Cayman's 345Racing will be riding the waves and churning up tons of excitement as powerboat racing and promotion for the jurisdiction come together.
“So pleased to release 345Racing sneak-peak of our major sponsor and design for the race boat....and the official announcement of the locally owned race team competing in this upcoming C1 powerboat season,” Caymanian businessman and powerboat racing enthusiast Mario Rankin has announced.
Mr Rankin and his partner in the venture Jason Butcher are leading a new drive to place Cayman amongst the elite in the high-profile international powerboat racing.
Ultimately, the goal is to bring the excitement of the fast-paced and high-stakes sport with its global network of fans and teams to the waters of the Cayman Islands.
345Racing has already scored big by securing a place in this year’s Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 World Championship at several venues in the United States.
The team is also creating quite a stir in the powerboat racing fraternity and fans by being profiled in leading publications such as international powerboat racing promoter Powerboat P1 and Speed-on-the-Water.com.
“International powerboat racing promoter Powerboat P1 announced today that 345 Racing, a new Cayman Islands team owned by Mario Rankin and Jason Butcher, is going to compete in this year’s Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 World Championship,” they reported.
With Cayman’s 345 area code prominently emblazoned on the hull of their high-speed racing craft, promotional attention for Cayman is already guaranteed.
And while they won’t be physically at the helm in the races, Rankin and Butcher are driving the investment, management, promotion and logistics with a team of professionals.
Experienced American powerboat racer Alex Pratt will be on the throttles alongside driver Miles Jennings, the United Kingdom-based offshore racing veteran whose career spans five decades.
The team and boats will be based in Florida and will make their inaugural splash in the first of a series of races in Cocoa Beach, Fla., May 19-22.
Articles by Powerboat P1 and Speed-on-the-Water.com profiling 345Racing say Pratt joins the team with tons of enthusiasm, adding that the 27-year-old can’t wait to start testing the 42-foot Victory Team-built catamaran—the former Zabo boat—that is powered by twin Mercury Racing 1100 Competition engines.
“Oh wow, I can’t even tell you how excited I am to go racing,” said Pratt, who expects to get in the boat with Jennings starting in April in preparation for Thunder On Cocoa Beach and the rest of the season.
“It’s going to be so much fun racing in Class 1. It should be an interesting year with the international teams returning, the two new Huski team boats and Miles and I teaming up. I have a feeling this is going to be a lot of fun. This is a great class, especially with the Mercury Racing 1100s.”
Sponsorship is key, and the principal team sponsor is going to be XINSURANCE, a business that was established more than 40 years ago to provide customized specialty insurance for ever-changing risks and issues such as specialty liability, property and casualty insurance.
The XINSURANCE brand will also be a high-visibility promotion on the hull of the powerful boats.
Cayman’s 345Racing is already booked for six events in the 2022 Class 1 calendar:
• Cocoa Beach : May 19-22
• Sarasota : July 1-3
• Michigan City : August 4-7
• St. Petersburg : September 2-4
• Clearwater : September 30 – October 2
• Key West : November 6-13
[Photo: Designer vision of Cayman Islands branding on Power Boat ]
Comments (0)
We appreciate your feedback. You can comment here with your pseudonym or real name. You can leave a comment with or without entering an email address. All comments will be reviewed before they are published.