Offshoreonly.com - Went thru the dry pits this morning....

Racers seek first win in Dania GP

By Steve Waters
Staff Writer
Posted July 18 2004

Dania Beach · It's been a rough season for Super Boat International two-time defending world and national champions Gary Ballough and Mike Majhess.

Strong performances have been derailed by mystifying malfunctions. Fifth in the Superboat Stock class point standings after four races, their boat Mapei Racing Team comes into today's Dania Beach Centennial Super Boat Grand Prix still seeking its first victory.

The event will have about 30 boats racing on an 8-mile course between the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood and the Dania Beach Pier. Racing starts at 1 p.m.

Mapei won the season-opening race in Miami in April, but was then penalized one minute for being too light and ended up second. Motor trouble in the next two races had the boat finish at the bottom of the class.

At the most recent event two weeks ago in Sarasota, Mapei bounced back from two incidents that could have ruined its race.

The day before the race while on the water, another race boat backed into Mapei, its motor punching a hole in the hull and scraping the side of the hull. Ballough called on a friend in the area, who made a quick repair.

During the race, Mapei was almost done in by an electrical problem that affected the fuel injector in one of the boat's two 300-horsepower outboard motors. Whenever Majhess turned the boat to the left, the motor lost about 500 rpms. To get the motor up to speed, he had to bear to the right, away from the rest of the boats.

Despite that handicap, Mapei was able to make up for the slow start and finish second.

"The most fun was coming from last place and passing all the boats except the first-place boat. We needed half a lap more," Ballough said. "That was more exciting than winning."

Today the Boca Raton neighbors are ready to taste victory. Ballough, the throttleman and owner of a landscape installation business, and Majhess, the driver and a Deerfield Beach firefighter, have been putting much of their time into readying Mapei for the race on their hometown waters.

"Everything's brand new," Majhess said. "Everything's fresh."

"I change parts I changed the day before," Ballough said.

"The problem we're having this year is luck. Bad luck. And that's a result of our having real good luck for a long time."