Two days ago, Super Boat International delivered close offshore racing action in Orange Beach, Ala., in its Superboat and Superboat Stock classes. Today’s SBI event in Pensacola, Fla., on the other hand, delivered less-than tight competition. On plus side the 10-lap Pensacola race reportedly attracted a bigger field of boats and a larger group of spectators.

To win a race, you have to get your boat into the water—as the Miss GEICO team proved today in Pensacola, Fla. Photo courtesy Isiaiah Blount.

The primary battle for first and second place Superboat class was, as it had been two days earlier, between the 38-foot Skater Stihl catamaran and 40-foot Broadco Marine Technology, Inc., catamaran. But the duel didn’t last long because Stihl grabbed the early lead and never let it go.

“At the start, there was a boat on the course that Chuck (Broaddus) and Grant (Bruggemann) had to go around, and they never made up the distance,” said Kellie Lee, a team Broadco representative. “That hurt us.”

The same sort of not-so-close fight for first and second place happened in Stock Class between The Hulk/Redline Oil and SOS/Venezuela. The 32-foot Doug Wright cats, which had two narrow battles on Friday, didn’t enjoy the same deck-to-deck racing during today’s race in which The Hulk prevailed.

“We had a lot of speed on them today, so the race wasn’t as close as the two heats were on Friday,” said Dan Lawrence, who throttles The Hulk/Redline Oil with owner/driver Rob Nunziato. “We went tall (with propellers) and they went small.”

In the Superboat Unlimited class, the big news of the day wasn’t that the Miss GEICO catamaran prevailed over the Lucas Oil/SilverHook V-bottom, which ran uncontested to the class win in Orange Beach. The big news was that the big cat actually made into the water at all.

In Orange Beach, the crane reportedly lacked the lifting capacity to Miss GEICO into the drink. In Pensacola, a section of the crane’s block and tackle reportedly malfunctioned while the cat was being lifted and hard to be repaired before the job of getting it launched could be completed.

“We won our class and we ended up finishing first overall,” said Scott Begovich, who throttles the boat with Marc Granet driving. “It was good day. The boat ran flawlessly.”

Editor’s Note: Speedonthewater.com will add official results from Super Boat International when they become available.

Related Story: SBI Orange Beach Race Wrap-Up: Close and Closer

Editor’s Note: Speedonthewater.com will add official results from Super Boat International when they become available.