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2006 Ed Cooper Sr. Memorial |
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It was a dark and stormy night…. actually the weather wasn't too bad. Some sun, some clouds, but no rain greeted everyone for the first
race of the 2006 Classic Thunder season.
This race, held in Lacey, WA, was the Ed Cooper Sr. Memorial. We had 20 boats on the water in Division 1
and 11 in Division 2. Division 2 featured a lot of new hulls and some
new faces. One of those, Mark Beaty,
built and raced his beautiful Lite All-Star. It had a smooth ride and looked fast. Pete Schille brought out his new KYYX and, sporting
a brushless power train, had a fast and lively ride. Brent Hall had another new hull built by Mitch Dillard,
this one the “Bubble Bud”. I
think it may have been the fastest thing on the water, or out of the water as
we witnessed later in the day. Mike
Schultz brought out a couple of new hulls, a Griffon Bud and a new
carbon fiber Oh Boy! Oberto.
Throughout the heats it was hard to pick a favorite for the win. The KYYX ran well and won all of her heats,
accumulating a perfect point total heading into the Final. “Battery” Dave Sacry had his Circus
Circus flying in the preliminary heats.
Clean driving kept Mitch Dillard in the new Trendwest in
contention, picking up wins in heats 1A and 2C. Pat Malaspina and John Dyer were both flying the
colors of Atlas Van Lines. Pat with the
80 Blue Blaster and John with the 72 Atlas. Both would go on to the Final Heat. The final round of preliminary heats brought
trouble for Mike Schultz’s’ Griffon bud.
Trying to pass, the Bud swerved into the path of the Lite All Star. The collision left the Bud a little worse
for ware, but both boats would retire for the day. Dan Clark’s 76 Bud showed flashes of brilliance that would
have made Bernie proud as he wowed the crowd with a couple of laps that were
real fliers. His only problem was
getting to the finish. The Connie had 3
boats in it as Dan’s 76 Bud had to withdraw.
Mike Krone’s Island Security, Mike Schultz’s Oberto and Brent
Hall’s Bubble Bud would duke it out for the last transfer spot into the Final
Heat. Early in this 5-lapper the
Island Security blew over, leaving the Oberto and the Bud to race deck to
deck. Then it happened. Rocketing down the back stretch the Bud
caught some air and somersaulted. She
landed upright but no sooner did she hit the water, the Oberto went right over
the top of her. The Bud, in an effort
to get back on plane after the flip, then ran over the Oberto. The Oberto tried to get back on course but
had sustained rudder damage and ended up flying up the beach and into some
small trees and grass along the shore.
The end result was the Island Security moving on to the Final. Man, if you thought the Connie was
interesting, then came the Final. The
players included the KYYX driven by Pete Schille, Trendwest with Mitch Dillard,
Circus Circus with Dave Sacry, the 72 Atlas of John Dyer, Pat Malaspina in the
Blue Blaster with the Island Security Systems and Mike Krone 5 seconds back as
the trailer. From here on it got
confusing. At the start the Circus and
72 Atlas jumped the gun, giving them an extra lap to run. That made the Trendwest the leader until it
hit a buoy. Mitch cut it too close not
realizing that there had been a call made on the two lead boats. That put the KYYX, running with only 7 cells
working, out front. Somehow Pete got
the battery packs hooked up wrong in the new boat. The Island Security made quick work of the 5 second trailer start
and soon overtook the ailing KYYX for the lead. Meanwhile, the Circus and
Trendwest were making up ground and had caught the rear of the field in an
attempt to regain there positions. Island
Security Systems was able to hold on to give Mike Krone his first CT race win! The Circus pushed wide on it’s final corner,
overcorrected a bit and glanced off the side of the Trendwest, who had ducked
inside to make the pass. The Circus was
penalized for causing an accident and was disqualified from the heat. The Trendwest crossed the line in second
place with repairable damage to its vertical wing and side of the boat. KYYX soldiered on to a third place finish. Division 1 competition had 20 boats mixing it up all day long. We again saw the racing debut of some new faces and hulls. Mark Beaty had his beautiful new Timex out. Clint Crain had the Parco’s O-Ring Miss, which was also built and painted by Mark. Dale Schroeder and his 59 miss US 1 were also out for their debut. Brent Hall entered competition running a 66 Miss US in Div 1. Tony Minalia got his My Gypsy running and scored its first points of the season. Dale Schroeder also hit the water with his 59 Miss US1. The heat races were full of fantastic battles between evenly matched boats. Bob Vanden Akker made great starts and consistently put his Nitrogen Too and Notre Dame out front in the prelims. A couple of more exciting heats were not decided until the last turn. In one heat, the Mitch Dillard’s 54 Miss US and Dale Van Wyk’s Miss Seattle had to split around the lapped Hurricane IV coming down to the finish, with the Seattle just edging the US at the line. With 20 boats in the pits, not everyone would make the Connie. Some of the less fortunate boats were Dale Van Wyk’s Berryessa Belle, Mike Krone’s Miss US 5, Dave Sacry’s Short Circuit, John Dyer’s Miss Great Lakes, the 66 Miss US, My Gypsy, Dan Clark’s Tahoe Miss and Miss Spokane. The Consolation Heat had Mike Krone’s Hurricane IV, the 59 US1, Pat Malaspina’s Miss Thriftway, Bill McGraw’s outrigger Pay ‘n Pak, the Miss Timex and the Parco’s going head to head. The Parco’s never made it into the water for the race. At the start Hurricane led the field up the backstretch. The Pak charged toward the front to challenge for the lead by the end of lap one. Back in the pack the Timex and 66 US locked up and had a good scrap before the US went dead in the water. By lap 2 The Pak had gained the upper hand and drove away from the Hurricane to take the win and move up to the Final Heat. A good day for Bob Vanden Akker put both his boats in the Final, but a call from Momma V. had Bob scratch the Dame from the heat in favor of the Nitrogen Too. That moved Pete Schille’s Harrah’s Club to the big show. Pete already had his Cabover Bardahl in the Final so he enlisted the help of Mike Krone to drive the Harrahs. Also making the Final were Mitch Dillard’s 54 Miss US and Dale Van Wyk Miss Seattle. Bill McGraw joined them with his Pay’n Pak, advancing from the Connie as the trailer. At the start Nitrogen Too was out front again followed by the Miss US, Bardahl and the Seattle. Taking it a little easy was Mike in the Harrah’s with the Pak charging hard, 5 seconds back in the trailer position. Up front the Miss US hit a buoy and got a 1 lap penalty. The Pak, meanwhile, cruised past the Harrah’s and Seattle and into third. The Nitrogen Too suddenly developed a nasty vibration and Bob pulled her off the course before something could come apart. He had broken off a propeller blade. That put the Pak and Bardahl racing up front. Not for long though, as a hit buoy would take the Bardahl out of contention and force Pete to run an extra lap. At the finish it was Bill McGraw’s Pay’n Pak coming from the trailer position to take the win followed by the Miss Seattle in second. The Miss US and Bardahl had a good race between them as they both ran an extra lap. The Miss US would hold off the Bardahl to take third. The Harrah’s came home fifth. I would like to say thanks to everyone for coming out. The rest of the season will only get better. See you at the Diamond Cup, May 7th at Coulon Park! The race will be sponsored by Bill McGraw and Bill’s Bodacious BBQ! Sincerely, Dale Van Wyk Race Sponsor/Coordinator 2006 Ed Cooper Sr. Memorial
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