National and World Champion offshore racer Brit Lilly of Lilly Sport Boats (Severna, MD) will hop into the cockpit of the WHM Motorsports 40′ Skater at next month’s Key West World Finals, filling in for an ailing Billy Mauff.

The 64-year-old Mauff, another National and World Champion racer, underwent intestinal surgery last month. While he recovers, Lilly was conscripted to join longtime WHM throttleman Jay Muller at Race World Offshore’s World Championships, set for Nov. 7-14. This season, Lilly competed not only in his boats LSB Hurricane of Awesomeness and Pit Viper/Tug It, but as driver of ClassONE’s Miss GEICO.

“If I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to drive GEICO, I don’t think that this opportunity would have opened itself up to me,” Lilly told Speedboat. “To be in a Skater now with WHM, I’m popped.”

Lilly is currently in WHM’s home city of Cocoa Beach, FL, with the rest of the team as they test and strategize for the upcoming bout in the Southernmost city. “We flew in to meet the rest of the crew. We’re on Day #2 of testing. We did ocean testing yesterday, and today we’re on the river doing some flat water testing, getting me comfortable and fitted in there. Hopefully we can go make everybody proud.”

In addition to driving WHM, Lilly plans to bring his Stock Vee competitor, LSB Hurricane of Awesomeness, to Key West as well. Meanwhile, he says his good friend, Nitro Circus superstar Travis Pastrana, has leased one of his boats in order to compete in at least four events next season. (Lilly and Pastrana traded off on driving duties this seasons in Miss GEICO with throttleman Sir Steve Curtis, who will also be in Key West throttling the same 47′ Victory, newly rechristened Huski Wear by its new owners.)

Jay Muller says he’s stoked to race in Key West with Lilly, and predicts that the WHM Skater will continue to kick ass on the race course. “The boat’s in such good shape,” he told Speedboat. “I gotta tell you, I think it’s got many years left. The only damage we had was running into Pro Floors [at the 2016 Key West World Championships], and that was all repaired by Skater. The boat’s got a lot of life left in it. It’s light, it’s fast and calm; it’s good in rough water and accelerates well. We’ve got fresh motors, so I think we’re good to go.”

“I’m not saying we’re going to go win, but we’re going to go compete, that’s for sure,” Lilly adds. “The boat is ready.”

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