Granet, Trulio And Yowaiski Joining Powerboat P1 Broadcast Team
When the Class 1 Offshore World Championship Series kicks off in Cocoa Beach, Fla., May 18-21, event producer Powerboat P1 will have a new team in the livestream broadcast booth. Veteran offshore racers Marc Granet and Mike Yowaiski will be joining speedonthewater.com founder and co-publisher Matt Trulio for the Thunder On Cocoa Beach broadcast as well as Powerboat 1 broadcasts from the Sarasota Offshore Powerboat Grand Prix, the Mercury Racing Midwest Challenge in Sheboygan, Wis., and the St. Petersburg Grand Prix in Southwest Florida.
Marc Granet, a multi-time offshore racing world champion and former driver of the Unlimited-class Miss GEICO raceboat, will bring deep offshore racing experience to the Powerboat P1 broadcast team. Photo courtesy/copyright Andy Newman.
“Livestream race broadcasts within our sport are a powerful tool for informing and entertaining audiences both live and at home,” said Azam Rangoonwala, the chief executive officer of Powerboat P1. “Our new team combines experience and knowledge—in abundance—and I know they can’t wait to get together in Cocoa Beach.”
The former longtime Miss GEICO driver and owners group member, Granet brings more than a decade of Unlimited-class racing experience to the booth. (A former Miss GEICO raceboat is now the Class 1 Huski Chocolate raceboat). The multi-time world champion who shared the cockpit with throttleman Scott Begovich rose from the Production-class ranks to become a cockpit staple in what was arguably the best-known powerboat racing team in the world before GEICO exited the offshore racing-sponsorship world in 2020 after a 14-year run.
Marc Granet on offshore racing: “It’s the pinnacle of where beauty meets bad-ass.”
During the past few seasons, Granet has driven in Class 1 and the Super Cat and Super Stock categories. He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and retains a strong connection to members of the offshore racing community, including Steve Curtis, the driver of the Huski Chocolate team—the 2022 Class 1 World Champion outfit—as well as its crew chief Gary Stray.
“There is nothing cooler than offshore racing—it’s the pinnacle of where beauty meets bad-ass,” Granet said. “When Azam called to talk about Class 1 in the off-season, our conversation gravitated to keeping fans engaged during the livestream broadcasts. Looking back at it, he knew I was taking off this season as driver for the Class 1 df Young team. So he set a little ‘trap.’
“Knowing that Matt Trulio and I are longtime compatriots and friends with a relationship that extends well outside the offshore racing world, Azam said, ‘How about you and Matt jumping into the broadcast booth?’” Granet added, then laughed. “I was intrigued, and if I’m going to be at race and not in boat, I can’t think of two people I’d rather work and hang out with than Matt and Mike Yowaiski. Matt’s journalistic knowledge of the sport and connections in the industry are unmatched and Mike’s energy, insight and positivity create a wonderful vibe in the broadcast booth.”
Yowaiski has handled offshore racing play-by-play for a host of race producers during the years.
“I’m super-excited to work with Marc and Matt,” said Yowaiski “All three of us have a lot of memories and experiences among us as friends, but we also a long history in different facets of the offshore racing world as individuals. The combination of knowledge and stories we’ll be able to share with the livestream audience will take the broadcast to the next level. I’m excited to see where this goes.”
The only member of the broadcast team who hasn’t actually raced, Trulio brings more than 30 years of media experience to the group. He started his marine journalism career with Powerboat magazine, helped found boats.com and started speedonthewater.com, the leading source of daily news from the high-performance powerboating world—and one that delivers unmatched coverage of offshore racing.
“I’ve had the privilege of working with Mike and Mark before in broadcast segments, Mike in Key West and Marc in Qatar, and they both bring in-depth knowledge of the sport from inside the cockpit,” Trulio said. “Plus, neither of them is short on personality.
“It’s going to be fun playing ringmaster with these two,” he added, then laughed.
Said Granet, “I think Azam might have found the ‘secret sauce’ with this broadcast team.”
Trulio sees himself as the ringmaster between his high-energy broadcast partners.
The three-man broadcast team will work closely with Case Productions, which handles all livestream broadcasts for Powerboat P1 including its AquaX personal watercraft racing series. To help fans, as well as the broadcasters, better understand what’s happening on the racecourse, Powerboat P1 will debut a new real-time raceboat tracking system and graphic display at the Cocoa Beach event.
“The livestream will be further enhanced by the multifunctional tracking system,” Rangoonwala explained. “Not only will this allow us to provide on-screen graphics with positions but it will also assist the cameramen and commentary team with the information they need to keep our fans up-to-date in real time.”
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