Key West Worlds To Boast Intriguing Start Time/Class Pairing And Two Single-Class Fleets – Speed on the Water

Set for Wednesday morning, November 8, the first of three full days of racing action will begin at the Race World Offshore Key West World Championships presented by Performance Boat Center. A total of 73 teams in the Spec and Bracket class will be vying for American Power Boat Association world titles in the cumulative-points, three-race competition.

With 11 teams in the mix, the Super Stock class will have its own three races in Key West next week. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Worth noting on the schedule front, the Class 1 and Mod V categories will run together in the second race of each day. It’s an unusual class paring as well as an earlier than usual start for the six Class 1 teams, which will be vying strictly for RWO Key West honors as the UIM Class 1 World Championship was decided earlier this year in a six-race series. The Mod V class has an impressive nine teams entered.

Race World Offshore’s Rodrick Cox explained the Class 1/Mod V combination.

“There are so many double-duty—and even triple-duty—drivers and throttlemen now in the sport,” he said. “It is kind of a ‘shell game’ to get enough boats in each race, do our best to allow everyone race and not have a disappointed driver or throttleman.”

The only classes that will run solo are Super Stock with 11 teams and 450R Factory Stock with 6 teams. The 10-boat Super Cat field will be combined with the three-boat Extreme V field.

Races are set, as noted above, for Wednesday November 8, Friday November 10 and Sunday November 12. Here’s a quick look at the complete class-by-class competition schedule for all three days.

10 a.m—Bracket 200, 300 and 400 (start No. 1). Bracket 500, 600 and 700 (start No. 2)
10:45 a.m. —Class 1 (start No. 1). Mod V (start No. 2).
12:30 p.m.—450R Factory Stock.
1:30 p.m.—Super Stock.
2:30 p.m.—Super Cat (start No. 1). Extreme V (start No. 2).

“After each race on Wednesday and Friday, we have the first-, second- and third-place boats stay on the course and come to the Outer Mole and jump off their boats up to the podium and that’s where our ‘coconut man’ gives everyone coconuts, and we pass out the awards for first second third,” said Cox. “It’s a very authentic thing for Key West that we started a couple years ago. “And after Sunday’s race, we will be doing that on the stage awards stage before we award world championships as well as second- and third-place titles each class.”

Led by Todd Swofford and Eric Colby, the livestream broadcast is slated to being 15 minutes before each race and will be carried on the Race World Offshore Facebook page.