3-1-04 Rossville, Georgia - - Despite the lingering controversy on what boat racing organization will bring the most spend-able income to Key West this November, APBA Offshore will make a comeback return the week of November 14th through the 23rd, 2004.

C.E.O. Bob Bull contends that it will be his professional racing group that will once again lead the pack with the highest boat count and fan based participation.

"We have monitored the news in the Florida Keys for the last six months, and one thing is clear... the citizens want APBA Offshore racing back in Key West. We intend to satisfy their need."

Bull, a business owner and racer himself, was recently issued a five-year license to operate the only American Power Boat Association (APBA) sanctioned offshore category within the United States.

The 100+ year old American Power Boat Association, through its long-standing affiliation with the Monaco based Union Internationale Motornautique (U.I.M), also passes on the sole right for the APBA Offshore Racing Association to be the only American offshore powerboat racing organization to award the prestigious APBA/U.I.M. World Championship Title in each race competition class.

It is just that title, says Bull that brought over 130 professional race teams to Key West in 2001, and 99 teams in 2002. It is also one that he feels confident will make the APBA Offshore/APBA/U.I.M. Key West World Championships an overwhelming success with the citizens, as well as the legions of fans that follow the highly skilled and experienced APBA Offshore Racing Teams, year after year.

Jim Poplin, long time provider of safety and rescue services for the APBA Offshore powerboat teams as the Director for the Stars Rescue Team, has taken on the role of President of the APBA Offshore Racing Association, and will oversee all Race Site Operations, including production of the Key West event.

"We know Key West. We know our teams, and we love the fans. Our format has always been to put on the most professional show there has ever been, and I believe that Key West knows that there is no substitute for APBA Offshore Racing," said Poplin.

The Key West Worlds will be the season finale for a seven series schedule that includes a Southeast Divisional Race in St. Cloud, April 3rd & 4th, the GMC Pro Grade National Series Kickoff in Marathon the weekend of May 14th - 16th and a new venue, Destin, Florida, June 11th - 13th. Two races are planned, for July, to be named the first week in March, followed by back to back returns to Sarasota, August 27th through the 29th then Cape Cod, September 17th to the 19th.

Before heading to Key West, the teams will compete in the National Series title bout in St. Petersburg, October 15th through the 17th, an event, like Key West, that is also produced by the APBA Offshore Racing Association Management Team.

Key players on the operations sector of the Management Team include Poplin, Clay Ingle will head the Stars Rescue Team/Racer Safety Program along with veteran staff members, Dee Kimes, as Registrar and Chief Scorer, Paul Abreu the Chief Inspector, and Bobby Farr in Risk Management. David Thompson will head up Race Site Operations and Don Dinger will continue the position of Chief Starter.

In keeping with the Racer Development Program focus for 2004, APBA Offshore also offers the race competitors their own class representatives, teamed with manufacturer and technical team members, all who determine the focus, and the future of the competition on the water.

" We feel that this will better serve the needs of our racers, promoters, and race site venues by handling any dispute from within in a more professional manner," said Bull.

The APBA Offshore/APBA/U.I.M Key West World Championships will be promoted over the next nine months by
Mark Skrzypek, Director of Television & Sponsorship Fulfillment, and Michelle May - Schmidt, a leading powerboat racing media and marketing expert, who joins the staff as Director of Communications.

The APBA Offshore Racing Association will submit a proposal to the Key West District Advisory Committee (DAC), which oversees the spending of county tourism dollars in Key West. A reported $80,000 has been budgeted for the 2004 November events.

For all information on the APBA Offshore Racing Association, visit <a href="http://www.apbaoffshoreracing.com">www.apbaoffshoreracing.com</a>

Klatu.... I doubt it... the only way unification of the world championships is going to happen is if the apba moves it a week back to join SBI/OPA/OSS. I highly doubt these three organizations will move up a week.

UIM.... The unification that Ron is referring to is all of the racing organizations getting together.

Here we go again !

Please , let's not start this BS again this year Gentlemen!

I know it is not exactly the unification we all wanted , but at least everybody seems to be in agreement that we can go and run where we want to and have a great time !
Let's not forget we are all passionate about this sport and we all agree that if we start the BS now it will only do harm to the sport !

UIM???? I may not be speaking for most racers but this is the last thing on my mind. Would holding that title and a buck get me a coffee in OFFSHORE Racing?

I really respect Bob Bull for what he has done thus far with APBA and I wish him the best. Not joining for the other groups for a unified World Championships is showing that they are not listening to the RACERS/Fans.
One positive that may still happen is that it will all come together. Today is March 1,2004 and that shows there is still time for it to happen.

Bob and Staff of APBA please try your best to make this happen. It could be the start toward a better tomorrow for the entire sport.

Shane,

Please look at it from this respect. Wouldn't you like to race every SVL out there for a National or World Championship Title????? Wouldn't you like to see this sport grow into something bug and strong???? Wouldn't you like to see a championship that truly means something cause you race every other SVL in the country??? I know I would. The only way for it to happen is for everyone to come together for a UNITED WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. I am not here to belittle anyone or disrespect anyone in anyway. Do it for the SPORT and for the RACERS and I truly believe that problems and issues will all fall into place to keep it unified for the rest of the time.

The tech rules are different and that is a big stumbling block as well. I don't believe anyone is willing to changes their respective rules. As a "lower class" racer,
OSS doesn'r want us anyhow and I sure as hell don't want to race with them

Do you know whether Bob and APBA have been asked to participate? If they are not welcome, or allowed, then you can hardly say that APBA is the group not listening to the racers.

Food for thought.....

Article from St Pete Times just proves that there are racers who do not want unification and I think most who don't are involved with OSS. Before you guys get to nutty, I am sure there are teams involved with OSS that would like to see unification but I think most could give a chit. Let them go have there fun, they take up too much space in the pits anyway




Outdoors
Two boat-racing circuits coming
By TERRY TOMALIN, Times Outdoors Editor
Published February 29, 2004

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ST. PETERSBURG - Offshore racing fans can look forward to double the fun this year, as two competing sanctioning bodies hope to stage events off the Pier.

Representatives of the Offshore Super Series have applied for a permit to race large, canopied powerboats June 26-27. The American Power Boat Association's Offshore Division, which until this year was headquartered in St. Petersburg, plans to run a race with smaller, "factory" boats in Tampa Bay on Oct. 16-17.

"We are very excited," said Todd Werner, a former world and national champion in the Super Cat Light Class, which broke away from APBA last year. "We think St. Pete is a quality venue. We hope to bring all the big boats here in the fall."

For five years the Super Cat class was APBA Offshore's premier division. But last fall a group of Super Cat racers boycotted the organization's world championships in Orange Beach, Ala. Many of the teams raced in Key West with an independent promoter.

The boycott by the "Super Series" teams was one reason the for-profit APBA Offshore was forced to shut down and reform under new leadership as a nonprofit corporation.

"We are looking forward to returning to St. Petersburg," said Bob Bull, APBA Offshore's new chairman. "We have only been at the controls a few months, but already things are moving ahead in a positive manner."

For years offshore powerboat racing was a club sport. But five years ago Michael Allweiss, a St. Petersburg attorney whose family has a long racing history, tried to elevate the sport. He tightened the rules, shortened the race course and pushed for stadium-style seating at race venues.

Allweiss met with initial success, staging several successful races in St. Petersburg, but eventually he found it difficult to turn a profit. Bull, a vee-bottom racer who has a successful industrial air-conditioning business, hopes to return the sport to its roots.

"I thought the first thing we should do is make it a nonprofit," he said.

Werner, a veteran catamaran driver, said he thinks the Offshore Super Series is the wave of the future.

"We will only have big boats," he said. "It is all high-dollar hardware. That is what people want to come to see."

A cornerstone of previous APBA races was the local or "performance" racing. Typically held on a Saturday, local boaters had a chance to race in speed-bracketed competitions before the pro series racers took the course Sunday.

To date, the Offshore series has roughly 30 teams signed up to run its first race April 24-25 in Biloxi, Miss. The APBA Offshore series kicks off its season May 15-16 in Marathon.

Werner, who campaigned a boat named Flowmaster for several seasons, will race a new Super Cat this year with three-time world and national champion John Tomlinson of Miami. Tomlinson, arguably the best throttleman in offshore racing, spent three seasons with Hugh Fuller of Clearwater.

"We will be racing together this year in some SBI (Super Boat International) races," Fuller said. "We are going to wait and see how things shake out."

The Super Boat series never has come to St. Petersburg but has made several stops in Sarasota. It kicks off its season in Miami.

Officials with the Offshore tour have signed an agreement with Super Boat to stage a joint race in November in Key West. A spokeswoman for the Offshore group said it is negotiating with more than a dozen cities to fill the five remaining spots on this year's schedule.

"We have our first and last races set in stone," said Elain Motl, the Offshore executive director. "It won't be long before we fill in the gaps in between."