SV Racing Still Shooting To Make Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix

Though time is not on the side of SV Racing following its dramatic double-roll at the American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series season-opener last month in Cocoa Beach, Fla., that isn’t stopping team co-owner Vinnie Diorio of Wisconsin and his crew from trying to ready the 39-foot Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats catamaran in time for the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix on Sunday, June 27. The longstanding, fan-favorite Southwest Florida contest is the third of six races in the APBA series and is an integral element of the weeklong Suncoast Summer Fest, formerly known as the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix Festival.

The SV Racing team had a rough outing at the APBA series season-opener In Cocoa Beach, Fla., but is planning to get back on the racecourse as soon as possible. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

If current plans hold, the cat should be back with Diorio and SV Racing crew chief Gary Swanson next week. “There was no structural damage on the boat at all,” said Diorio.

As for the 39-footer’s Mercury Racing 860 engines, the team sent them to the Fond du Lac, Wis.-based high-performance marine engine and accessories company immediately after the crash. Diorio said the team should receive them back on June 22.

“The motors needed to be completely gone through,” he said.

Swanson, who drove the cat with Diorio throttling, will return to his crew chief role as Diorio said he expects Simon Prevost, the team’s Canadian co-owner, to be able enter the United States in the near future. If the SV Racing team does make it to the Sarasota event, it will run in the Class 1 ranks—its 860-hp fuel-injected engines prevent its inclusion in the Super Cat class—with a new driver.

Diorio said the SV Racing catamaran, currently at Outerlimits, had no structural damage from its spectacular wreck in Coco Beach,

“Simon should be able to come across the border soon,” said Diorio. “If not, I have a driver I’ve already talked to so Swaney doesn’t have to do double duty. That’s much work for a feller to be crew chief and drive.

“We are still trying to make Sarasota, but everything will have to click perfectly,” he added.

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