Ballough Building New Doug Wright Cat
Veteran Super Boat International Stock-class racer Gary Ballough, who ran much of this season successfully with 18-year-old rookie Taylor Chastelet (read the story), has sold his 32-foot Doug Wright catamaran and will field a new 32-footer from the vaunted builder in Sebastian, Fla., 2015. That means he won’t compete in either the SBI National Championships in Clearwater, Fla., next weekend or the SBI Key West World Championships in November.
Although Ballough has sold his 32-foot Doug Wright raceboat, he has another one the way. Photo courtesy Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Construction of the new cat is underway. “The deck is finished,” said Ballough. “They won’t be finished building it until December. That’s seems like a realistic estimation.”
Ballough sold his existing 32-footer, which he had planned to run in Key West with his longtime X-Cat Series racing partner Omar Danial, to an offshore racing team in Abu Dhabi. Despite that the sale leaves him with a ride for the Clearwater and Key West events, he said it came at just the right time.
“I wasn’t really planning on selling it, but the timing was good and it worked out well,” he said. “I won’t my have own boat for Key West now—I’m hitch-hiking for a ride—but I may surprise a few people and throttle for a team.”
and then