Key West was alive with enthusiasm this past week as the stars of the Race World Offshore powerboat racing series came to crown new world champions across several classes.
The event ran from Nov. 4-10, featuring three days of testing and three days of racing. Winners were determined by total points accumulated over the race days.
The first main class to take to the water each day was Mod-V, known for its roughly 30-foot V-hull boats that are notoriously unstable and difficult to drive. BoatFloater.com clinched the title after winning the first two races and finishing fourth Sunday.
“We gave it all we [had] even with some drive issues on Wednesday,” said Kirk Hanna, a Mod-V driver who finished third in the title chase. “Hard work and dedication pay off, I try to teach my crew and my boys that.”
In factory stock, a class that features unmodified factory catamaran hulls with twin 500-horsepower engines, Say Less MF took the championship after a surprise win Wednesday and two runner-up finishes.
The super stock class — a smaller, fan-favorite version of Factory Stock — saw a tight battle with top teams trading wins. Teams Nautical Ventures and Big East Construction were dueling for the win when Ray Marine suffered a mechanical failure in the opening laps.
“All the guys in this class can win this,” said driver Gary Ballough. “We admire all of them and salute all of them because they are in our eyes the best.”
In Super Cat class, featuring catamaran hulls up to 50 feet with twin internal 750 horsepower engines, Dirty Money Racing from Stuart, Florida, dominated. Driver Britt Lilly and throttleman Bill Pyburn won every event in Super Cat.
“The boat is super fast, we’ve got a new set of Goodwin competition engines they are just really doing it for us,” said Lilly.
The weekend closed with the Pro Class One, which includes 50-foot-plus catamaran equipped with twin 1,100-horsepower internal engines. Defalco Construction edged out M-CON, finishing with 391 points to M-CON’s 389 after taking wins in the final two races.
“The team put in the work, said Defalco throttleman Billy Moore. “We changed the engine, put fresh power in, and went over the boat, we went through everything.”
Offshore powerboat racing returns to South Florida with the season opener in Cocoa Beach in May. The Offshore World Championships will return to Key West next November.
