The Australian Offshore Superboat Championships have announced that a new category will be introduced ahead of a return to racing at Victoria’s Wyndham Harbour in February, with the newly structured Super V 85 class joining the Supercat Extreme, Supercat Outboard, Supersports 85 and Supersports 65 teams from round two of the season.
The new class is structured around inboard-powered 20-23’ long, leg-drive, monohull Ski Race boats that are ideally suited to the conditions under which the Championship competes.
“We’ve had ongoing interest from a number of current Ski Racing teams to join the Championship in the past, however they didn’t quite fit into our existing Superboats 85 category, which like what we’re proposing, is speed-limited to 85-miles-per-hour,” Australian OffShore Powerboat Club Commodore Antony De Fina explained. “We discussed it at the executive level of the Club and elected to introduce a dedicated class for those teams to compete.
“With Ski Racing currently in a rebuilding phase, many of the teams are looking at opportunities to keep themselves race fit and given some of those teams compete in World Championship events in open water – often off-shore, as we do – it made perfect sense to open up an opportunity for them to join us from Wyndham and be a part of the excitement.”
Aside from an opening to join the Offshore Championship across the remaining four rounds of the current season (the final two dates will be released in the coming weeks), De Fina also revealed that the new Super V 85 class would also be competing for its own trophy.
“With four rounds remaining this season, we are creating a Championship Trophy for the Super V 85 class that would see them record points towards the title from their best three finishes across those four races, the highest point scorer crowned champion.
“This provides another great story within the current season, that alongside the recent announcement that we will be returning to television screens around the country in 2025 thanks to our new arrangement with the Seven Network to appear on 7mate and 7plus, makes for some fantastic opportunities with the Championship moving forward – we couldn’t be more excited,” De Fina added.
2024 Offshore Superboat Championships – calendar
R1. Lake Macquarie, NSW – 19-20 October, 2024
R2. Wyndham Harbour, Victoria – 22-23 February, 2025 (sponsored by Hornet Property Services)
R3. Geelong Harbour, Victoria – 15-16 March, 2025 (sponsored by Hornet Property Services)
Further dates and locations released soon.
For more information on the Australian Offshore Superboat Championships, visit us at;
www.superboat.com.au
www.facebook.com/OffshoreSuperboats
www.facebook.com/ausopc
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