Powerboat racing is more than just a hobby for Mark Selley Jr., it is in his blood.

His father, Mark Selley Sr., raced powerboats for over twenty years. His uncle Craig Selley has won the Round-the-Island Powerboat Race five times, and his twin brother David races boats also.

The family legacy may seem like a lot to live up to, but the 19-year-old is well on his way.

He was the overall winner of the race last August racing as a rookie in the annual event, Mr. Selley beat veteran racers to take the top spot.

Then 18, if he wasn't the youngest he is certainly one of the youngest contenders ever, to win a Round-the-Island race.

"Racing is really the only thing that my brother and I have ever wanted to do," says Mr. Selley.

"It is all we knew, we just wanted to go out there and go fast.

"Racing is something that we grew up with. My dad and my uncle have a long history of racing and I remember looking at the scrapbooks of their races and hearing all these stories about them.

"I remember thinking 'wow, those are some pretty big shoes to fill'."

His father had more than one reason to be happy when his son placed first in the annual event Mr. Selley and his co-pilot, Jordan Every, were racing under his old number.

"He didn't know what to do when we won," Mr. Selley said. "He never got his win and we used his old number so he was over the moon."

Although Mr. Selley says luck had a lot to do with his win that day, hard work and determination also got him to that point. "If you put your mind to something, you can do it," he says.

"Don't let things or people get in your way, whether it be a money problem or some other issue. Anything is possible."

As a young Bermudian, he says that he is tired of hearing about gangs and social problems among local youth. "We are young, we are Bermudian and we are doing something positive. We aren't sitting on a wall somewhere doing nothing. I just want to show that even though you are young, the possibilities are endless."

He does acknowledge however, that he couldn't have gotten to where he is without some help along the way. "The day I say that I did this all by myself you can punch me in the head. I couldn't have won that day without my co-pilot and my friends, family and the sponsors.

"It felt good to show people like my dad and my uncle that we could do it. Yeah we're young, yeah we're kids, and a lot of people said that we couldn't do it, but we proved them all wrong."

The Round-the-Island Powerboat Race has been going on for more than 50 years. Like Cup Match, it has become a summer tradition. In recent years the number of racers has dwindled.

"I didn't want to see this tradition die," Mr. Selley said. "I have wanted to race for as long as I have had a brain to think about it. I wasn't going to let my chance disappear just as I came of age."

He is part of a new generation of Round-the-Island racers determined to keep the tradition alive. In January Mr. Selley will go off to school to become certified as a marine mechanic. While he plans to be back for next August's race, he admits that, with powerboat racing, things don't always go as planned.

"A lot of this is luck, there are so many things that can go wrong."