HISTORY 2003

The July 6th Classic Thunder Diamond cup on Lake Pleasant was an extraordinary event.  The whole day was spent just enjoying the nice weather, putting on a great show for the people there at the RV Park, feasting at the barbecue and having a good time.  What else could you ask for?  I can’t say enough about the hospitality we see at this race.  Bob VandenAkker and the other Bothellonians really went out of their way to make this an awesome event.  The racing didn’t disappoint either.  It was fast, furious and sometimes stranger than fiction.  As you read on, you’ll see that we saw a little bit of everything.

Heat 1A started us off with a victory by Mitch Dillard’s Gale IV, followed by Pete Schille’s Harrahs and Mike Krone’s Cabover Bardahl.  Doug Tulip showed up with the newly painted Checkerboard Bardahl, but it had some first race gremlins and was finally scratched from competition.  Nonetheless, it was good to see the boat back out there.  The Berryessa Belle gave Jessica Van Wyke and crew a headache all day long.  The boat was later withdrawn due to radio problems.    

Heat 1B saw Bill McGraw win in the Pride of Pay’n Pak, followed by Craig Mullen’s $Bill.  Jon Zimmerman drove the $Bill all day in Craig’s absence.  Dave Sacry’s Breathless was third, followed by Dale Van Wyk’s Miss Seattle.  Danny Sacry rolled the Miss U.S. in the first turn and did not finish.

Heat 1C was won by Jeff Howard’s Miss Budweiser, followed by Jim Clark’s Blonde Bardahl.  Gary Simpson’s Chrysler Crew was fast, but blew over entering turn two and did not finish.  Bob VandenAkker’s Notre Dame also did not finish the heat.

Gale IV won Heat 2A ahead of Pay’n Pak, Budweiser and Notre Dame.

Heat 2B started in a three lap dual for the lead between the $Bill and Harrah’s that inspired cheers from people across the lake.  The $Bill then earned a one lap penalty for cutting across in front of the Harrah’s coming off of turn 2.  Harrah’s went on to win the heat, followed by $Bill.  The Blonde Bardahl would finish third after hitting a buoy and running an extra lap.  The Cabover Bardahl came in fourth.

Heat 2C saw yet another deck-to-deck dual.  This time it was between the Miss U.S. and Miss Seattle.   After a long battle Miss U.S. took the lead.  Shortly after that it hit a bouy in turn one.  To make up for that, it then cut a buoy in turn two.  The win went to Miss Seattle followed by Breathless, Chrysler Crew and a very determined Miss U.S.  After the wheels fell off, Miss U.S. ended up completing an impressive seven laps to make the finish.

Heat 3A was won by Pay’n Pak, followed by Gale IV, the Blonde Bardahl and Chrysler Crew.  Breathless was unable to finish.

Harrah’s won Heat 3B over $Bill, Cabover Bardahl and Miss U.S.

Miss Seattle won Heat 3C followed by Budweiser and Notre Dame.

The Consolation Heat started off with a mishap in the mill lap.  The boats were preparing to start the mill lap when one of the boats bumped the Notre Dame.  Notre Dame hit the throttle a bit and struck the $Bill from behind, knocking the $Bill’s cowling off.  $Bill could not continue without it and pulled to the infield.  Notre Dame was giving a race penalty and was disqualified from the heat.  Chrysler crew got a good start and held off the Cabover Bardahl and Blond Bardahl to take the win.  Breathless spun a couple of times in the heat and was out of contention.  Chrysler crew ran well in this heat, but elected to forgo the final heat.  This put the second place Cabover Bardahl into the final.

The Final Heat was full of excitement.   Gale IV, Pay’n Pak and Harrah’s all came in with 1100 points.  Miss Seattle had run great all day and the Budweiser is always fast.  Cabover Bardahl came in from the consolation heat and would trail the field.  Pay’n Pak cut a buoy in the mill lap and had to recircle the first turn.  That killed its chances for a good start.  The Harrah’s hit the line first followed closely by Miss Seattle, Budweiser and Gale IV.  Miss Seattle passed Harrah’s on the backstretch.  Budweiser was in third with Gale IV right with her.  The Gale IV passed on the inside of turn two to go into third.  At the end of the front stretch of lap two, the excitement got even greater as the Miss Seattle picked up its outside sponson and blew over.  Harrah’s took over first place closely followed by the Gale IV.  Gale IV caught up and got past the Harrah’s on lap 3.  The Gale led down the front stretch to begin lap 4 with the Harrah’s on her hip.  Coming out of turn one, the Gale bobbled just enough to have to slow down to avoid hitting the exit buoy.  By the time she got it together again, the Harrah’s had passed and had extended a good lead.  The Budweiser was back on the Gale’s tail and threatening to take over second.  At the end of lap 4, the Harrah’s held the lead followed by the Gale IV and Budweiser.  Down the backstretch, the Gale IV and Budweiser gained.  As the Harrah’s approached the entrance to turn two, she came up on race traffic in the form of the Cabover Bardahl running in about lane 2 or 3.  Harrah’s decided to go outside to make the turn.  Gale IV dove inside the Bardahl, making a final effort to catch the Harrah’s.  The Harrah’s had just enough of a lead and held off the Gale IV for her second victory of the season.  Budweiser was not far behind and was third.  Congratulation to Pete Schille’s Harrah’s Club, winner of the 2003 Classic Thunder Diamond Cup in Division 1.  Not only did Pete win the race, he got a great surprise at the award ceremony. On top of all that they did for us, the crowd at the potluck barbecue passed the hat and came up with a $100 cash prize for the winner of division 1.  The evil one scored big!  

Executone dials up its first win at the Lake Pleasant.

 Six boats made up the field at the Diamond Cup for division 2.  A “winner take all” final heat would decide this one.  This was some really exciting racing.  

Heat 1A saw Mitch Dillard’s Griffon Budweiser get a good start with the Executone.  The Bud had a slight lead going up the backstretch on lap 2, but slowed to avoid Jeff Howard’s stranded Znetix who had gone dead in the first lap.  The Executone took the faster line and was off to the races being chased by the Griffon Bud.  No way was the Bud going to catch her, but the Bud wouldn’t quit and managed to blast a buoy trying.  The Bud would get a second place finish.  The Znetix was able to refire and bring home third.

Pete Schille’s Tide got to the start first in Heat 1B, followed by Jon Zimmerman driving Craig Mullen’s Pride of Pay’n Pak and Bob VandenAkker’s Weisfields.  The Tide led lap one and was caught and passed by the Pak from the outside on the backstretch on lap 2.  The Pak streaked past and continued to accelerate until it blew over entering turn 2.  Tide finished first followed by the Weisfields.  The Pak was unable to finish.

Heat 2A was won by the Executone, followed by Weisfields and Pay’n Pak.  It appeared that the speed controller in the Pak got wet following the blowover in heat 1B.  It was sputtering the rest of the day.   

The Griffon Bud won heat 2B wire-to-wire over the Tide.  Bernie would have loved it. Znetix was unable to finish.  

Znetix was the winner of the longest heat of the day.  Heat 3A must have lasted 10 minutes, or maybe it just seemed that way.  The Znetix ran two laps, then died.  The Weisfields got weeds stuck on her prop and rudder and went dead at the exit of turn two.  The Pay’n Pak continued to struggle and went dead.  Znetix came back to life and finished lap 3 and 4 and went dead again.  The Weisfields then began to limp back up the front stretch.  The Znetix started up again and finally brought home the victory.  Weisfields made it back to shore, got its prop cleared, went back out and finished the heat for second.  The Pak then came to life again, but died before finishing.  To be honest, I think Jon would have finished eventually if given enough time.  That may have been a mercy killing.  I thought about calling an exorcist during the heat.  No one was staying dead.  Do you think it has anything to do with using recycled defibulator batteries from Battery Dave? Hmmmm.

Heat 3B was won by the Griffon Bud followed by Executone and Tide.  Yes, that’s all for that heat.

The top five point-getters advanced to the final heat.  The Pak would have to sit this one out.

The Final Heat was wild, so take a deep breath.  The Tide, Weisfields and Znetix hit the line with the Executone close behind on the outside and Griffon Bud close behind in about lane 3.  As the boats entered the first turn, the Weisfields hooked and was hit by the Tide.  I’m not sure where the Znetix was, but the Executone made it through on the outside.  The Griffon Bud came off throttle and was able to avoid the accident, but ended up facing sideways after turning hard right.  The Griffon Bud did not have room to get going again and was forced to go around the fountain to get back in the race.  The Executone was off to the races and had a straightaway lead at that point.  Griffon Bud was gaining ground as it came down the front stretch.  The Tide managed to free itself from the Weisfields and was trying to get under way.  About that time, the Griffon Bud was coming around turn one to begin lap 2.  The Tide was back under power and coming out into the turn from the inside.  Unfortunately, the Tide had no rudder control.  Griffon Bud came off power again and had drifted almost to a stop before the Tide came slowly up and over its deck.  The Bud was clear and able to start the chase again, but its hopes of catching the Executone were out the window.  The Executone just kept on going, looked cool, stayed clear of all the mess and brought home its first victory of the season.  Congratulations to Dale Van Wyk’s Executone, the winner of the Classic Thunder 2003 Diamond Cup in Division 2!  Second place was Mitch Dillard’s Griffon Bud.  Third place went to Jeff Howard’s Znetix.  The Tide suffered extensive damage to the bottom, but Pete was able to limp the boat back before it could sink completely.  The Weisfields did not suffer much damage.  The Griffon Bud had minimal damage, but is sporting some new propeller marks on her deck.

All in all we all had a great time at the race.  We saw some exciting and sometimes peculiar racing, visited with friends and family and with some of the neat folks at Lake Pleasant RV Park.  Special appreciation to Bob VandenAkker for putting this all together for us.  He worked extremely hard before, during and after this event.  Thanks Bob.  Thanks also to the staff and residents at the RV park for letting us race and for putting on such a great barbecue potluck for everyone.  Thanks to the City of Bothell, its merchants and businesses for their sponsorship.  Mike Krone, Jon Zimmerman and company also deserve thanks for clearing out the milfoil for us so that we could launch and enter the course without too much trouble.  Good job everyone for pitching in to make this a very successful race and for your good sportsmanship.  We plan on going back again next season.  We’ve got a weekend off and then it’s the July 20th Apple Cup at Waughop Lake at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood.  I’ll be sponsoring that race and am very much looking forward to it.  Get the boats back in order and get ready to go racing again.  I hope everyone will try to attend.  It’s always more fun that way.  Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Mitch Dillard

Classic Thunder Commissioner