Why should a shaft boat be penalized? It is more cost effective and safer too.

What are the rules saying next year for Supercat? Are they going to hand down penalties for the top 3 to make things more exciting? Or are they going to loosen the rules for the older boats to make them competetive again. It is a shame people have to go out and buy a new boat every time they are beaten.

pat W

If a rudder boat is safer and cheaper to maintain they should be allowed to race. The weight adjustment is an easy means of leveling the field. I think it would draw in more boats and a better show.

There are cheaper ways of making the older boats competitive and safer. They just have to open the rules.

pat W

I think Tommy Bahama has been converted to a pleasure version of the MTI. I also agree that the Shafts should be allowed. If certain shafts show a competitive edge then rule adjustments/weights can be adjusted for those boats.

Pat,

Are your drives still legal for Supercat???

As far as I know,Pats drives are still allowed,and they are tough enough to handle the HP.Does anyone know if Alcone is coming back and if so who will he be running with,I have also heard that Joey Impressia will be coming back,any info,come on Dennis let the cat out of the bag.

I was told down in KW that Matt Alcone would be returning and that there will be three WHM Motorsports racing entries next year as there were two this year. You will have to let your head figure out the rest or just do some investigating on your own.

DPT/Dennis if I had all your free time I would do that,TTT /You know how the rumors fly,I was just wondering what you heard.Joe I and Stuart H,HMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

I don't believe that the alternative has to be shaft boats with rudders only, as the surface drives do steer also.

As for leveling the field for the Mercury Speedmaster guys, that is a bit of an oxymoron as they are the ones the hinder the other manufacturers from entering the competition field.

If everyone thinks that the surface drives are better, then why do we not see them in the states?

Simple, MERCURY and their loyal followers. The racers vote with their dollars and they voted for mercury. Anything else just isn’t right in their eyes.

And the rules are written so that no other outdrive can enter the classes. Sure people can run a Bravo alternative, but that works in Mercs best interest as well as the average person just sees a Merc drive as the IMCOs are merely a copy. Kinda like Reggie putting his name on a Skater. The average person saw FOUNTAIN not the Skater under the name.

Our drives have been banned since they were homoligated in 2000. That is when the new rules came into effect.They grouped us with the Shaft boys. So far they are still legal to run in SBI.

We slid some past the rules into Vee and were promply shut down there too. I guess it is ok to have pile of spare drives and tear them off the transom every so often. That is a cheap way to go racing safe too.

pat W

There is a lot of Irony in your comment Pat.

In KW everyone was ragging that they kept blowing Bravo's.

I kept telling them they get what they deserve. Nearly every racer there if given the choice would choose Merc over any other alternative. They got exactly what they asked for and they are not happy. And the real irony is that the $$$$$$$$ they have in the Bravo's before they break or start their maintenance life is far more than it should be.

If their loyalty to Merc was because Merc took care of them then it would be one thing and an understandable thing at that. BUT, just the opposite is true; they pay and pay and pay. Look at the numbers, the SV and the SCL field broke more damn Bravos than they can count, and it cost several teams their legitimate chance at victory.

On the other side, one SCL team broke a SSM#6 and I say one SC team changing their SSM#6 drives as well.

Nothing is un-breakable but there are better ways to spend a teams $$.

We all got banned when certain people thought it would be best to get some $$ indirectly off the racers backs. Now there is no competition and there is no alternative.