A quick update on the new Superboat-class team's debut, plus a photo of the boat in action, Qatar Finishes Fifth in SBI Superboat-Class Debut.

Nice looking graphics.

good race for the supercat class.

thought heard the announcers say Qatar was swapping out the Lambo's for merc piston power in the 96 boat. glad to see Qatar putting in an effort to race other boats in those classes.

matt what no mention of Qatar taking SBI overseas to Mideast to race ????

no offense Matt but they finished fifth out of six short two laps and only because Warpaint broke and that is the headline? I personally dont care that they spent a bunch of money to come here to race with a less than impressive showing when the story is the guys who finished all the laps and came in at the top of the field. concrats to Billy and Jay, they earned it.

where were the rest of the unlimited boats? gasse? cms? qatar? geico was the only boat again in its class again?

+1

No offense taken in the least. The story was about the Qatar's team debut in the Superboat class. Their result was their result. We didn't hype it. We simply reported it. We quoted Sheikh Hassan, as clearly noted in the story, from Qatar Marine Sports Federation's press release. (We always sources quotes and information that come from press releases back to the releases.) We also reported the top three finishers in the class, but "race coverage" wasn't what the objective of reporting this piece of news.


The headline was appropriate to the news. It was far from sensational, that's for sure, much less "flattering." You could read the headline and know:
1. The Qatar team raced its Superboat for the first time.
2. The Qatar team finished fifth in its first race.

Not sure what else you'd be looking for in a headline for a "team debut" story.

While it may be of no interest to you and I understand that, ask the Superboat class guys how they feel about they feel about Qatar spending "a bunch of money" in their class. From those I've spoken with, the Qatar team's entry in the class is absolutely welcome and appreciated.

This wasn't a race report, like those OPA is supplying to speedonthewater.com for its entire season. It was a news story on a new and notable entry to a racing class. (Of course, we'd be delighted to run SBI race reports if SBI supplies them, but we don't have the resources to "cover" racing on our own.)

Here's the story on the Qatar cup that someone above was looking for, SBI-Sanctioned Qatar Cup Set for 2014 Season. It's also in its own thread. The Qatar Cocoa Beach story went live before this one—yesterday—because race news has a very limited shelf life.

Should read... WHM finishes first at Cocoa Beach
And go team USA

I am sure Matt would be happy to cover racing if someone wants to step in and sponsor it.

Matt i thought it was a great story, way better then Qatar wins . . . again it shows me they are willing to jump into one of the most competitive classes we have today (if not THE most, great work bringing SC formula back Tony) rather then a one or two extreme boat parade. It takes more the money to stay ahead of everyone in that class. Also good to see the Reliable MTI back out there.

fair enough Matt. maybe I am overly critical as I remember the year we won the Worlds with Alcone Motorsports and the headline in Vapor Trails read "xyz comes in second". there was no mention of us anywhere because Gilbreath had pissed off Mr. Ricky. you always bring us great reporting but I saw this before any other mention of the winners at the race so my apologies if I jumped too soon.
steve schmidt