Offshoreonly.com - Sbi Nj Results????

Hello Race Fans,

Race week started with the arrival of the SuperBoat International members
and staff, a contingency of dedicated professionals who have honed their
craft as they travel from race site to race site in order to provide a safe
place to race. When they come to New Jersey, they are greeted by the oldest
offshore racing club in the United States, the NJ Offshore Racing
Association and its sister organization, OPA. At this particular race, the
two groups worked together extremely well and put on a first class show, in
spite of a tragic start.

The group of SBI personnel, led by its President, John Carbonell arrived on
Tuesday in preparation for the first boat’s arrival on Wednesday. On
Wednesday morning, John learned that his grandson had passed away in his
sleep in his hotel room. As you can imagine the group was devastated by
grief, but they quickly pulled together and continued doing what needed to
get done. John and his wife Deena left to tend to their family’s needs while
every one else continued the task at hand. As the racers arrived and heard
the news, a memorial was established at the pits and was quickly filled with
flower arrangements sent by the race teams and supporters. It was a
beautiful display of affection.

Please remember Mando Parra in you prayers tonight. He will be missed by
many.

* * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * *

It’s 7am on race morning and the first thing I always do is to check the
direction of the wind. The lousy southeast wind that has been blowing for
the last three days has changed to a soft westerly breeze. Much calmer seas
will quickly replace the snotty conditions that existed during Thursday’s
test session. The set up that worked during testing session was not going to
do the trick today.

At 9:30 Jet Set, the local 3000hp turbine powered boat pulls up to my
neighbor’s pier to pick Paul and I up. This boat is such an anomaly that
when people see it, they instantly reach for their cameras. Mike Fusco has
been running this boat for the last 6 years and has completely mastered the
art of running Jet Set. Including providing passengers with complimentary
earplugs to dampen the incredibly loud whine of the turbines. Now if he
could just figure out a way to keep the flames from singeing the hair on the
back of his passenger’s necks from the flames.

Mike lit the torches and we were gone. Running across the bay at 110 MPH in
Jet Set is done as effortlessly as doing 40 mph in boat capable of running
80 mph. It’s like the sweet spot where the boat is most efficient. Anything
slower and it’s coming off plane, any thing faster and your pushing the fuel
mileage down. We got out into the ocean and onto the racecourse at about
10:15 and ran around it one time to ensure the markers where in their
correct positions. Upon re-entry to the inlet, Mike put on a spectacular
flame show for the thousands of cheering fans along the jetty walls as we
tried to hide from the heat by getting down on the floor of the boat. When
we arrived at the wet pits, Paul and I relinquished our seats in Jet Set to
two of the local State Police officers who offered to give Mike a permanent
“Get out of Jail Free Card” for a ride. With a whoosh, a whine, a puff of
smoke and flame, Jet Set was headed back out into the ocean for another
round on the racecourse and a flame show to thrill the fans on shore with
the two officers on board. Thanks Mike, it was great to have you as a part
of the show.

Our ride for the day was Pace Boat 1. Pete Mazzo’s beautiful 42
Outerlimits. “No Discipline” was waiting for us and all the other race boats
at the Wharfside Patio Bar and Grill. We waited as Pace Boat 2, Mike
DeFransa’s awesome 36 Apache was leading the boats from the launch area to
the mouth of the inlet with Police escort. We mounted up and met them at the
inlet, got the race boats in line behind us and then waited for Coast Guard
clearance to blow the inlet. (Manasquan inlet is normally a no wake zone.
However, with Coast Guard approval and Marine Police escort, they allowed us
to run the inlet at full speed.) Upon receiving the final green light from
Race Control, Pete put the big Outerlimits into gear and advanced the
throttles so that we were skipping through the inlet at a comfortable 60
mph. Entering the ocean with a skip and jump off the inlet rollers we ran
the boats on a short pace lap around the course. Once in the milling area it
was time to find the smoke flare and let the boats know that it was only
three minutes to the start of the race.

Bringing the big boats down the beach is always a thrill. To be side by side
at 80mph with 15 of the fastest boats in the world is a thrill beyond
compare. Once the boats were all lined up to our port side, we swapped the
yellow flag for the green flag and the volume immediately erupted to a fever
pitch as the boats blew by us and washed us down with a very refreshing
spray of their roostertails. Less than a minute later, the big Apache
brought the second start down the beach in similar fashion.

With both starts cleanly off we pulled into the inside of the racecourse and
witnessed a breathtaking moment. The lead boat from the first start was the
Super V “Muscle”. He was now on his way north and was way off course running
right up the middle of the racetrack. This is where over 25 medical, dive,
and VIP boats are stationed to monitor the day’s events. I guess these guys
like to play follow the leader because behind Muscle came Firewater and
Instigator. It was clear that they were all headed for Tony Presti’s
SunSeeker VIP boat. It looked like Muscle turned hard right with about 100
feet to spare. Firewater and Instigator were side by side in Muscles wake.
Once Muscle turned and the spray cleared the other two boats took evasive
action…toward each other. Oh ****! They almost touched before they moved
apart and split the “****ting in its pants” Sunseeker down the middle. Once
the boats got onto a groove and learned where the turn pillows were located
things got better quickly.

In P – 5 our crash test dummies were back out on the racecourse in a new
boat that was still a little too new to race and barely made the start line
before a hose let go. Bruce and Gary will be back with a vengeance soon
enough. Xtreme Air was flying high until their engine called it a day long
before the end of the race. This left Club Egan Racing and Carrabbas - Team
Blythe to race to the finish. Club Egan’s twin engine Donzi proved to have
definite advantage over Carrabbas single engine 28 Pantera in today’s race.

P5
1st Club Egan Racing
2nd Carrabbas – Team Blythe
3rd Xtreme Air
4th Simply Awesome

In P – 4 “The Delicate Sound of Thunder” swapped the lead with “Panther” at
least three times before the final winner was established. These guys put on
a great show, as they were never more that a 100 yards apart.

P4
1st The Delicate Sound of Thunder
2nd Panther

After the first lap, the leaders from the second start were the P3 boat
“Wazzup” and the mighty little F1 boat, “Typhoon” who were tearing up the
racecourse. Wazzup was out in front but skipping like a stone on a pond
behind him was “Typhoon”, followed closely by “Gecko Tequila” and
“SuperBoat”. “Team Progression” seemed to be way off the pace today. The F1
boats are so closely matched and their crews so nuts that they never were
more that a few seconds apart. Dry Martini, the other P3 boat, rounded out
the leaders from the second start. At the finish line is was Wazzup over Dry
Martini.

P3
1st Wazzup
2nd Dry Martini

P – 2 class saw Frank Kerbeck bringing the old 41 Apache Island Runner out
of retirement for another time around the turn buoys. It seemed like they
needed a lap or two to get her up to speed again and by that time the other
P4 boat, “Relentless” was gone and never to be seen again.

P2
1st Relentless
2nd Island Runner

Even though Gecko looked like they were running harder and SuperBoat wanted
it more, they could just never catch up to Typhoon. Once again, the dog
pound boys drove it like they stole it and stole the show in F1.

F1
1st Typhoon
2nd Gecko Tequila
3rd SuperBoat
4th Team Progression

Moving up to the boats from the first start, in F2 we had several boats that
have never been to NJ before. Invensys Fountain was hanging with the Super
Vs for a while. This boat was screaming around the track with the Rio
Roses/Fountain, Miccosukee Indian Gaming and Lynch Mob in pursuit.
Miccosukee Indian Gaming was the first to have something let go in the
second lap. Lynch Mob brought out a brand new 39 quad stepped Kryptonite
hull that was stunning and proved to be competitive on the racecourse…until
a rocker arm broke and ended it’s run for glory. The two Fountains ran hard
the entire race, but only one can win.

F2
1st Invensys Fountain
2nd Rio Roses/Fountain
3rd Lynch Mob
4th Miccosukee Indian Gaming

Bankbeaters.com, FastBoats.com and Zipp Express took the green flag, all
having something to prove. Zipp Express recently set a kilo record at
113.495 mph. However, in this race he ran a little too hard and hurt the
boat to the point he had to call it a day. Bankbeaters.com thought he was on
a NASCAR track. Using the old saying, “If ya ain’t rubbin then ya ain’t
racin” got together with the brand new Superboat Brioski Racing. Just like
in NASCAR, they rubbed and both raced to the end. Fastboats.com held till
the end but Bankbeaters.com was just too much for them today.

Superboat Limited
1st Bankbeaters.com
2nd Fastboats.com
3rd Zipp Express