Power Boat Racing

Fountain Powerboat Industries, Inc. (AMEX:FPB), a leading manufacturer of high performance sport boats, fish boats and express cruisers, announces that Fountain Powerboat teams secured the World Championship Titles in every offshore sanctioning body, capping off a spectacular season of competition, both domestically and in Europe,. 

With multiple racing organizations, there is always the chance that a manufacturer or team can run and secure a Championship title for bragging rights and marketing power.  Consequently, there are always plenty of teams that claim to be world champions in multiple classes confusing the fans, and diluting the value of the title.  Fountain Powerboats’ solution to this dilemma is to compete in every championship event, and win.  And, not only did Fountain Powerboats teams win, they dominated.

In the European Powerboat P1 series, sanctioned by the Union of International Motorboating (UIM), Craig Wilson and James Sheppard piloted their 42’ Fountain “The King of Shaves / Fountain Worldwide” to a World Championship title.  The Powerboat P1 series is a vee-bottom series featuring a truly international field of competitors, including long time Fountain Powerboat rival manufacturers Donzi and Outerlimits.  Despite missing the first event of the year in Malta, the team set the new standard for performance in the series, besting the international competitors, as well as the US manufactured teams.  The “King of Shaves” features Arneson surface drives and Ilmore 625 horsepower V-10 “Viper” engines.

In Destin, Florida, the Offshore Super Series (OSS) hosted their third annual World Championship event in the calm gulf waters.  The Fountain Super-V teams answered the call fielding two entries.  Brett Furshman and Wyatt Fountain secured the US National championship for 2007 in the OSS in the 42’ Fountain “Miccossukee Indian Gaming”, owned by Brett Furshman.  They squared off against the rival team of Michel Karsenti and Michael Seebold in the “Yachts International” 42’ Fountain.  In the best of two race format, the French team of “Yachts International” took the top honors and the championship title, with “Miccossukee Indian Gaming” securing second place overall for a one-two finish. 

Key West, Florida was the site of the final show-down of the year, featuring a 75 boat field of competitors from North America and Europe.  Superboat International (SBI) produced the event, and it also carried the APBA and UIM accreditations as well.  The 27th annual event in Key West is the premier event in the United States, and is a best of three race format, testing the overall endurance of the teams and the equipment.  This year the endurance would be measured in terms of engine longevity due to the uncharacteristically calm Key West waters.

The Fountain Powerboats teams covered 5 classes, and proved to be the superior boats in each of the classes they entered.

Factory 1 is the single engine vee-bottom class and the 29’ Fountain “AMF Offshore” with Scott Brown and Trent Weyant at the controls captured 1st place overall, leading from start to finish in each of the three races.

The Production classes are divided by maximum performance capabilities, and Fountain had teams in the competitive premier classes of P1 and P2.  Performance class racing places catamarans and vee-bottoms against one another with different engine and drive configurations allowed.  In P1,  “Cintron Energy Drink”, a 42’ Fountain piloted by Nick Monaco and John Stanch defeated a large field to take the championship ahead of “On the Chip”, a 38’ Fountain piloted by Jimmy Winters and Curtis Cropper for a one-two finish.  In P2, the father and son team of Ed and Anthony Smith piloted their 38’ Fountain “Wazzup” to the championship ahead of Robert Nunziato and Dave Branch in their 38’ Fountain “Muscle”.

In the most competitive vee-bottom class, Super-V, “Miccossukee” and “Yachts International” squared off once again.  This time, Michel Karsenti was joined by his regular driver Serge Allegre to see if they could back up the 2007 SBI US National championship they secured, and repeat their 2006 world championship performance.  This time it was Brett Furshman and Wyatt Fountain in “Miccossukee Indian Gaming“ that captured the Championship just ahead of “Yachts International”.  The brand new 42’ Fountain “Predator”, with Gabriel Pacheco and Dennis Delatorre at the controls secured the third position after an accident in testing put the boat upside down between the 1st and 2nd race of the event.  Their finish provided a 1-2-3 sweep of the podium for the Fountain Team.

In the fastest of the vee-bottom classes, Superboat V Unlimited, Fountain again swept the podium securing the top three positions.  David Knight and Michael Seebold piloted the 44’ Fountain “Shogren Performance Marine” to the championship, leading every lap of the event.  With long time sponsor Rio Roses, and new sponsor Integrated Power Solutions on the boat, the championship was the perfect complement to their 2007 US National Championship.  Second place went to “The King of Shaves / Fountain Worldwide”, piloted by Craig Wilson and James Sheppard.  Although they had less than half of the horsepower of the “Shogren Performance Marine” entry, they put on an awesome display for the thousands of fans in attendance.  Peter Meyer and Bob Oliver completed the podium dominance in Superboat V Unlimited in the 42’ Fountain “Instigator”.

Reggie Fountain, Jr., CEO of Fountain powerboats, was ecstatic with the performance of his teams.  “I am very proud of all of the teams, and their dominating performance.  They took the top spots in every class, and showed without a doubt that our boats are the fastest in the world.” 

27/08/2008   http://boatguysite.com/