SHOCKING VIDEO: Powerboats Collide In Key West Championship Race

It was a close call for one powerboat team last weekend, when their race boat collided with a competitor in the Key West Offshore World Championship races. 

Kevin Campbell and Brian LaMonica of Team Octane were racing in the Race World Offshore event in Key West, Fla. and had made it into the Sunday championship race. 

Team Octane was heading from turn three into turn one when they saw that the Team Shocker boat was coming quickly into the same turn. They slowed down to allow the other boat to pass before bringing the boat back up to speed. As they were heading into the turn, they were going between 60 and 70 mph. 

"And then the next thing I know is that I hear Brian yell 'Shocker! Shocker!' and... they hit us," throttleman Kevin Campbell told Lake Expo. "What happened was they had spun out in front of us and ended up in our lane. So there's no way we could avoid them," he explained.

"I knew what happened because I saw the name Shocker come right over us," Campbell said. After the impact, the boat spun to a sudden halt. Campbell sprang into action, but LaMonica was motionless.

"I looked over at Brian, and he was knocked out completely. So my first concern was trying to get him back conscious," Campbell said. 

Later, the team discovered what happened, by slowing-down the cockpit camera footage: LaMonica had been knocked out when the canopy flexed inward from the impact of the Team Shocker boat and struck LaMonica on the head. It happened quickly, and the canopy almost instantly restored to its original (albeit damaged) shape.

It was a frightening moment for Campbell as LaMonica lay unresponsive in the boat, but thankfully, rescue crews were rushing to the scene.

"I don't know to this day how fast they made it to us, but it was seconds. I mean, it’s incredibly fast how they got to us. And while they were trying to get up on the boat, I hollered and reached back into the cockpit, trying to get Brian back conscious. And he moved his head and then he moved his arms. And I was like 'Thank God, he's not gone.'"

LaMonica sustained a concussion, and Campbell experienced neck pain and bruises. But both men are on the mend, and neither injury is expected to cause any permanent damage.  

"We’re going, we’re alive, we're breathing,  we can tell the tale and live for another race," Campbell said. 

The Octane boat took a majority of the damage, with a big chunk broken off from the nose of the boat and damage on the starboard side where Shocker and Octane made contact. The hatch and canopy was also damaged when Shocker came over the boat, and there was extensive fiberglass damage.  

"When they [Shocker] came up over the canopy, it mashed the canopy down and tore a bunch of fiberglass off and ripped the hatch off. So we’re very lucky. Very lucky it wasn’t worse," Campbell mused.

The Shocker and Octane teams are familiar faces in the powerboat racing scene, and both have made appearances at the former Lake Race at Lake of the Ozarks (recently renamed LOTO Powerfest).

It’s unknown at this time how long the Octane boat will be out of commission, but while the boat and riders are on the road to recovery, Campbell wanted to thank the first responders and medical staff that helped treat the two men after the crash. 

"I just wanted to thank the rescue crew, all the divers, the helicopter pilots, the doctors, Key West hospital," he said. "I mean all of them were just incredible. Simply incredible."

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