HSR-Benelli pulls plug on racing

Company blames organizations and federations for decision affecting 2008 program

Austrian personal watercraft manufacturer HSR-Benelli, formerly known as Hydrospace, has axed its race support program for 2008.

“From the beginning HSR-Benelli has been receiving pressure from different organizations and federations, which have tried to stop our spirit of innovation,” the company says. “So at this point, our position is that there is no possibility of supporting racing now, as there is not a straight structure or common understanding.”

Though HSR-Benelli didn’t provide any specific examples, one of the main issues the company had to face was the raised homologation number from the American Power Boat Association (APBA).

To compete in Stock and Limited classes, the APBA says manufacturers have to produce at least 300 units. That number is up from 100 units, which was already a difficult target for HSR-Benelli to reach since its units are so much more expensive than the competition.

HSR-Benelli’s S4, which raced in APBA and IJSBA events in 2007, sold for about US$13,000. By comparison with standup models, Yamaha’s 2008 SuperJet retails for US$6,699 and Kawasaki’s 2008 800 SX-R sells for US$6,049.

“Their watercraft are such a specialty that there’s no way that they could sell 100 units,” Patrick Mell, a spokesman for the APBA, told PersonalWatercraft.com. “They had to have 100 units to be able to race last year in the APBA and the units had to be present and available for sale and I feel confident that 100 units came over here, but 100 units weren’t sold here.”

Mell estimates that HSR-Benelli sold only about 50 units in the United States and doesn’t think the new homologation number of 300 units is attainable for the company.

“For them to be able to race here in the US, they have to have 300,” says Mell. “They’ll never sell 300 of those expensive boats in the US.”

In 2007, HSR-Benelli supported all registered riders in all national and international championships. Without that support in 2008, those racers will have a very difficult time trying to cover their costs.

Though things currently look challenging for the future of HSR-Benelli racing, the company did say it is hoping it can give full support to the sport in the future.

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