Team CRC OK After Crash During Testing in Key West

Team CRC teammates Mike DeFrees and Tim McDonald were OK after crash the boat during testing Tuesday in Key West, Fla. Photo courtesy clmracing

Team CRC teammates Mike DeFrees and Tim McDonald were OK after crash the boat during testing Tuesday in Key West, Fla. Photo courtesy clmracing

During preparation for tomorrow’s opening race of the Super Boat International Key West World Championships, Mike DeFrees and Tim McDonald crashed the Team CRC boat, a 42-foot Marine Technology Inc. catamaran that competes in the Superboat class.  Fortunately, DeFrees and McDonald escaped the incident without injury—unfortunately the same cannot be said for the boat.

“We’re doing pretty good considering the circumstances,” McDonald said in a phone call this afternoon. “We were testing hard in big conditions with 30-mph winds, and we just hit a big flyer and stood the boat up on its end. We’ve done it before. But this time, as we landed, Mike whacked the throttles like he’s done before to get us out of it and the boat launched again and slammed back down. The first we landed we caught my corner (the starboard transom) and we just couldn’t correct the boat. It was windy and nasty out there today.”

Shane Sherman took this picture of Team CRC in the Key West dry pits on Monday.

The owner of Oregon Custom Marine, McDonald is optimistic that the team can get the boat back in racing shape before the weekend. He’s also realistic. “We tore her up pretty good,” he said. “The good thing is we already have guys working on it so this could be the making of a good comeback story.”

Although McDonald, who recently won the BlueWater 336 Enduro (read the story) in Parker, Ariz., is disappointed with the results, he’s thankful that both he and Mike walked away from the incident.

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