Robertson To Run 42 Fountain In Lake Of The Ozarks Shootout
A lifelong Fountain Powerboats man, world champion tunnel-boat and offshore racer, Ben Robertson, Jr., plans to run a Fountain 42 Lightning V-bottom at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri next weekend. But there’s a twist: The boat and its owner—Christian Dahlberg—live in Sweden. The 2008 model-year 42-footer was sent stateside to be repowered with dual-calibration Mercury Racing 1550/1350 engines at BAR Marine Group, Robertson’s business in Jacksonboro, S.C.
Running a 42-foot Fountain he recently repowered with Mercury Racing 1550/1350 engines, Ben Robertson, Jr., will be in the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout mix next weekend.
His top-speed goal for the three-quarter-mile course is 150 mph.
“It’s run 162 mph,” said Robertson. “But if I can get it to 150 mph in the competition, I’ll be happy. That’s my target.”
The Fountain’s hull type and length, turbocharged power and Robertson himself—a marine professional—lands it is the same class as defending Shootout Top Gun Factory Billet, a 51-foot Outerlimits V-bottom piloted by Jim Schultz and Mike Faucher. With Dennis and Jason Parvey and their popular 43-foot Black Thunder out this year, that means Robertson will have to pick up the gauntlet against Schultz and Faucher. But Robertson, a veteran competitor, is realistic about his chances of victory against a canopied boat with at least 1,000 more horsepower.
“I need about 3,000 more,” he said, then laughed.
Robertson said that the Fountain will be shipped back to Sweden after the Florida Powerboat Club Key West Poker Run, as the owner plans to participate, in early November. Though he skipped it in 2020 thanks to the pandemic, Robertson visits the Scandinavian country once a summer.
“It’s a great secondary market for us,” he explained. “They take boating very seriously over there and they’re such amazing people.”
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