Hometown Favorite “Fastboats Marine Group” Wins Superboat Class
Miami, Fla (July 18, 2012) – Sunny South Florida attracted some of the World’s fastest and most exotic boats for the running of the 22nd Annual Miami Grand Prix, just offshore famed Miami Beach. With the fastest time in the Superboat Unlimited class, this year’s winner was Team Gasse in their 48’ MTI catamaran. Local South Florida favorite, Team Fastboats Marine Group, also celebrated taking a checkered flag.
Owner / driver of Team Gasse, Tor Staubo, was quite pleased with Sunday’s outcome. “I am so happy with how well our team performed today. We were able to get our new engine put in the boat in time to make the race. The conditions were good and Johhny (Tomlinson) did a great job.” Staubo, from Oslo Norway, has partnered recently with South Florida native Tomlinson to throttle and crew their raceboat for the Superboat Racing Series. 
They are making plans for the next race and looking forward to going to Michigan City.
It looks like South Florida racers had a lock on the top spots as owner / throttleman Randy Sweers took his 44’ Fastboats Marine Group MTI to victory lane. “What a race today and what an exciting win. The STIHL team put on a great show and it was hard to keep up with them at times as we had them on one leg of the course and they would take us on the other. We just hung in there all day and, headed to the north leg, they blew an engine and we came around and took the checked flag. You couldn’t ask for anything better. We had our friends and family all here watching and our business is right up the road in Pompano… so we are really happy. Tony (Fiorillo) did a great job driving out there today and we hit a couple ones (waves) that really launched us.”
Super Boat International founder, John Carbonell, was pleased with this past weekend’s results. “ We are excited to have moved our race site to Bayfront Park where more fans had access and it’s closer to the community. We had a lot of local business and companies inquire about our product and we saw some increased awareness from the local city leaders. Everyone, this past weekend, worked very hard to accommodate us and were so helpful and friendly. We are looking forward to coming back next year for our 23rd annual event and enjoying the continued community support.” Carbonell goes on to say, “once the teams got on the course, they all put on a great show and we had some really good racing.”
Mother Nature tried to take control this past weekend in Miami as Super Boat International (SBI) rolled into Bayfront Park to display the sleek and powerful raceboats and to prepare for Sunday’s Grand Prix event. The weather played a big role, as there were scattered pop-up storms for all three days of the event. With rain and high winds, Superboat International restricted Saturday testing to Biscayne Bay and advised the teams to prepare for tough conditions on Sunday.
When Sunday approached, it was unclear when the race would start and what kind of conditions teams could expect. There were storms and rough weather just to the east of Miami and predictions for more storms during the day. Carbonell instructed the teams to get their boats ready early in the morning and be ready for the weather to break. Teams craned in at the Bayfront Park Fountain as fans watched in excitement. The weather did break, with sunny conditions and much calmer seas prevailing, for the on-time 1:00 pm start. It was a perfect day on the beach for watching and the conditions for racing turned out to be very competitive with 3’-5’ seas.
Super Boat was pleased to host two media outlets this past weekend. Red Bull Media Group was following Team Gasse during the week, documenting the extreme sport and capturing the sport of offshore racing. They will be producing a piece very soon for one of their shows entitled “Event of the Week” for their online magazine. In addition, Discovery Channel was shadowing Team STIHL doing a tech segment and detailing what is involved in putting a team together. 
That segment will air later this summer. Both teams represented the sport very well and we look forward to sharing more details as they become available.
Other class winners included Lucas Oil MAV TV (Superboat Vee Extreme), Phantom (Superboat Vee Limited), Duce Rods.com (Superstock), Sheds Plus (P1), Zipp Express (P2) and Dare Devil (P4).
All of this past weekend’s action can be seen again on new.livestream.com/miami12. 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 August 3rd – 5th in Michigan City, Indiana for the 4th Annual Great Lakes Grand Prix. Teams will arrive Friday at the dry pits located in Washington Park. Super Boat testing will be on Saturday (4th), and starting at 6:00 pm will be the Superboat boat parade and block party on Franklin Street. Sunday, August 5th, races are scheduled to start at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm respectively off the beachfront of Washington Park. If you want to watch the race again or can’t make the race, you can always see the action here at new.livestream.com/michigancity12.
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