“We needed to pick up our pace,” Carpitella said. Owner/driver Carlos de Quesada and throttleman John Tomlinson ran in fourth and the positions stayed that way for the balance of the laps on the 4.5-mile course.įurther explaining his initial statement, Carpitella said that when Monster Energy passed df Young, he and Nicholson knew Miller and Coil would make a run at the lead. With df Young pulling out, Tyler Miller and driver Myrick Coil in their 438 Skater, Monster Energy/ M CON, moved up from third to second and owner/driver Mike Falco and throttleman Billy Moore took the final podium spot. Throughout the season, different teams in Class 1 had been experiencing water pressure issues with the Mercury Racing 1,100-hp engines that is the specified power for the class.

Then on the 10th out of 14 laps that the Class 1 boats ran, df Young pulled into the center of the course with a mechanical issue. The duo continued its 2023 undefeated streak winning wire to wire on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in a performance that hasn’t been seen in the larger classes since the days of Zero Defect’s streak in the mid 1990s.įor much of the Class 1 race on Sunday, the 50-foot Mystic Powerboats catamaran, df Young Logistics, with owner/throttleman Rich Wyatt and driver Hugh Fuller, ran comfortably in second, continuing to improve and looking to claim a podium spot for the world championship. “It’s not easy to take it easy,” said 222 Offshore Australia throttleman Giovanni Carpitella, who claimed his first Key West world title alongside driver Darren Nicholson.Ĭarpitella travels from Italy to race in this country while Nicholson makes the trip from his home country of Australia. Instead, 222 Offshore Australia, M CON/Monster Energy and Jackhammer went right back out to the front and ran hard to grab the checkered flag and the world championships in their respective classes on Sunday. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.īut the 2023 edition saw three teams eschewing the tradition of backing off a little on Sunday because they had been so dominant in the races on Wednesday and Friday.

Then there were those winner-take-all battles in which the numbers didn’t matter because the contenders were all so close coming into the finale.įor the 222 Offshore Australia team, a Race World Offshore Key West world championship was the perfect end to a dominant season. Throughout the 42-year history of the offshore powerboat racing world championships, there are tales of teams that finished in the middle of the pack on Sunday but did enough to claim the title because they had done the math to determine where they needed to finish.

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