Countdown To Sarasota: Snowy Mountain Brewery Officially Out

Defending Superboat Vee-class world champion Snow Mountain Brewery will not compete in the Super Boat International Suncoast Sarasota Grand Prix in Florid next weekend. Michael “Doc” Janssen, the owner and driver of the 29-foot Outerlimits V-bottom, and throttleman Brian Forehand have not entered an SBI race since SBI officials handed the boat parity restrictions after its victory in the 2014 season opener in Charlotte Harbor, Fla.

“Historically, the Superboat VEE class (also know as the Super Vee Lite class), have well defined rules for all teams including weight, length, engine specifications and X dimensions,” Janssen said in a prepared statement sent to speedonthewater.com. “The two-time world champion Snowy Mountain Brewery Boat always promises to put on a great show at each racing venue. My profession has had me at opposite ends of the universe (Asia/Middle East) in the past few weeks, and attending Sarasota became too difficult to coordinate.

“Indeed our team, is challenged with the concept of ‘parity penalties’ in professional sports, and have decided not to participate in this upcoming offshore racing event,” he continued. “The unilateral imposition of the parity rule placed on the Snowy Mountain Brewery Boat has naturally entered into this calculus. The Sarasota fans, will be thrilled with the line up of boats this year on the July 4 weekend of racing.”

Janssen did not say whether or not Snowy Mountain Brewery would rejoin the circuit later during the regular season or at the World Championship in November in Key West, Fla.

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