Mick and Jason Kelly claimed the 2025/26 Supercat Extreme Championship on their debut in the class at North Haven, Port Adelaide on Saturday, May 9, 2026, winning by two points in a finale that could not have been scripted.
Hornet Racing arrived at the season-closing fourth round holding a 42-point lead over Stuart Eustice and Todd Kelly in MOJO, with 105 points available across three 30-minute races. On paper, the title was theirs to lose. They came within minutes of doing exactly that.
Supercat Extreme
MOJO won Race 1 with Hornet Racing five seconds back in second after a mid-race spin. Race 2 again went to MOJO, Hornet second and Venturi Offshore (Antony De Fina and Matt Kelly) third, the three boats separated by seven seconds at the flag. The gap had closed from 42 points to 32, with 35 still available for a Race 3 win.
With 90 minutes between Race 2 and Race 3, the atmosphere in the Hornet Racing pit changed. The team worked against the clock on a broken tie bar controlling the steering of the Mercury 6-drives on their Skater. The boat launched late, then was recalled to the jetty. Under the rules, a tie bar must be fitted to race. Hornet Racing withdrew and did not start Race 3.
For the championship to change hands, MOJO had to win Race 3 and Venturi had to finish second. What happened was the reverse. De Fina and Matt Kelly, who ran three different setups across the weekend, won their maiden race in the outright category. MOJO, with Mason Kelly alongside Todd Kelly for his first run in the boat, finished second. Hornet Racing were classified third by virtue of their DNS. The 2025/26 Supercat Extreme Championship went to Hornet Racing by 2 points: 363 to 361.
Mick Kelly, speaking post-race:
“We sat at the boat ramp and everyone worked to fix it. We started motoring out there and realised the rule states you’ve got to have a tie bar fitted; safety first. We were sitting here biting our nails for the last half an hour but yeah, pretty awesome. It’s been a hard year, a lot of ups and downs; pretty emotional.”
Jason Kelly:
“Unbelievable. Emotions are through the roof at the moment; never in a million years did we think we would come out of an 85-class boat and then take out the Championship in Supercat Extreme.”
Antony De Fina on Race 3:
“We had three different setups for three different races, so I suppose we sort of looked at it as a big test session; we got better first race today and then made another change, and I think we nailed it with the combination of gears and props and weight, it all came together.”
Todd Kelly:
“We gave that absolutely everything we had. Mason had his first run behind the wheel and I thought we’d just ease into it a little, but then we saw that Venturi must have made a few changes and had some pretty decent pace, so right from the start we gave it everything off the line.”
The absence of 222 Offshore, who withdrew from Adelaide due to the Hormuz fuel crisis, reduced the Supercat Extreme field to three boats for the finale. Mobile X (Darren Nicholson and Peter McGrath) finished the season fourth in the class with 211 points.
Supercat Outboard
Mike Ratcliffe and Karl Wall needed one race at Port Adelaide to settle the Supercat Outboard Championship. The Sting won the opening race for its ninth win of the season, securing the title. Ratcliffe and Wall went on to win all three races in Adelaide, bringing their season total to 11 wins from 12 starts, the only blemish a prop failure in Race 1 at Wyndham Harbour.
DLR Offshore (Craig Dove and Lachlan Dove) finished second in the championship despite spending the Adelaide weekend managing a persistent electrical fault that forced repeated system resets on their twin Mercury 300XS engines, leaving them laps behind the field across each race.
TCR Offshore (Scott Richardson and Steve Kelly) were competitive in Race 1, then suffered engine failure in Race 2 and did not start Race 3.
Mike Ratcliffe:
“It’s good to come away at the end of the season with the number one title to go over to challenge the Americans as the Australian Champions.”
Karl Wall:
“Unfortunately at Geelong last year we broke the boat beyond a quick repair to be back on the water for Adelaide, which put us back to third in the Championship, but this year we’ve redeemed ourselves and come away with first place.”
The Sting will be shipped to the United States to contest rounds of the US Championship later in 2026, ahead of a full season campaign in 2027. Ratcliffe and Wall have confirmed they will return to defend the Australian title in their original Skater.
2025/26 Australian Offshore Superboat Championships – Final Standings
Supercat Extreme
| Pos | Boat | Crew | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hornet Racing | Mick Kelly / Jason Kelly | 363 |
| 2 | MOJO | Stuart Eustice / Todd Kelly | 361 |
| 3 | Venturi Offshore | Antony De Fina / Matt Kelly | 331 |
| 4 | Mobile X | Darren Nicholson / Peter McGrath | 211 |
Supercat Outboard
| Pos | Boat | Crew | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Sting | Mike Ratcliffe / Karl Wall | 421 |
| 2 | DLR Offshore | Craig Dove / Lachlan Dove | 331 |
| 3 | Kess Racing | Steve Lancaster / Scott Kelly | 302 |
| 4 | TCR Offshore | Scott Richardson / Steve Kelly | 265 |
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
