I dont think you are going to see any did suprise there. APBA is already working on a new site,and went into it in lenght at the St. Cloud race.
All the teams that race 2 races this year with any of the groups are welcome. I think it will be great,and it will be good to see 100 boats at a World Championship race again. SBI rules and APBA rules are the same so the teams shouldnt have a problem with that. It will be cool to see who the true big dogs are,all in one place at one time.

Frank
"Koolhand"

So Frank, APBA is definately not going to Key West?

Have all talks of running a joint World Championship been washed away? :confused:

If APBA does thier own thing, I just hope they pick different dates.

What a shame if they can't get together. Maybe the racers can make thier voice heard and unite in Key West even if APBA doesn't want to go there.

From what I got out of the meeting it sounded that way. APBA is dead set on racing there own race.They keep saying about the problem with the rules being different,but I think they are the same. I know it would be an Insurance nightmare if you tried to have to Sanctioned bodies running one race so on and so...the problems wouldn't stop. Doesn't matter what group it is but you can only have one running the show. I'm sure if they are willing to give alittle they could make it work but it doesn't look that way.

Frank
"Koolhand"

There's 8 months before KW, ya NEVER know what could happen in 8 months!

Even though Bertel has been a pain in the a$$, He is not one to hide.

Most certainly.

Augie is right...anything can happen in 8 months.

it just depends on how the pieces fall in place over the next month or two.

if its meant to be, it will be.

Bertle aka Peconic is not Throttleman. Think about it, Bertle has said many things to ruffle your feathers and he's never tried to hide yet, why would he start now? What would he gain?

PS... the permits were awarded to Conch Republic Offshore Racing Association/SBI today.

To All Concerned:

The APBA message to it's racing membership which was conveyed at the St Cloud event this past weekend was as follows;

The APBA management team has made 4 trips to Key West and 1 trip to Florida in the past 6 weeks to meet with and attempt to work out a method for an event that would have all organizations racing in Key West together during November of 2004 on the dates that the APBA had first applied for permits on. The results of these meetings were as follows;

1.) The only time an OSS representative showed up at a scheduled meeting was on the March 31 TDC Board Meeting date.

2.) The only offer ever made to the APBA from the Conch Republic Power Boat Racing Association represented as an offer from the SBI mandated that the APBA would have no television rights from the event and it's major corporate sponsors could not have a presence at the race without negotiating a separate agreement with the SBI.

3.) All races must be run under SBI technical rules and SBI Safety services.

4.) The SBI representative at the 3/31 meeting stated that there was continuing conversation with the APBA regarding the event. This was in fact not true. The discussion had ended previously, with the above conditions being unacceptable to the APBA and the executives of each organization had wished each other good luck on their respective 2004 seasons.

5. In addition the Outer Mole area in Key West which previously was a major factor in spectator viewing was no longer available for use.

6. Another factor was a now restricted area size available near the Truman annex for Dry Pits parking which would limit the number and size of parking areas for teams.

7. The APBA had previously in earlier meetings held over the past 6 weeks presented a plan to allow all groups to race without restrictions and were open to any reasonable compromise that respected the identity of each organizations brand image and the identity of it's racers classes.

With the above situation and positions noted the Key West TDC voted to give the essential funding grant to the local Conch Republic group that had applied for the same dates relative to Coast Guard permits that the APBA had applied for 1 1/2 months earlier.

Given the above decisions, facts, sponsor issues and the fact that the APBA being recognized by the UIM sanctioning body authority in the USA as it's representative which mandates that the APBA not sanction or race in any event that does not utilize UIM rules and regulations basically requires the APBA to seek another alternative and direction.

While we were disappointed in the outcome, we are moving on with alternate plans at another site. We wish the city of Key West nothing but the best in their event plans and appreciate the past courtesies extended by the City of Key West, to the APBA group. We ask only their understanding of our commercial, technical and organizational issues, and their recognition that we truly tried to create an atmosphere for compromise.

Mark Skrzypek
(aka HelmPilot)

For the APBA Offshore Racing Association.


***(Supplemental Note)*****

In the interest of what is best for the sport, let's all accept the decisions that have been made and respect the rights of each organizations management to make those decisions in the best interests of their membership.