Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


ESPN TO TELEVISE POWERBOAT 'RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE';
CITGO SPONSORS 1,100-MILE VENEZUELAN RIVER RACE


BRISTOL, Conn. (Sept. 15, 2004) -- Formula One World Champions Mike Seebold
and Nigel Hook are no strangers to endurance powerboat racing, but put these
two multi-championship winners on the world's third largest river for eight
days, add course obstacles like crocodiles, piranha and anacondas, throw in
a cheering section of howler monkeys and macaws and you've got a world class
rumble in the jungles of Venezuela that will be televised on ESPN on
December 19 from 4 - 5 p.m. ET.

The CITGO-sponsored Nuestros Ríos Son Navegables was held Aug. 28-Sept. 4,
2004 in Venezuela, more specifically in more than a dozen of rivers
including the famous Orinoco River, which originates along the southern
borders of Venezuela and Brazil. The 1,100-mile race features Seebold and
Hook in their high performance race boats competing against 120 other
challengers, including 30 other high performance race boat pilots from
around the world.

"We believe that sponsoring Nuestros Ríos Son Navegables and getting ESPN
through the adventure of producing this TV show will certainly take this
unique rally to the next level and project the beauty of Venezuelan grass
lands and rain forests" said Antonio Rivero, CITGO Executive Vice President.

The event was the brainchild of two adventuresome Venezuelans 30 years ago
who wanted to prove that the rivers of their native country were navigable.
Navigation challenges for the competitors included swirling rapids, sandy
islands, shifting channels and extreme tidal action. At times, the race
resembled a floating party, with overnight stops that included a bikini
contest. But as the telecast will show, the final 65-mile sprint to the
finish on the final day of competition was no party for any of the
competitors or their crews....and neither was the challenge of keeping the
high-maintenance machinery in tune throughout the grueling eight-day race.

"We had our share of teething problems with the new rig and it was a
challenge to keep the crew focused through that, but the biggest challenge
by far was the navigation," said Hook, who currently holds the endurance
record for racing from San Francisco to Los Angeles in six hours, 45
minutes. "Luckily we had a Venezuelan navigator, or we'd still be out
there!"

Hook noted that the best part of the event was "the welcome, friendship and
warmth of the Venezuelan people, who made us feel like brothers. We'll
definitely be back next year."

CITGO, the official sponsor of the eight-day endurance race on Venezuela's
rivers, also sponsors Venezuelan Champion Racecar driver Milka Duno in the
Grand Am Series. Duno was the first woman in history to race in the LMP 900
class in the 2002 ALMS Championship. She is the first Latina to win a major
international sports car race, the Grand Am Rolex Series' Grand Prix of
Miami last March.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Mike Seebold came in 2 and Nigel came in 3 , There where over 130 boats in the race.

Mike Seebold also is the Driver for the Rio Roses V-71.

Mike

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

ttt

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Today on ESPN at 4pm EST.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Time to set up the vcr again...Comcast has a "TIVO like" option I'm gonna check out anybody have it yet?

Thanks Ron!!

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Thanks for the heads up Ron.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

What type of boats did they run in that race?

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

TTT, on right now.......pretty cool!

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

With all due respect, at least the television is far better than the magazine articles in both Powerboat Mag and PKA Mag as both publications never even mentioned the winner of the race??

One never even showed a picture of the winning boat!

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Let's see... Venezuela in summer??? about 140* out and humid as sh!t

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

tim you just want to take mike to the movies with ya. ttt

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Cool I'm taping it Thanks 4 the heads up

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Talk about a no holds barred event. A true "Run what'cha brung" race. That was crazy. Looks like a blast. Bass boats, jet skis, cats, deep v's, hell I think I saw a Bayliner!...lmao

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

If the sanctioning offshore dudes would wise up and unify that's the kind of exposure they'd get instead of a Fountain infomercial on OLN.
A solid sponsor (like here CITGO) and mainstream airtime with descent editing and great photography.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

for any of those that taped it, i would love to have a copy.... :D i guess i don't know how to set my vcr anymore :( you know how long its been since i even turned on my vcr.... but anyway, if anybody could help out a winterlocked boat, pm me....

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

I talked with Ian who works for Ilmor and he said the trip was great. He said that the Citgo Eliminator ran flawless with the twin V-10 vipers and the only problem they had was when they hit something and tore a drive off. The VP from Citgo was out of charlotte, nc.
They came in first in their class and 3rd overall. I believe that I may have to plan a vacation around this event next year.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

i missed it does anyone know if it will be aired agin

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Yea,
Like mikes280, I missed it, anyone know if it will be re-aired????

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

My dumb azz forgot to set up the vcr..........anyone know if it will be shown again?

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

i was surprised that the 33 eliminator with the v-10's only ran 115...they couldnt catch a 30' outboard spectre.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Tim

The last day was a speed run.

Mike told me that it was way to hot for anything to be on. The heat was kill them.

Mike

Mike

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Damn I missed it!! :mad:

I read about that in this month's powerboat and thought that is one kick-azz endurance race, very different.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Bingo!...............

It also shows you what a "real" racer...... Mike Seebold..... can do with the wrong boat at the wrong race (2nd out of 115 boats).......and no spare parts.

I presume his helmet and jacket was "tied up" in customs...like everything else it seems.

T2x

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Let's see........ a twin 300x OB 30 Spectre runs 90-100 in heat and humidity with two people on board and a fuel load

The Eliminator "claimed" 115 but couldn't catch the smaller Spectre....... sounds about right........ The 28' Eliminator here in NJ with twin 300 Pro maxes is 30 mph slower than a similarly equipped 28 Skater........and 20 mph slower than a similarly equiped Spectre.

Do the math......It's a California thing

T2x

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

I told my wife the rig for this thing after reading the Hot-Boat article and before watching the program would be a Skater 24 or 28 with eggbeaters.

Of course being bald would make that combo even faster but there is certain things I just won't do... :D

Hey T2x I tough a Skater 24 won not a Specter 30??? anyone else got that impression?

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

With all the crap in the water I'd like to fit a pair of jet drives into a 32 skater with small turbine power.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

I happened to be channel surfing yesterday and caught most of it. It was cool to watch especially considering I had just read the article in PB. Talk about a variety of boats! The guy on the jet ski takes the cake.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Powerboat said it was a 24 Skater clone........ but the Eliminator couldn't catch the O/B Spectre earlier in the event either.

I thought it was a great race and harkened back to the old point to point events from my younger days....(Albany-NY.....Around Long Island....Chicago-New Buffalo....etc).... I loved watching Michael Seebold loping (porpoising for those of you from Del Rio, Texas) for 100 miles. That Seebold tunnel....with the right power.....should have been "hanging" a lot better......and could have won overall. Which is not to say that a twin jet drive Skater isn't the way to go for the future.

T2x

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

that was a unique race to watch... but Nigel came in 2nd and Seebold came in somewhere towards the back..."looking like a lost puppy" according to one of the commentators...but he(Mr Seebold) said it best...he brought a knife to a gun fight... And I think he did amazingly well with one motor, one prop and a very small boat...

The eliminator supposedly lost 15mph when they put the replacement drives on because they weren't short enough...and they claimed that the boat wanted rough water which they did not get...

any way you slice it, that was an interesting race, and fun to watch.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

No......actually Seebold came in second on total elapsed time for the whole event....not the last day only

and Nigel came in 3rd....2nd on the final day only.

As to the 15 mph loss...Eliminators are always losing mph for some reason or another...if you put all of the speed they supposedly lose back on those boats, they'd do 200 mph with a single 496 HO.



T2x

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

ahhh...thanks for the clarification rich :)

i see you dont particularly care for eliminators...any reason? I thought it was a pretty big feat when they broke the 100mph barrier with production 496HOs in their 30...no?

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Someone can get a boat race on ESPN a Sunday afternoons that was run 2000 miles to the south of here with 3 American boats and crew out of 115, 2 on board cameras and what looked like 2 handhelds and a sky cam that looked like it was hanging on a kite and make it a blast and very interesting...

Key West'04 if handled comparatively should rival the super-bowl in ratings.

Am I wrong in thinking that;
A cat with two 1300HP blown Sterlings throwing a prop and running against another boat with four Sterlings while yet another cat with V-12's stuffs, rips half it's nose and shears half it's bottom off, all this while a V-Hull with monster power is trying to keep up with them.
A story about any of these race team would show more hardware and technology than some guys building a V-Twin bike.

"Come on Paul Sr. putt your hand in front of that muffler when Mr. Tomlinson cranks it up!!!" :D:D:D

Just venting.... that felt good.
:p

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

I`m going to give Mike Seebold a call to see if he`ll come on here (oso) to tell you guys all about it.

Mike is also the driver of the Rio Roses V-1 boat.

Mike

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

I just watched the race on my DVR and all I can say is hats off to Mike Seebold. He stuck it out through that whole race while constantly porpoising in an underpowered, undersized boat. That my friends is impressive....how many would have kept going even though they new they "brought a knife to a gun fight". Bravo!!

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

I bet there ain't many boats that want to run an endurance race of 1140 miles in the type of conditions they ran in. My hats off the mike and crew for "run what you brung" type of race. The Citgo boat lost a drive and then got lost due some navigation problem and still finished 3rd overall. Could have been first, but Like the old saying if a frog had wings he would never bump his ass. Congratulations to all the participants

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Another thought I have while watching this is how much more popular a point A to point B race would be from a Televsion (documentary type) standpoint. Although any type of boat race interests me, I think these type of races are more television friendly. Not to good to be a live spectater but great for tv. I would love to see that Miami to Florida race or an around L.I. race.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Miami to Florida would be a pretty short race.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

Did anyone TAPE it?
Ron is it on again?
Anybody?
Bueller?
Bueller? :D

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

24' Skater oh yea!!!!!!! Just watced it on DVR was pretty cool for a CITGO commercial. Seebold was bad ass.

Re: Forgedaboud Miami to NY - this is bigger
 

More on the race at:

riosrally.com