7 Mile Offshore Grand Prix Updates: Super Cat Qualifying And Sunday Schedule Shifts
A late addition to today’s action at the 7 Mile Offshore Grand Prix in Marathon, Fla., a qualifying round will determine starting lanes for tomorrow’s Super Cat class contest. Practice and testing for the Race World Offshore-produced season-opener will conclude at 4 p.m. Qualifying will start at 4:30 p.m.
First in the water for today’s testing session, Pro Floors Racing/Valder Yachts is one of nine Super Cat teams that will qualify today for tomorrow’s race. Photo from the 7 Mile Offshore Grand Prix courtesy Kellie Bruggemann
The decision to add qualifying to the mix was driven by the Super Cat team owners and approved yesterday by the organizers. Each boat will run lap-and-a-half with the second boat entering the course on the back-straight after the first boat completes its first lap, and so on.
“We had the opportunity to make some changes to our testing and racing schedule that allowed for the Super Cats to do a qualifying round,” said Larry Bleil, the founder and president of Key West, Fla.-headquartered Race World Offshore. “Unfortunately, we do not have time to give everybody in the other classes the opportunity but it’s pretty exciting for the fans and everyone to be able to see the teams qualify for Sunday’s Super Cat race.”
“I love it,” said Vinnie Diorio, who will be joined in the cockpit of his 39-foot SV Offshore Racing Outerlimits catamaran by rookie driver Matt Jamniczky this season. “Our boat is ready to rock.”
In another change for the week, tomorrow’s Super Cat contest is now slated to start at 1:30 p.m. rather than 3:30 p.m. as originally scheduled. The 11-boat Super Stock start has been moved to 3:30 p.m.
Like his Pro Floors Racing/Valder Yachts teammates, six-year crew member Andrew Young is delighted to start the 2023 season.
Viewers can enjoy livestream coverage of the 7 Mile Offshore Grand Prix on the Race World Offshore Facebook page. Speedonthewater.com offshore correspondent Eric Colby and longtime Key West AM/FM sports-talk radio personality Todd Swofford will lead the broadcast. Coverage will begin 20 minutes before each race.
Paul Rose of seriousoffshore.com contributed to this story.
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