Team Amsoil Offshore Racing Wins The World Championship Title In Key West, Florida
 

Team AMSOIL traveled to Key West, Florida to compete in the annual UIM/SBI Offshore World Championships held the week of November 2nd through November 9th. Teams arrived several days early to set up camp at the Truman Annex section of the island for the week-long event. A total of three race days are combined to achieve the final results. All classes and over 50 offshore race teams raced on Wednesday, November 5th, Friday, November 7th, and in the finale on Sunday, November 9th. The preceding days and days between race days are designated for testing.

Team AMSOIL tested extensively on Tuesday to decide on the proper set-up for the traditionally rough Key West water. The testing paid off and Team AMSOIL nailed the set up. When the green flag dropped on Wednesday, Team AMSOIL took the lead and never looked back. By the end of the race, Team AMSOIL was nearly one minute ahead of second place Popeye’s racing.

The conditions were slightly rougher for Friday’s race. A quick green flag at the start caught Team AMSOIL still coming on plane. Team Popeye’s, having a better start, was able to lead to the first turn. Team AMSOIL dogged the Popeye’s boat the entire race while Popeye’s drove defensively to keep Team AMSOIL from passing. Even though Team AMSOIL ran the majority of the laps with a faster time, Team Popeye’s finished 3 seconds ahead of Team AMSOIL for the second race. This finish still left Team AMSOIL in the lead by time and speed. That evening, AMSOIL was one of the participants in the offshore boat parade and display held on Duval Street in the Downtown district of Key West. Racing fans were able to witness gridlock traffic with offshore boats where they could buy Team AMSOIL T-shirts and even get some autographs from the team!

With AMSOIL and Popeye’s each having one first and one second place finish under their belts, the final winner would now be decided in Sunday’s double points race. Team AMSOIL spent the entire day on Saturday trying different prop and gear ratio set-ups to make sure the boat could win on Sunday. Sunday’s conditions included winds in excess of 20 knots from the north. The conditions were the most challenging of the three days. At the start, Team AMSOIL established a several second lead over Popeye’s going into the first turn. Popeye’s remained within a close 3 to 6 seconds behind Team AMSOIL for most of the time making it a challenging race for both teams. With approximately four laps to go, both teams were running flat out into the left-hand Turn 1. Popeye’s made a hard push going into the turn, hooked the Turn 1 buoy at a high rate of speed, and flipped violently. Team AMSOIL also hopped a couple of times. After Bob Teague and Paul Whittier got control of the boat, they could not see Popeye’s in their mirrors. It was assumed that they had just spun out and would be coming along soon. WHM, another yellow boat, was mistaken as their boat for a short period of time. Ultimately, when Team AMSOIL passed Turn 1 on the next lap, it was obvious that the Popeye’s boat had flipped. Bob and Paul were relieved to see that both Popeye’s racers, Stan Ware and Jim Natoli, were out on their boat. From that point, Team AMSOIL having a significant lead on the rest of the Super Cat fleet, raced with a little more caution to a win and first place overall standing in the UIM/SBI Super Cat class.

Ultimately, Jim Natoli was hospitalized in the ICU in a Miami hospital due to his injuries. Team AMSOIL is happy to report that he is making a quick recovery.

Winning the World Championship Title capped off a near perfect sophomore season for Team AMSOIL. Team AMSOIL also won the Cat Lite High Points Title in the OPA Racing Circuit, The Geico Triple Crown, and the Offshore Super Series National Championship and High Points Title for Cat Lite.

Next, Team AMSOIL is traveling to the Salton Sea in the Southern California Desert to attempt to set a new class speed record. This event will be held from December 4th through December 7th.

The AMSOIL Offshore Race Team continues to have great results with the new 15W50 Dominator Racing engine oil and the array of AMSOIL lubricants used in every component and system in the race boat. The team thanks AMSOIL for its great sponsorship package and attributes its racing success to the superior lubricants it offers. Thanks also go to AMF Offshore Racing for race support and their efforts to further the entire sport of offshore powerboat racing.

United We Race!

Next stop: APBA Kilo Event – Salton Sea, CA – December 4-7

See you at the races!

Official Amsoil Site: http://www.amsoil.com/racing.aspx