29 boats have entered the Race World Offshore (RWO) organised Key West event to be held this week and this will be the first year that they have run the racing after John Carbonell’s Super Boat international’s contract to run races in Key West expired after last year.

SBI issued this statement today:

Super Boat has been receiving calls and emails with questions from staff of the City of Key West, Navy, Coast Guard, City Police, locals as well as fans all over the US about the race.

Neither Super Boat International nor any of its personnel is involved with the Power Boat races in Key West this week in any way.

The City Commission after 38 years voted to give the race to RWO for the next five years. While advertised as the 39th Annual race and would have been SBI’s 39th race, it is in actuality RWO’s 1st Key West race.

Although SBIP had a contract with Monroe County to put the races on, last month the Coast Guard notified SBI they would not approve its permit after a delay of over 320 days. SBI made every effort to produce the race, but ultimately is not being allowed to do so.

We thank our fans and supporters for 38 years of racing in Key West.

Super Boat International® (SBI) is the sole owner of the following trademarks: KEY WEST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™ and TO BE THE BEST YOU HAVE TO WIN KEY WEST™ these are the sole property of Super Boat International Productions, Inc.® any unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Although RWO haven’t been able to attract the Class One USA boats, there are a healthy number of competing in both the Super Stock and Super Cat classes.

The event will encompass three days of racing that starts tomorrow, then on Friday and concludes on Sunday, the full schedule can be found here.