SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla. — Wyatt Fountain and Jeff Harris piloted Znetix/Lake Cumberland, a 39-foot Fountain with twin 750-horsepower Mercury engines, to win the American Power Boat Association Offshore Super V class national championship race and the 2001 APBA Offshore Super V National Championship Sunday, October 7. The win was the sixth in a row for Fountain and Harris, who won all but one Super V race during the 2001 season.

Fountain and Harris started in the back of the four-boat Super V pack. They moved up through the field, first passing Wellcraft Conseco on lap three. They later passed Muscle midway through the 18-lap race. Fountain Pier 57 led the race from the start and maintained a 20-second lead until a mechanical failure forced the boat to slow down.

"We had a 20-second lead, but then we blew the head gasket," said Joey Gratton, Fountain Pier 57's throttleman. "It dropped our speed and Znetix/Lake Cumberland blew by us."

Znetix/Lake Cumberland averaged 90.31 mph to win the race. Fountain Pier 57 finished second and Muscle took third.

In taking the checkered flag, Harris and Fountain were crowned the 2001 APBA Offshore Super V National Champions.

"This has been a dream season," said Fountain, son of renowned powerboat manufacturer and boat racer Reggie Fountain. "It was all about attention to detail."

Super Cat

The 40-foot MTI catmaran Tommy Bahama piloted by the father son team of Mark and Paul Nemschoff, averaged 98.30 mph over a 22-lap course to win their first Super Cat race. Throughout the season, the team had encountered numerous mechanical problems that prevented them from finishing a race.

An early race navigation error (missed buoy) nearly cost the Nemschoffs their first Super Cat win, but they realized their mistake, went back around the buoy and caught the race leader Cat Can Do with two laps to go. Drambuie On Ice pilots Hugh Fuller and John Tomlinson finished third and earned enough points to claim the APBA Offshore Super Cat National Championship.

Factory II

Lute Dickey and Matt Rice won the Factory II event in their 35-foot Fountain Utz Quality Foods. Bob Eubanks placed second along with teammate Bruce Kreimeir in their 34-foot Phantom Twisted Styx.

Leading the in Factory II points standings entering the race and needing to finish no worse than seventh to claim the National title, team Virgin pilots Tres Martin and Todd Klindworth were the first team to stop on the scene of Factory 1 accident. (Factory I and II ran concurrently.) They were in fourth place when they stopped and the time was logged to the second.

The time was called in once they reentered the race, documenting a 12 minutes and 10 seconds of total time stopped. They were not able to get back to their position in the yellow flag restart, yet they worked their way back to eighth position without consideration for the time that they stopped.

Based on their finish position, and the credit back of 12 minutes and 10 seconds, they were moved back into fourth position. Thus, Team Virgin was crowned the Factory II National Championship. All were powered by twin

The 2001 APBA Offshore Pro Series World Championships will be held November 3-4 in Key West, Fla.