The Broadco Team is coming back this year for a reunion tour, and we cannot wait to see their MTI back in action. In this article that was originally published by Speed on the Water, teammates Chuck Broaddus and Mark Niemann talk about how they got their team together, which races they’re looking forward to this year, and how impressed they are with how the MTI drives. Be looking out for them at next week’s Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix!
With the July 7 Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix less than a month away, veteran offshore racers Chuck Broaddus and Mark Niemann, got in their first practice sessions together earlier this week in the 40-foot Broadco MTI catamaran in St. Clair, Mich. Broaddus and Niemann will compete in the Supercat-class ranks in the Sarasota contest, which is the third stop in the six-race American Power Boat Association Offshore Championship Series.
The driver of the boat, Broaddus announced that he was teaming up with Niemann, who will throttle, in mid-May for a 2019 “reunion tour.” In addition competing in Sarasota, Broaddus said that he and Niemann plan to enter the APBA series race in St. Clair, Mich. (July 27-28) and the Race World Offshore contests Nov. 3-10 in Key West, Fla.
The cockpit duo ran the 40-footer on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We are really happy and ready to go for Sarasota,” said Broaddus. “Our plan for Sarasota is to go out, have a good safe race and get some seat time together in a competitive environment, not necessarily go there as a threat to win, though winning is always good. The way you work together in practice is nothing like how you work together in a competitive environment. In Supercat class, the races are won and lost in the turns and we want to take the time to get dialed in together. So we’re not going to ‘rush in’ to our first race.
“Our communication in the boat was excellent and Mark was smiling ear to ear,” he continued. “He was completely impressed with the way the MTI drives—it’s on rails. Eventually, I had him accelerating hard coming into the turns and hard on the way out of them, and he was amazed at how well the boat handled through the turns.’
In addition to having Frank McComas, the Broadco team’s engine man, go through the boat’s twin 750-hp engines top to bottom (they earned a clean bill of health) Broaddus had the catamaran completely rewrapped—and had its bottom painted black.
“It’s a more minimalist design than some of the more-involved wraps we’ve done in the past,” he said. “It has a kind-of-cool, old-school theme.”
According to Broaddus, the team is still considering competing in the Roar Offshore event Oct. 10-12 in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., which is the final race in the APBA series. They will make that decision after reassessing where they are after competing in St. Clair.
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Original article published on speedonthewater.com.