Victory Vouches To Build On Clearwater Success

Dubai’s Victory Team has vouched to build up on the powerboating positives from the team’s debut at the famed Super Boat International (SBI) held in Clearwater, USA last weekend.

Victory Team’s two boats participated in the SBI race over the weekend with Salem Al Adidi and John Tomlinson, and their mates Eisa Al Ali and Gary Ballough before the race came to a premature end due to the intrusion of a swimmer onto the course.

The penultimate round in Clearwater was meant to be a dress rehearsal for Victory Team’s onslaught at the season-ending famed Key West World Championships in the United States from November 4-11.

Tussling against world champions Steve Curtis and James Sheppard in Miss Geico, the two boats from Victory Team remained competitive behind the likes of Wake Effects and DF Young.

As the race progressed, Victory 3 started gaining on DF Young and a possible podium finish on debut. But in a bizzare turn of events, a stray swimmer ventured onto the course and the race had to be cut short with about ten laps gone.

“At the end of the day our participation was important to the sport and to us as well as we needed to know where exactly we stand as a world-class team. From the start we knew the race would be tough as some of the powerboats here (in Clearwater) had much more horse power than us. Our boats have between 2,000 and 2,200 hp whereas most of the other boats have close to 3500 hp, so it was always going to be an uneven competition,” noted Huraiz Bin Huraiz, Chairman of Board of Directors at Victory Team.

However, new regulations from next season will see all boats have a mandatory power range of 2,200 hp maximum. “Financially, it would not have been the right for us to change the engines. We are aware we have the ultimate engines that in fact will be made mandatory for all boats from next year,” he added.

“Ultimately, this has been a great learning experience for all of us,” Bin Huraiz said.

“We can only get better from here. We had to find out where we stand, and I think we were competitive today. The next one is the big one and I am sure our boats will fare much better as the conditions there (Key West) are better suited for the package we have,” he added.

Termed the 10th Annual Hooters Clearwater Super Boat National Championship presented by Visit St. Pete, Clearwater, the SBI Championship is the leading North American professional powerboat organisation for Class One powerboats founded by John Carbonell.

This season’s SBI campaign commenced in Cocoa Beach from May 18-20 and then headed off to Michigan City in the first week of August before the penultimate round in Clearwater this weekend and the finale in Key West from November 4-11 where the two Victory Team boats hope to go on an all-out assault.