Cocoa Beach Prerace Report 2012
May 12, 2012
Cape Canaveral, Fla (May 8, 2012) – Super Boat International (SBI) is excited to showcase the world’s fastest boats this May 16 – 20 for the Spacecoast Super Boat Grand Prix, presented by Bright House in Cocoa Beach, Florida. The entire Cape Canaveral area is playing host to what is expected to be a fantastic kickoff for the 2012 Super Boat National Points season. Teams have prepared and tested their boats during the off-season and will converge on the small community known for United States Space Shuttle programs.
All the teams that have competed in the previous years events have remarked how the space coast is a great venue for racing and teams are amazed by the overall community support. This year is shaping up to be a remarkable race, which kicks off with a parade and block party in downtown Cocoa Beach. Raceteams trailer their boats Thursday May 17th and park their boats so fans can get a close view and get autographs from their favorite drivers and throttleman. This year many teams are participating in the annual event and it should be a larger party that last year.
Two teams prepared and staged to come to this year’s event are 2011 World Champions Team Instigator and STIHL Offshore Racing. “I really like coming to Cocoa Beach, the people are very nice and it’s a really great community. I’m looking forward to starting the season, Super Boat puts on the most exciting races, comments Peter Meyer, owner / throttleman of Vee-bottom Team Instigator. Meyer’s is many time over National and World Champion and throttles one of the most recognized raceboats on the circuit. The boat, a typical Vee-bottom on the surface, is packed with a lot of power under the deck.
Team STIHL, driven and owned by JR Noble is also excited about the start of the Super Boat season. “May can never come soon enough. We finish our season in November in Key West and it seems like forever until we start our first race of the season. We spend a lot of time in the offseason testing and working on our equipment, so we should be ready to go. Last year was a great race with fastboats.com, we just hope for a better outcome than last year. They beat us by just a couple boat lengths. They are always tough competitors.”
“Cocoa Beach is an exciting place for teams to race. The water is usually bumpy and typical ocean style racing. This year conditions are expecting be the same,” comments John Carbonell, owner of Super Boat International. “Our course is a long rectangular course so fans on the beach and the hotels can see the boats racing for almost 2.5 miles down the beach. They make a counterclockwise turn and head back up the beach past Cocoa Beach Pier.”
As for an organization that is the leader in powerboat racing, Super Boat continues to make changes and improvements to the fan experience, safety requirements and overall growth for the sport. Over the past few years Super Boat events have proven to be a great economic impact for cities hosting races. Some cities have seen million dollar increases in dollars spent in their communities from the previous years. Many cities interested in hosting Super Boat events have contacted Carbonell and SBI continues to evaluate those potential sites. Its important to have a race community that is capable of having an infrastructure that can support a Super Boat race and a community that can deliver a great fan experience for multi-year deals.
Super Boat Cocoa Beach Race Village
The race village dry pits (raceboat and support equipment staging) is located off Dave Nisbet Drive in Cape Canaveral. Starting Thursday May 17th teams and fans are encouraged to follow the boat parade to the downtown Cocoa Beach Super Boat block party off minuteman Causeway, starting around 5:00 pm. Friday May 18th is team registration and race village is open to fans. Friday evening is racers party at The Cove from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm, within walking distance of the dry pits. Saturday May 18th is raceboat testing from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm. Fans can watch boats craning in and out of the water near the dry pits or watch boats as the test offshore near Jetty Park and the Cocoa Beach Pier. In addition, the famous bikini contest will take place early Saturday afternoon. Sunday races will begin at 12:00 and the second race will be at 2:00. The races last just under an hour with approximately one hour in between races. Following the final race fans are invited to race village for the award ceremony. A VIP race experience package is available for purchase with details online here.
This year’s event will be streamed on Superboat.com so you won’t miss any of the action. On the stream page, watch interviews, make comments and watch all the action as it happens. Stay connected with superboat.com and be informed on streaming start times and follow us on twitter. The Super Boat racing season starts in the middle of May and runs through the second week of November, culminating with the Key West World Championships in Key West, Florida. The Super Boat schedule is posted through 2013 with races in Cocoa Beach, Sarasota and Miami, Florida, Michigan City IN; New York, New York; Clearwater and Key West, Florida.
