Super Boat Races In Cocoa Beach… A Big Success

Race Teams put on a show in front of packed beaches

Cape Canaveral, Fla (May 22, 2012) – Teams arrived in the Cape Canaveral Space Coast area this past week for what was a spectacular racing event. Team WHM Motorsports garnered first place in the Super Boat Class, with Team Blacksand Geneve finishing first in the highly competitive Super Stock, catamaran outboard Class. Other teams had a successful first race to start their season in the 2012 Super Boat National Points Series.

“The first race of the season always seems to be a hard one, but this year the entire Space Coast Super Boat Team and Cocoa Beach fans really supported the event. The crowds were superb,” commented John Carbonell, President of Super Boat International. “It was made slightly more challenging because I was coming down with the flu and didn’t feel my best. I had a really good team in place and everyone did a great job. I’m feeling a lot better now and I’m happy how the races turned out. WHM, JD Byrider and all the teams proved very competitive and did a great job racing that rough course today.”

Team Instigator ran a flawless race and took first place in the Manufacturer Production (P1) Class. For the season opener, teams experienced some very bumpy conditions with the east winds and seas rolling in with 4’ – 5’ swells. The rougher than average seas led to a lot more air time for boats flying out of the water, off one wave onto the next. This is very exciting for the fans and maybe a little too exciting for the driver and throttleman in the race boats.

One team who did their best to keep it level was STIHL Offshore Racing, who competed in the Super Boat Class and finished in second place. The orange and white Catamaran is one of the most recognized boats on the circuit and a fan favorite on the course and in the pits. Owner / driver, JR Noble commented, “ It’s very exciting to see so many appreciative fans come to the boat in the pits, snapping off photos and asking questions. We really enjoy spending time with them everywhere we go.”

Teams were expecting to see the first private rocket launch from the Cape, which was scheduled to dock with the International Space Station Saturday morning, but was aborted with only a half a second to go. Space X had to postpone the launch due to issues in engine #five. It goes to show, mechanical failures can happen on rockets just as with offshore powerboats.

One race team very disappointed was Team Miss Geico. They had worked very hard to get their 50’ Mystic ready for Cocoa Beach and arrived early Saturday morning. After making some turbine engine adjustments late in the day, the team went out to test and encountered some damage on the underneath side of the catamaran. They had to withdraw from Sunday’s race with much regret.

Team GASSE, in their Ferrari red 48’ MTI, led most of the day posting the fastest lap speeds, but encountered engine trouble midway through the race and had to return to the wet pits. However, they were uncontested and did earn first place in the Super Boat Unlimited Class. Other first place finishers in their respective classes included; Lucas Oil (Super Boat Vee Extreme), Dare Devil (P4), Team Tilted Kilt (P3), Zip Express (P2) and Sun Print (Super Boat SVL).

All of this past weekend’s action can be seen again on new.livestream.com/cocoabeach2012. The Super Boat racing season starts in the middle of May and runs through the second week of November, culminating with the Key West World Championships in Key West, Florida. The Super Boat schedule is posted through 2013 with races in Cocoa Beach, Sarasota and Miami, Florida; Michigan City IN; New York, New York; Clearwater and Key West, Florida.

The next race for Super Boat International is June 29th – July 1st in Sarasota Florida, for the 28th Annual Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix. Teams will arrive early for the Main Street boat parade being held Friday night June 29th. Super Boat testing will be on Saturday the 30th and racing will be held Sunday July 1st, at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm respectfully.