2006 GOLD CUP

July 9^th at the 2006 Classic Thunder Gold Cup was a day full of excitement. We saw boats flipping, spinning, rolling, and smoking.

The day started with Div.1 qualifying. A number of boats tried for the fastest qualifying time but it was Dale Van Wyk with his Miss Seattle that walked away with the checkered flag qualifying trophy. His fastest lap was 50.85 seconds over the 3-lap distance.  Jeff Howard with his Miss Budweiser came in 2nd with 51.62 (not bad for a boat that was going to be retired), 3rd place was Mitch's Miss US with a time of 52.48, Jim Clark’s 67 Bardahl (54.19), Mark Beaty’s 68 Bardahl (54.54) and the last season point getter for qualifying sixth was Bob VandenAkker's Notre Dame with a time of (55.26).

Div. 2 was loaded with 14 boats and plenty of action. Coming back from her retirement was the Speedy Printing driven by Danny Minalia. John Dyer came to the race with a new ride, his 71 Pride of  Pay’n Pak showed promise, but as the day went on the boat began to have problems. An unfortunate mishap for Mitch Dillard sent his Trendwest to the sidelines for the day. In heat 1A the 80' Atlas went belly up on the back stretch. It was lap 3 and the Trendwest came around the corner out in front. Suddenly, a broken rudder linkage sent the disabled Trendwest in the direction of the dead Altas. Mitch came off throttle, but not even a little body english could keep the two boats apart.  Trendwest struck the tip of the Atlas sponson with its skid fin as it coasted by.  Having struck the called dead boat, the Trendwest, by rule, was DQ’d for the day.  Racing continued and boats put on a show for the crowd. Tony Minalia in the Holset Madison was a strong competitor all day.  In his third heat, Tony held the lead and was closing in on scoring the first win of his Classic Thunder career.  Sadly enough the cockpit flew off and ended it all. The heat win went to Mark Beaty in his lighting fast 1990 Oh Boy! Oberto. The Circus Circus nearly sank after losing a rudder but rallied to finish third for the day.  Great job by Dave Sacry putting the boat back together.  Miss Elam had a tough day but battled back to win the Consolation Heat and move into the Final Heat.  Fate would move him on to the front line when the 90 Oberto was unable to start.  Jeff took advantage and captured a second place finish on the day.   The Bubble Bud was fast all day but had trouble staying right side up.  Mike Schultz and his two boats ran very well but also had problems finishing. Mike Krone brought a new vessel out. His new Design 360 has a boat ride to love. However, in the rough Coulon waters we didn't get to see him really open it up.  Besides, he’s still getting used to driving with the wheel radio. Mike's other boat, Island Security was also on hand.  Mike was actually juggling two boats in each division!  Last but not least, we come to Mr. Pete Schille. His KYYX, with Brenda Jones at the wheel, hit the ground.....well water and didn't look back. It did have a problem finishing in one of its preliminary heats but from there it was all Gold Cup for the master of RC boat building and his blue machine.  Pete got to the line first and went wire to wire for the win.

Div. 1 had much of the same action that Div.2 had. A big field of 19 boats showed up to the pits at Coulon. Our fastest qualifier, Dale Van Wyk and the Miss Seattle started out slow with a flip in one of his earlier heats. The other half of Dale’s racing stable, the Berryessa Belle, driven by Tony Minalia had problems staying on the water, flipping 2 heats in a row in the same spot on the back stretch. Tahoe Miss and Dan Clark had a respectable day and continue to improve.  Dave Sacry had the Short Circut running very well too. Mike Krone's U.S.5 was doing great until he lost his prop in a preliminary heat.  His Hurricane IV had a swell day as well. Pat Malaspina’s 1960 Thriftway looked promising but couldn't quite make it to the Final. After the Trendwest was disqualified, Mitch made sure that it would not keep him down. His 54' Miss U.S. got into a battle in the final with Jeff Campbell's Lil Buzzard before cutting a buoy on the backstretch on lap 3. The Buzzard had a strong showing and would end the day with second place honors.  Jeff's other boat, the Evergreen Roofing looked great on the water and showed good potential.  John Dyer had his Great Lakes up and running but could not make it to the end of the day. The third and final Miss U.S. from the boat shop of Brent Hall was one of the top dogs in almost every heat. Mark Beaty is getting more and more speed out of his Checkerboard Bardahl.  The boat keeps getting better and better.  Mark finished with a third place finish on the day.  Pete Schille had his Cabover Bardahl running smooth, but got the rudder and prop clogged up with milfoil in the mill lap in the Final Heat.  He later cleared the propeller and soldiered on to a sixth place finish.  Jim Clark brought his Blonde Bombshell Miss Bardahl out and went home with a fifth place finish in the Final.  We saved the best for last and the best was Bob VandennerAkker.  Bob captured his first Gold Cup victory driving his Notre Dame.  Bob also became our fifth different winner in the five races we’ve finished this season in Division 1.  It makes you wonder if we’ll ever get a repeat winner in 2006.  With this type of close competition, who knows!

We would like to thank Andy Kunz of RC-Hydros.com for his sponsorship of our Gold Cup.  He graciously donated two new speed controllers, which were given away by random drawing as part of our awards ceremony.  Mike Krone and John Dyer were the lucky recipients of his quality controllers.  Thanks Andy for supporting Classic Thunder and our hobby.  We certainly appreciate it.

Our next race is at Lake Waughop in Lakewood WA. Where we’ll race for the Apple Cup on Sunday, July 23rd. There will be a drivers meeting starting at 11:30. Racing will start at 12 noon.  This is race# 7 and the season is in the home stretch now.  Things are heating up, so Let’s Go Racing!!

Sincerely,

Tony Minalia

Holset/Madison U-6 Racing Team

(Edited by Mitch Dillard)