Class 1 Commitment Solid For Key West Worlds – Speed on the Water
Offshore powerboat racing fans expecting large Super Cat, Super Stock, 450R Factory Stock, Mod-V and Bracket-class fleets at the Race World Offshore World Championships in Key West, Fla., will not be disappointed. Team in those classes will be vying for American Power Boat Association world titles, so there is plenty of incentive to make the long—and expensive—trip to the storied venue.
But despite the conclusion of the official six-race Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 World Championship Series in St. Petersburg, Fla., last weekend, the Class 1 fleet also is shaping up solidly for the November 6-13 event. Officially committed Class 1 teams include Defalco, df Young, Monster Energy/M CON and XINSURANCE.
For the Monster Energy/M CON team, competing in Key West means coming full circle. Photos by Pete Boden Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
According to Defalco throttleman Billy Moore, he and owner/driver Mike Falco will pilot an alternative boat—a 44-foot Victory cat that formerly ran in the Spirit of Qatar stable—in the three-race Key West series.
The XINSURANCE duo of driver Randy Kent and throttleman Grant Bruggemann will be sharing the cockpit for the first time in Key West and both are looking forward to it.
For the Monster Energy/M CON team of throttleman/owner Tyler Miller and driver Myrick Coil, competing in Key West will be a full-circle experience. During the 2022 Race World Offshore Key West Championships, M CON owners Tyler and Lindsey Miller announced it would be fielding a new Class 1 raceboat from Skater Powerboats this season.
Though the Defalco team ran an Outerlimits catamaran all season, the team is switching to a Victory hull in Key West.
The Monster Energy/M CON team finished fourth overall in the 2023 Class 1 series.
“Just one year ago in Key West we announced that Monster Energy would be sponsoring our Class 1 raceboat,” Miller explained. “To be able to race an event as awesome as Key West and to be doing it in a boat that was only a vision less than a year ago, now reality for M CON Racing and Monster Energy is bad to the bone, and we are amped up to take the challenge head on.”
The 2023 Class 1 world champion, 222 Offshore Australia team of owner/driver Darren Nicholson and throttleman Giovanni Carpitella reportedly will compete in Key West, though speedonthewater.com could not confirm that with absolute certainty when this story went live. But the third-place df Young team of owner/throttleman Rich Wyatt and driver Hugh Fuller is fully committed the Race World Offshore-produced event.
“We are going,” Wyatt said, then chuckled. “We just need to get a little glass work done from playing ‘bumper-boats’ in St. Pete and Sheboygan and we should be good.”
As for 2023 Class 1 series runner-up Huski Ice Spritz, the team will not be in Key West. What’s more, its future uncertain.
“Our sponsor is still deciding what it wants to do next season,” said Gary Stray, the crew chief for the Huski Ice Spitz team.
Stray also is the crew chief for the Pothole Heroes team of owner/driver Carlo de Quesada and throttleman John Tomlinson. The team is a “maybe” for Key West, he said.
Despite taking the Class 1 world title in 2022 and finishing second in the series this season, the Huski Ice Spritz team’s future is uncertain.
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