RaceLover

As we all know, things are always changing in racing. Superboat lite/ Superboat limited have drastically changed in the past year. In years past the whole concept of this class was so the average performance boater could take his STOCK, FACTORY, PLEASURE BOAT and pleasure boat on Saturday and race on Sunday. APBA has made many changes as to their boat specifications. For one, any boat 2002 or new must be fully enclosed by a canopy and have an Oxygen system This in itself eliminates each and every pleasure boater from racing in the organization. The only other option is SBI. Now here is the dilemma. Superboat Limited fell apart last year when Bank Beaters was caught cheating at the National Championship in New York. The other racers in the class were rightfully very upset when the head of SBI, John Carbonell, Did all he could to cover up the cheating incident. After all was said and done, Bank Beaters was found to be cheating running 540 CI Motors with extensive work done to them and was DQ'ed. John Carbonell also DQ'ed every other boat in the class except one for fabricated minor infractions that according to SBI's own rule book was only punishable by a $100 fine if found guilty of the infractions. This of course outraged all of the other racers in the class. Not only did they not get there prize money, entry fee money returned, thousands and thousands of dollars wasted to compete in this class, they feel they were shafted by an organization they have supported for years. Not to mention Zipp Express had their Kilo record stripped from the previous year! It was found out and even admitted by Doug kelly of Bank Beaters he was cheating. The only discrepancy was it 3 or 4 races he was cheating. Each race costs these teams anywhere from $3000 to $10000 or more per race depending on logistics and if there are any major repairs needed. This is THOUSANDS of dollars wasted racing a boat with a completely unfair advantage (1350 HP vs 940 HP) that the other racers never ever had a chance in hell to beat. Now several of the racers would consider going back to SBI since APBA is out of the question. Now the question is what's fair? The racers that were wronged have never been apologized to by John Carbonell. 2 of them have been apologized to by Doug kelly. But several of the other wronged racers have never been apologized to by anyone. What would you think is fair? Apologizes by Kelly and Carbonell to the other racers? Restitution from Kelly for some of the wasted money chasing him? Restitution from Carbonell for the cover up? Entry fees and memberships covered by Carbonell? Reinstatement of Zipp Expresses Kilo record? Several of the racers would like to put this to bed but things need to b done to make this right. What do you think is fair?

dockrocker

No opinion on the whole "reparations" thing, but I'm thinking I'll throw some popcorn in the microwave...

Ron P

Kelly is out of racing and John hasn't even paid the purse from New Orleans yet. Don't count on anything more than a verbal appology. That day that you mention in NYC cast the die for SBI. I can't tell you how much I wanted to see John do the right thing, but he chose the other path and now he's got to live with the results.

Munch, munch.

RaceLover

Kelly has been racing unopposed with the name "Rumor Has It" on the boat. I did here he was going to marathon this weekend. Did you here differant. Kelly has contacted 2 of the other racers and has tried to get them back to race against him. He offered to "Make it right" and Carbonell also said he would do something but neither side can come to a conclusion whats fair.

RaceLover

It is sad. Last year there were over 40 boats in Fort Myers. This year only 19.

Shane

Maybe the best solution to all of this is simply eliminate SBI and the LLC and start fresh.

RaceLover

It looks like SBI is doing a good job of eliminating itself. The unfortunate thing is SBI does have really good race sites. Where else is there for the pleasure cats to go race? That's why it was called Factory 3 in the past. APBA made the class a professional class by changing their guidelines.

klmken

Why is it a sport with so many quality induviduals (largely represented here ont he board) has to have two filthy, dirty dealers as the head of the two main racing organizations. Where is the decency and moral character that so many of our brethren display........... Anyway what goes around, comes around.......

xracer

To date there has always been problems with the rules and presidents of the racing organizations. There will probably always nbe some conflict,regarding rules and the out-come of races!!The biggest problem now is that S.B.I.,John Carbonell,pres. is running a race program where it,s {JOHNS RULES OR THE HIGHWAY!!} JOHNS the president ,the and the jury!! theres no way to dicuss anything if JOHN does not want to!
John went too far with the DOUG KELLY{BANKBEATERS>COM } issue in NEW YORK last sept. the attendance was already LOW,and he let again ONE SINGLE racer CHEAT 5 or 6 other race teams that were racing to have fun,and for a chance to get tropys ,or alittle$$$. Those teams have every right to be PISSED OFF!!S>B>I>,JOHN is supposed to run a fair & safe place to race.He cheated the teams as much or More than DOUG KELLYS {bankCheaters .com}even did! Why would the President of a race organization even get envolved??If he finds a team CHEATING ,D.Q.!!!Simple !!! Then us Fans would be able to watch a race with boats racing , instead of ONE boat running by HIMSELF!!!It,s boring enough with more boats ,let along traveling to a race site to see 1-3 boats in a class.
John {S.B.I.} could have made this a good year of racing.He has great sites BUT NO BOATS!!NOW we know why!DOUG KELLY {bankCheaters.com}helps starts the problem ,takes the GLORY, then Quits when HE & S.B.I.{john}cannot figure out what to do in resolving the PROBLEM that they could have STOPPED!! Not Good for racing FANS & SPONSORS everywhere.TOO BAD!!

LubeJobs42

iTrader: (2)

XRACER

You are 100% correct. Carbonell makes the rules as he goes. I am sick every weekend there is a race and I'm not there racing. i would have gladly went to APBA but with all of the guys racing with the new 525's I don't have a chance with my 500 efis. I would love to put all of this behind us and go back to racing. To this day, I still can't understand how Carbonell could screw 5 teams to stick up for one guy that was proven wrong! In new York i was the only boat not DQ'ed. Carbonell gave me the win. To this day all I got was excuses instead of prize money (which I promissed to split with the other 5 teams that were wronged). He kept our entry fees, kept our prize money and screwed 5 very loyal, very honest teams and destroyed our class.