Key West 2012 Videos, Musings, Updates, and Rumors!!!

[Ratickle]

I'm certainly not happy that we had to miss this year's event, but sometimes stuff happens that has to take precedence. So, I'm relying on our friends and members to keep us updated as much as possible. My first musing:

The new class,

SUPERBOAT™
(Inboard Catamaran - Numbers only)

At the request of the SBIP members & equipment owners SUPERBOAT CLASS™ will be a consolidation of the SUPERBOAT 750, SUPERBOAT 850, and SUPER CAT CLASSES, and will be listed as one of SBIP National Series classes for the 2013 season. All rules and requirements listed in the Technical and General Competition rulebooks will govern the class. The SBIP rules which follow are safety and competition based. The formula endeavors to keep competition close and exciting, principally by monitoring technology changes and limiting the differences between racing equipment from team to team in order to ensure maximum excitement and enjoyment for racers and fans alike.

seems to be an incredible class, with major potential, based on the first event on Wednesday. Reports say there were four lead changes in the first four laps.

Update on the first race and the boats participating:

CLASS: SUPERBOAT
DIST: 41.7 miles
LAP-1 LAP-2 LAP-3 LAP-4 LAP-5 LAP-6 LAP-7 TOTAL AVG PEN ELAPSED
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13 STIHL
88.2 93.7 90.3 93.7 93.7 91.1 91.4 41.7 91.89 -- 00:27:16 1 250

5 WHM MOTORSPORTS
89.7 93.0 91.8 91.1 90.7 90.7 92.6 41.7 91.45 -- 00:27:24 2 225

45 JD BYRIDER
89.2 93.7 90.7 86.1 93.7 93.0 91.1 41.7 91.11 -- 00:27:30 3 202.5

15 MARITIMO
92.2 90.0 89.6 91.1 89.6 91.8 93.0 41.7 91.00 -- 00:27:32 4 182.5

7 TEAM CRC
79.3 82.3 82.9 85.5 84.5 83.9 83.2 41.7 83.24 -- 00:30:06 5 164.5

33 FASTBOATS MARINE GROUP
83.7 80.8 81.4 80.8 81.1 81.4 83.2 41.7 81.75 -- 00:30:39 6 148

38 WARPAINT ---------------------- 0.0 0.00 -- 00:00:00 7 133

That is quite a group of experienced teams, and they appear to be very evenly matched for the most part. I'm waiting to hear from Tim and Mike as to what happened with CRC, and the rumor is that Warpaint had some kind of fuel issue so had to head back in before the start of the race. But, the first four finishers, had less than a one mile per hour difference in their speed averages over the entire seven lap race. Impressive.....

More rumor, I heard Byrider spun out on the far outside corner, and that was why they had the one lap at 86 versus the 91 to 93 range of the other laps....

And a bit more rumor, Friday's water is looking to be a bit rougher yet. We'll see.......

[Ratickle]

Updates:
Today is "Breezy, but warmer than yesterday". We'll have to see how the water reacts by race time.
Ryan Slater and Doc were in the Watch Your Back Fountain on Wednesday, Joe Sgro and Brian Forehand were in the Snowy Mountain OL.

Musings:
A nice turnout also for the Superboat Extreme Class, (The old P1 class at 117 MPH breakout). Looks like the Italian team I'm kind of hoping ot do well didn't have a good start. The SBI starts in Key West are something else for a first timer, and I don't know how rapidly those turbo-diesels spin up to speed. Ten boats entered, the results of Wednesday's event:

CLASS: SUPERBOAT EXTREME
DIST: 29.3 LAP-1 LAP-2 LAP-3 LAP-4 LAP-5 LAP-6 LAP-7 TOTAL AVG PEN ELAPSED
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
77 LUCAS OIL MAV-TV
93.2 94.1 93.3 92.6 90.3 ------------ 29.3 92.72 -- 00:19:00 1 250
30 TWISTED METAL MOTORSPORTS
90.7 92.2 91.8 90.7 92.2 ------------ 29.3 91.59 -- 00:19:14 2 225
01 INSTIGATOR
90.2 93.3 93.7 90.0 89.2 ------------ 29.3 91.35 -- 00:19:17 3 202.5
6 BROADCO
84.6 88.2 87.8 86.5 87.8 ------------ 29.3 87.14 -- 00:20:13 4 182.5
60 METAMARINE TNT
79.6 87.1 87.5 85.8 87.8 ------------ 29.3 85.86 -- 00:20:31 5 164.5
129 CLEVELAND CONSTRUCTION
75.6 81.4 82.0 78.3 78.3 ------------ 29.3 79.29 -- 00:22:13 6 148
12 SHEDS PLUS
74.6 78.5 74.1 67.8 70.1 ------------ 29.3 72.79 -- 00:24:12 7 133
117 WATT AHH
73.6 59.5 ------------------------------ 10.7 64.78 -- 00:09:58 8 119.5
43 OUTERLIMITS
84.1 ------------------------------------ 4.5 84.18 -- 00: 03:15 9 107.5
17 LUCAS OIL
------------------------------------------

Rumors:
Absolutely Not blew an engine in testing on Tuesday, drove to Miami and purchased a new engine, installed it Tuesday night (finished rigging it early Wednesday morning), and finished second in Wednesday's race. If that's the way it shook out, congratulations guys, awesome......

[Ratickle]

Update;

Key West, FL (33040)
Updated: Nov 9, 2012, 11:25am EST

Most recent high temperature much below average.
71°F Sunny
Wind - From NNE 13mph, gusting to 19mph

Rumor:
Qatar also spun out on Wednesday

[SVL66]

JD Byrider spun in the harbor, but recovered nicely. Dont know bout Qatar

[Ratickle]

How are you doing up there in Jersey?

[Ratickle]

They have Frank on right now....

[Ratickle]

Not nice Bruce.....

[Ratickle]

Well, the second Superboat Extreme is over and the results as I have them, (unofficial), are:

CLASS: SUPERBOAT EXTREME


43 OUTERLIMITS
30 TWISTED METAL MOTORSPORTS
12 SHEDS PLUS
01 INSTIGATOR
77 LUCAS OIL MAV-TV
60 METAMARINE TNT
129 CLEVELAND CONSTRUCTION
6 BROADCO
17 LUCAS OIL
117 WATT AHH

I'm not certain this is perfect, and I have absolutely no idea if anyone broke out over the 117MPH maximum, but if these finishes hold up, when combined with the first race for points, will make for an interesting Sunday race. I would have, currently:

1 - Twisted - 450 points
2 - Lucas - 415 points
3 - Instigator - 385 points
4 - Outer Limits - 357 points
5 - Sheds Plus - 335 points
6 - Broadco - 322 points
7 - Metamarine - 312 points

If this is close to accurate, the double points for Sunday's race make it a really close event for the top 3 boats, with Twisted in the drivers seat. Another second from him means he'd have to lose to Lucas to lose the championship (I believe). We'll find out when the official, unofficial results come in....

[Ratickle]

Ryan, S-111 broke a powerhead in the first race today. Dang, I was really hoping he'd have a really good World's.....

[Ratickle]

Mary Mac/Semper Fi flipped in the harbor...

[Ratickle]

Out of the boat and okay according to the announcers...

[SVL66]

How are you doing up there in Jersey?

very nice weather today through monday. feel bad for all those folks on the shoreline.

[SVL66]

Not nice Bruce.....

cant help it hes a dork!

[SVL66]

Out of the boat and okay according to the announcers...

any news?

[Pat D]

The guys were brought to the crane area by the course marshall as they were ambulatory and got checked out there. They JUST finished righting the boat and brought it to the cranes.
Very quick response and extracation with the help from 4 divers.
Other than that it was a beautiful day for racing, not as windy or cold
It's friday night........... boats on duval night.............

[Pat D]

Not a rumor........
Reggie is no longer an Elvis lookalike.
Beautiful grey hair.
He looks great and I have a picture but need to download

[Ratickle]

Powerboat racers for Staubo, Tomlinson still lead
The Associated Press

KEY WEST, Fla. -- Despite suffering a breakdown and almost sinking, powerboat racers Tor Staubo and Johnny Tomlinson still lead the Superboat Unlmited class at the Key West World Championship.

Piloting Gasse, Staubo of Oslo, Norway, and throttleman Tomlinson of North Miami were averaging 104.8 mph Friday before one of their engine's saltwater intake cooling tubes broke near the end of the sixth lap.

But two other boats in the class, Spirit of Qatar and Miss Geico, also suffered mechanical failures, and finished behind Gasse.

There was one accident when the turbine boat Semper Fi/Miss Mary Mac rolled over at turn (hash)3 in Key West Harbor. Racers Nick Scafidi of Jupiter, Fla., and Richard Chaney Jr. of Lothian, Md., suffered minor contusions and refused medical treatment, officials said.

The championship's finals are scheduled Sunday.

Read more here: KEY WEST, Fla.: Powerboat racers for Staubo, Tomlinson still lead - Florida Wires - MiamiHerald.com

[Ratickle]

Not a good video, but this is where they went over...

key west boat flip 2012 - YouTube

[Ratickle]

Bob the Builder caught this sequence and has it up on Flicker..

Semper Fi 9 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Ratickle]

Well, the new Outerlimits is as dominant in the class as the old Fountain. You'd at least think the Fountain would be fast enough to take second?

But the question now is, how big of an adjustment will they make to the Outerlimits? Just drive, just weight, or both? Will be an interesting discussion I'm sure. I hope the adjustment is made soon so the guys have time to test a bit with the changes before Sunday. I know the handling can be changed dramatically with minimal additions of weight and drive height.

Parity – In an effort to create parity within the Super V Limited Class, after two consecutive wins, SBI will implement one or any of the following. It will be at SBI’s discretion to what degree and which of the following will be implemented.

a. X-Dimension: Adjust the X-Dimension on an individual basis.
b. Weight Modification: Control the weight of any individual boat.
In addition to the minimum weight adjustment, SBI reserves the right at their discretion to also modify the drive height of any boat at any time either in conjunction with the weight adjustment or separately in an effort to maintain a competitive balance in the class.
Accordingly, SBIP reserves the right to adjust this X-Dimension on an individual basis, in an effort to maintain the competitive balance of the class.