referee for Super Boat
International.
A celebration of life for family and friends was held April 24th at
the Boat House, a favorite gathering spot of the boating community for
many years. Kevin is survived by his parents, Tom and Jan; wife, Julie;
son, Kyle; brother, Aaron; sister, Susan Binns; grandchildren, Ryan and
Delaney; nieces, Ashlee Binns and Whitney Brown; nephews, Derek and Daniel
Brown and great-niece, Mica Binns all of Sarasota.
This year’s 24th annual Suncoast
Offshore Grand Prix Festival and Race is dedicated
to Kevin Brown for his tireless efforts over the years. The Kickoff Party
in Sarasota, slated for Saturday, June 28th at 7 PM at the Sarasota Bradenton
International Convention Center, pays special tribute to honor Kevin.
Tickets are available by calling (941) 371-8820, ext. 11 with proceeds
benefiting the Suncoast Foundation for the Handicapped.
Memorial donations may be made to: The
Suncoast Foundation for the Handicapped, Inc., 5317 Fruitville Road,
Suite 43, Sarasota, Florida 34232.
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April 28, 2008
DESERT STORM....HIGH PERFORMANCE OVER-LOAD!
It was four-days
of intense high performance boating sensory over-load as poker runners,
show and shiners and all-out racers converged on Lake Havasu, April
24-27 for the annual Desert Storm extravaganza produced by Lakeracer
LLC, POPRA and OSS, and sponsored by Teague Custom Marine.
The big show started with a Thursday night street
party on McCulloch Blvd. with nearly 100 boats and custom tow rigs lining both
sides of the normally busy main-drag downtown thoroughfare. The free-to-the-public
displays of exotic boating machinery drew an estimated crowd of nearly 5,000
as the half-mile cordoned-off street was shoulder-to-shoulder with people.
On Friday morning, it was poker run time with a record-setting
field of approximately 210 boats entered in the card chase. After a *no-wake" parade
lap under the London Bridge, the poker run fleet was released in staggered
groups according to boat size and top speed. It took more than 90 minutes
for the entire fleet of boats to navigate through the London Bridge channel
and find open water and the designated card stations.
Saturday AM looked promising for the scheduled "Shoot-Out" speed
runs along Rotary Beach in Thompson Bay. Unfortunately, the wind came
up and white caps rolled across the one-mile course by 9:00am. Although
there were 51 official entrants, only 22 boats were able to make runs. Mike
DeFrees and Jeff Harris in the the "CRC" MTI cat turned in the fastest
time of the day with a 165 mph clocking. Gary and Cookie Smith weren't
far off that pace for second best with a recorded 161mph pass in their 40'
Skater, "Predator". Third place in the "Shoot-Out" went
to Don London with an impressive 152 mph run in an F-32 DCB.
On Sunday, the show was turned over to POPRA and OSS
for a multi-race offshore contest. In the OSS portion, "Shocker" with
Richie Price and Reggie Fountain III on throttles won the 850 Cat class with
a blazing 136.98 mph average speed, edging out WHM Motorsports by only 17 seconds
at the checkered. The Cat Lite class saw Bob Teague and Paul Whittier
victorious again in their AMSOIL sponsored 36 Skater. In the companion
Vee Lite category, "Under Destruction" was the victor with Mark Dunbar
and Jennie Seeser on-board. The much awaited Cat Extreme class showdown
between "Team CRC" and "Bud Light" went in favor of "Team
CRC" when "BudLight" was forced to retire after only five laps. In
the POPRA event, AMSOIL was again the winner in P-1; "Worthy Risk" (Brad
Johnson and Jack Crouse) took the win in P-3; P-4 was captured by Gorge
Gutterrez and Ernie Sosa; Dave Sikorski and Sean Hoffman won the P-5
class; the P-6 win went to Ryan Hall and Chris Reindi; and PX class
saw Mike DeFrees and Jeff Harris prevail in the "CRC".
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