Fountains Dominate Offshore Races in Both Sanctioning Bodies

August 26, 2003, Washington, NC - The Fountain Racing teams had an exceptional weekend in both Orange Beach, AL and in Sarasota, FL for both the SBI and APBA offshore events this past weekend, capturing first place in all of the twin engine categories.

In Orange Beach, AL, the Fountain teams dominated all day in front of huge crowds. In the Superboat class, two Fountain/Scism catamarans thrilled the crowds and presented speeds in excess of 170 miles per hour on the straight-aways. After a grueling battler over the 77.7 mile race, Pier-57, with David Woods and Art Lilly held on for the win with an official average lap speed of 100.59 miles per hour … a mere 22 one hundredths ahead of 2nd place Live Bait's lap speeds of 100.37 miles per hour, with Billy Moore and Gary Nichols at the controls.

In Super-V, the brand new 40' Poker Run Edition of Reggie Fountain III and Jeff Harris ran out in the front most of the day, giving the big catamarans all that they could handle to hold them off. The new "in-line" engine configuration proved to be very effective as the Mercury Powered boat was able to power through the turns and maintain staggering lap speeds consistent with the usually much faster catamarans. A drive shaft failure 2 laps from the end took them out of the race, but gave them a 5th place finish due to earlier attrition in the class. This left the door open for Firewater, driven by Bob Oliver and Rich Wyatt, to take their 4th victory with an average lap speed of 95.61 miler per hour. Firewater had battled from dead last to move into 2nd position ahead of Shockwave, driven by Ben Robertson and Wyatt Fountain. This victory securely places Firewater in the lead for the National points title. Rounding out the clean sweep in Super-V were Shockwave in 2nd, Muscle, driven by Dave Brach and Bruce Kruglick in 3rd, and Instigator, driven by Joe Sgro and Peter Meyer in 4th.

In Manufacturers - 2, the 35' Poker Run Edition, Fountain-Mercury captured it's 5th win of the season, with Ben Robertson III at the helm, securing the mathematical certainty of a National Championship for the boat.

Meanwhile, down in Sarasota APBA was making its return to the traditional offshore racing venue with a huge fleet and great crowds. The Fountain teams had the pressure on them to perform in the home waters of the Donzi factory, and they were clearly up to the task. UTZ-Castaway, a 38' Poker Run Edition with Mitch Miller and Matt Rice, jumped to an early lead in the 10 boat Super-V fleet. Miccussuki Indian Gaming, and Ettore Squeegees were both in the front five as the large fleet roared into the first turn. Ettore Squeegees rallied from the middle of the pack to pick up positions throughout the event, getting past the two team Donzi entries and the Scarab to move into 3rd place. A spectacular battle for the lead between Spiderman and UTZ-Castaway ended in disappointment for the Spiderman team as they pulled off the course with a mechanical problem, only to correct the problem and get back into the battle too late to make a difference. With the pressure off in the battle for 1st, UTZ-Castaway captured a much-needed win in the extremely competitive class. The highlight of the day came 2 laps from the end as Ettore Squeegee; a 40' Poker Run Edition with Jim Richardson and Dennis Sigalos on the controls was moving into lapped traffic between turns 1 and 2 with UTZ-Castaway in their sights. They got caught up on a wake and violently spun-out in pirouette fashion, narrowly avoiding contact with any of the lapped traffic. "The 360-degree spin threw a huge wall of water, and was absolutely spectacular", according to Dick Crippen of the Fox Speed Channel. Through quick thinking and fast reactions, they were able to get the boat back up on plane ahead of the Scarab team to capture 2nd place, and move themselves into 2nd place in the overall points standings.

In Factory-2, Harwich Concrete Block, a 35' Fountain with Lute Dickey and Chris Wickstrom on the controls, lead from flag to flag, with no challenge from the local manufacturer's teams. Despite a mechanical problem that caused a water leak in the boat and a weigh-out of over 600 pounds over the minimum weight, they appeared to have the entire fleet covered with speed to spare.