Falco And Moore Get A Taste Of XCAT Competition In Palermo

When veteran offshore racer Billy Moore, who throttles for the Super Cat Graydel and Class 1 Defalco teams, reached out last Wednesday from the XCAT Palermo Grand Prix in Southern Italy, he wasn’t sure when he and Defalco team owner/driver Mike Falco would get their hands on the 222 Offshore team’s raceboat. The United States-based teammates were hoping to run the 32-foot catamaran together during Thursday’s practice and testing session.

Mike Defalco and Billy Moore enjoyed a most-excellent XCAT adventure last weekend in Palermo, Italy.

Unfortunately, the cat didn’t arrive until mid-Thursday morning and wasn’t ready for water-testing—prep includes re-mounting the outboards engines which are removed for shipping, and inspections—until that evening. During the following morning’s test-session, Giovanni Carpitella, the Australia-based team’s regular throttleman, shared the cockpit with Falco.

Moore got his first chance to drive the boat alongside the multi-time world champion Italian throttleman during pole-position qualifying on Saturday.

“Giovanni and I went out and finished third,” Moore said.

Though nothing has been decided, offshore racing fans in the U.S. could have a home-grown XCAT team to root for next year.

On Sunday morning before the main event, Falco and Carpitella practiced again and got “a good feel for the course and laid down some good lap times,” according to Moore. Then it was time for the race.

“They got a good start and were running a solid third for a few laps,” Moore said. “But they started having a throttle overheating problem with one of the engines, which forced them to essentially drop out of the race.

“But it was a great experience for Mike in a relatively short amount of time,” he added. “And he liked the organization.”

For the record, the Swedish team dubbed Swecat took the checkered flag.

Will XCAT fans in the U.S. have a home-grown team to cheer for next season?

“That’s still up in the air,” Moore said, then chuckled. “But definitely look for the 2025 calendar.”

Said Moore, “It was a great experience for Mike in a relatively short amount of time.”

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