• 11 in 2011- #5 Powerboat P1 USA

    by Serious Offshore



    In March of 2011 Powerboat P1 announced that the Liberty Associates production facility in North Carolina was in full production on the new 28SS Panther. For those of you that may not immediately recognize the Liberty name, this was the group in possession of the ex-Fountain production facility. The race sites announced were being led by the Madison Indiana joint venture with the Unlimited Hydroplanes. The second race for the series would be at the Detroit Gold Cup races, with the winner hoisting the Gar Wood trophy. Then in August, there would be a race in Morehead City, followed by an event in Huston, and finally the championship in San Diego California. Unfortunately, the event in Houston had to be cancelled due to the extremely low water levels caused by the drought. At the end of the season, the Father & Son combo of Mark and Cody Kowalski were crowned P1 SuperStock USA National Champions. The JD Byrider crew became the first P1 SuperStock USA champion in the inaugural 2011 season and finished by winning round 10 in San Diego.


    The 28 foot P1 Super Stock boats feature a 250HP Evinrude outboard. They are unique in that they can be a legal race boat for an event, then the back cowling can be removed and they become a four passenger fun performance boat. Three of the SuperStock teams, Ocala Gran Prix, Peters and May and Oregon Custom Marine actually ran the Miami to Key West Poker Run during the week of the Key West World’s and were displayed for review and testing during the event.

    Needless to say, another race organization, promoting another class of boats, in the US made for some chatter amongst the keyboard crowd. Those questions ran from if there was room for another group to would it be to the detriment of the other organizations. Some questioned whether other events might lose entries and/or support P1 versus existing organizations and if P1 was really Offshore racing with events all being held on rivers, lakes, and bays. Those are questions we still cannot completely answer at this time. But, an opinion we can make, the boats are pretty cool and the teams running them all had a blast. When these father son teams get in the boats and race, it certainly makes all of us glad there is something to bring them together. We certainly hope those sons, or maybe even daughters, become the racers of tomorrow in the bigger boats many of the fathers are running at this time.


    P1 USA operates under the rules of the UIM on an international level, and then the APBA and RYA in the USA, and UK respectively. UIM is the world governing body for powerboat racing with connections to the International Olympic Committee while the APBA is the United States’ federation to this prestigious organization. We cannot say what the final outcome is going to be for P1 USA, but it appears their inaugural season was a success.

    These race boats have not only been on display in Key West since the end of the season, but were also at the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show, PRI show, West Palm Beach Exotic Car Show. If your plans for next week put you in Miami, be sure to put the Powerboat P1 boats on your must-see list.



    In 2012, there are more events planned than there were in 2011, and the overseas P1-28SS class is also growing. The hope is to build both programs and have a true World Championship in the very near future, ideally by 2015. Each country will run their own league within their respective federation, yielding a national champion, qualifying to compete at a continental, and then the world champion level at a true World Cup event on the world stage.



    Another one of the rumblings out there we’re hearing, the P1 28SS boats will not only attend some of the events in conjunction with the H1 Unlimited Hydros, but they will also have a couple events of their own, plus a joint OSS offshore event in Biloxi. Additionally, all of the P1 events will be open to the APBA Offshore categories with a couple of exceptions where the courses cannot accommodate the larger boats. It would sure be interesting to see a dozen of these boats in a true Offshore event with 3’s and 4’s to contend with, but then again, check out the videos of the races in the UK and you will see plenty of air-time.



    http://www.p1superstock.com