Trio Of Nine-Team Classes To Lead 60-Plus Boats In 7 Mile Offshore Grand Prix
As an offshore powerboat racing fan, you’ve lately come to expect no less than nine teams to take the green flag in Super Stock-class catamarans at most events. And based on the way the 2022 season finished with the Race World Offshore-produced, Union Internationale Motonautique/American Power Boat Association-sanctioned World Championships in Key West, Fla., plus a couple of off-season entries in the class, you wouldn’t be crazy to expect the same number of teams from the Super Cat class.
With nine teams registered for the season-opener in Marathon, Fla., Mod V-class action is destined to be ferocious. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
But nine teams in Mod V class, which is precisely how many are registered for the season-opening 7 Mile Offshore Grand Prix a little more than a week away in Marathon, Fla.? That’s something you likely didn’t see coming and is exactly how many Mod V teams—the same boat-count as their Super Stock and Super Cat-class counterparts—are registered for the upcoming contest.
The Mod V-class influx, of course, is a function of former Stock V teams making the transition and a couple of new teams in the Mod V mix this season. Regardless, with the current total boat count sitting a 59 entries it’s an impressive turnout for a class that saw two to three boats in most races last year.
“It’s great to see the Stock and Mod V classes work together to unify the classes to make it better for the racers and fans to follow,” said Steve Kildahl of the Boatfloater.com team, which bested four other Mod V teams to take the Race World Offshore world title in 2021. “The competition is going to be super competitive and you’re definitely going to have to be on it to make the podium. It will be a great battle for the championship.”
Unlike last year where all UIM world championships for the V-bottom classes were decided in the Offshore Powerboat Association Englewood Beach Waterfest World Championships as long as they met the minimum registered boat count, all world UIM world titles (Class 1 excepted) will be decided in Key West this year.
“Now I have eight boats to beat,” quipped Steve Miklos, a veteran Mod V competitior who was critical of overly aggressive driving in the class last season, of the Sun Print team. “There are some savages in the class.”
In a prior speedonthewater.com story reporting the class consolidation, Miklos said most of the issues can be resolved with “better restraint and officiating.”
“When you know you have contact issues going on, you sit everybody down and say it’s over,” he explained in the piece, which was written by speedonthewater.com offshore racing editor and Race World Offshore livestream announcer Eric Colby. “You can’t afford to lose the boats from the fleet. You can’t repair them fast enough. You don’t go into the hauler and get another one.”
The Marathon event will set the registration bar for the Mod V class this season.
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