|
|
|
PFC, CHARLES HESTER MEMORIAL |
|
|
The off-season is already over,didn’t that feel short? Anyway, it was a productive time during which several
new boats were built and old ones were revamped. We also saw some modifications to the rulebook
for 2008. For the first time in division 1, boats can run brushless motors on
10 cells. You can also choose to stick with
a brushed motor and continue running on 12 cells. Division 2 rules added 4S Lipo
batteries as an option to go along with the 14 sub C’s already allowed. There
will be several different combinations experimented with this year and it’s going
to make things really exciting. With all
the new changes to the battery and motor rules, it really did put a big
question mark on this first race. We would soon find out just how it would all
play out. We weren’t disappointed. Boats hit the water for the
season opener at Lacey and put on a good showing at the PFC, Charles Hester
Memorial. The race was run in honor of soldiers, like Charles, who have lost
their lives in service of our country and those currently serving in the armed
forces. A total of 34 boats showed up
at the pit area. A few others showed up, but weren’t quite ready to run
yet. 19 entered in Division 1. Some new
boats that showed up were Mark Beatty’s
72 Miss Timex I. He’s got a few
other Timex boats at home too. Clint Crain got ahold of Mark’s 61 Miss Madison from last season and
will be campaigning it this year. Dan
Clark continues to buy Pete Schille’s old boats and showed up with the 68 Harrah’s
Club and his own new boat, the 61
Miss Spokane. Dale Schroeder now has
a spectacular new 66 Wayfarers’ Lady along
with a newly acquired Green Dragon 63 Miss
Bardahl. Pete Schille is still trying to convince us that weird boats are
the way to go with his 51 Etta. Brent Hall has another former
Schille boat, the 69 Miss Schweppes, out and running. Jeff Howard had his just completed, gorgeous
orange Scooter Too setting the
course a blaze in its first time on the water at Woodland Creek Park. He finished it at about 3am the morning of the
race. The new 67 Miss Lapeer was piloted by Dave
Sacry. His wife did an excellent job painting the lettering on the boat for
him and he’s got it running well. Some old boats that showed up
were Steve Dumanis’s 60 Thriftway Too,
which handled a lot better than last season. Mike Schultz’s 63 Miss Thriftway. Tony Minalia had the controls of Dan Clark’s always ugly 72 Valu-Mart.
Dale Van Wyk brought his former champion 57 Miss Seattle back for
more competition. Bob VandenAkker had his fast and well handling 60 Nitrogen Too ready to go.
The “Blonde Bombshell” 67 Miss Bardahl changed hands from Jim
Clark to Tim Becker. Last year’s champion 52 Slo-Mo-Shun IV was back out and tearing up the course with Mitch Dillard driving. And
the 60 Miss Seattle Too is back in
top form with Mike Krone driving. Some boats and drivers
missing from the action were Dale Van
Wyk’s Slo Mo Shun V, which is under construction and should be done soon. Brian Deatherage has nearly completed work
on his new 57 Bardahl and will
hopefully debut it at the next race after making modifications. We also expect to see a few other boats that
are nearing completion and a couple other veteran boats hit the water for the
first time this season within the next couple of races. Division 1 Final Heat: After Dale Schroeder cleaned house with his Wayfarers’ Club in the preliminary heats. People were starting to
wonder if he could be stopped. Well he couldn’t, and took the checkered flag. A
little good fortune helped. Mitch Dillard had his Slo-Mo IV out in front with the lead on
lap 3 when it unexpectedly hopped and rolled in turn 2. Waferer’s took over the lead. He then had to
deal with Mark Beatty in the Timex trying to chase him down. It was close, but Dale held on for the win. Timex finished second and that cool looking Scooter Too finished third with Jeff Howard driving. Congratulations
to Dale Schroeder, who claimed his first CT victory with a win in Div 1 at the
Hester Memorial! A perfect 1600
point day puts the Waferer’s Club Lady on top in Div 1 season points too. We would see another first timer win in
Division 2. How cool is that?! Division 2 competition was
very exciting too. A lot of different motors
are being put in new boats this off-season. Mark Beatty most notably is running the big Mega 22/45/1 turn in
his Van’s PX which has proven to be one of the fastest boats at the start of
this 2008 season. Mark also has a new Beacon
Plumbing boat that tours the course at considerable speed. However, he has
a number of other fast racers to contend with. Mike Schultz is one of the fastest competitors with his new two-wing 94 Miss Exide. It is a good boat for Mike and handles like a champ. If
he finishes his heats, he’ll do just fine. Brent
Hall has a keeper in his new 80 Squire
Shop. Pete Schille’s 74 U-95 is
quick but it will be difficult to keep on the water at high speeds. Clint Crain is back with the same hull
as last year, but with a new paint-job. He is sporting the 83 Miss Rock color scheme
now. Dave Sacry has his hands on a
speedy 73 Notre Dame, his former
Circus Circus hull. Rookie, Gene Melang has bought Brent Hall’s old
92 Coors Dry and is looking like a
solid driver. Mitch Dillard has finally finished Jon Zimmerman’s Vacationville.com and has it going at rocket sled
speed. Old boats making the trip
down to Lacey were Mike Krone’s Design
360, Mike Schultz’s Griffon Budweiser, Jeff Howard’s Appian Jeronimo, Steve
Dumanis’s Shakey’s Special and Dale
Schroeder’s Freddie’s Club. Some notably absent for Div 2,
or boats that were at Lacey but didn’t race, were Tony Minalia’s Holset Miss
Madison, which needs the paint job completed but did get in a few test
laps. Danny Minalia’s Pay’n Pak was on the shore and is waiting for gear
to be installed. Dale Van Wyk’s new U-13 isn’t
quite ready yet, but maybe in a few races. Jeff
Howard’s U-10 Hoss Mortgage is also under construction and set to debut soon. Division 2 Final Heat: Boy was it a wild one. Right
off the bat there was an accident involving Pete Schille’s U-95 and Mitch
Dillard’s Vacationville. It appeared that the U-95 was squeezing Brent Hall’s
Squire Shop a little on the inside as they crossed the start line. Pete
corrected to the right and found himself in the path of the Vacationville
coming up for a flying start on the outside of him. Boom! The U-95 was upside
down and the Vacationville was airborn. Mitch’s
boat landed right side up with most of his rear wing missing and a damaged
canard wing. Vacationville took up the
chase again and was even gaining a little on the leading Squire for a couple of
laps before the damaged canard came loose and the boat stuffed. The canard was pushing way too much water to
allow him to get back on plane. It looked
like a bull dozer out there. While all
this was happening, Mike Krone’s Design
360 went skyward and wound up on his lid in the front stretch. The only
boats left running were Brent Hall’s
Squire Shop, Mark Beatty’s Beacon Plumbing, and Dale Schroeder’s Freddie’s Club. And that’s how they finished. Congratulations to these three guys who drove
their butts off the whole race. This was
Brent Hall’s first CT win as
well. His brand new Squire Shop looks
like a contender. Mark had an excellent
day with the new Beacon Plumbing hull and sits atop the Div 2 season points
table after race #1. Congratulations to Brent Hall, Division 2
winner at the Hester Memorial! This season opener was
anything but predictable. We can expect more of the same all year long in both
divisions. There are a number of very
evenly matched boats and this looks to be a very competitive season. It’s going to be a lot of fun watching it
unfold. Thanks for those that came
out and participated in the Charles Hester Memorial race. Much thanks to Pete Schille Motorsport Art for their sponsorship. Pete put together some very nice prints for
the top finishers. The top prizes were
prints of an original painting, commissioned as a gift for Billy Schumacher, of the 68 Checkerboard
Bardahl running deck to deck with the current Checkerboard Miss Beacon Plumbing. Billy has the original hanging in his
office. He has promised to autograph
those for Brent and Dale when he returns from out of town. Thanks to the Lacey Parks Department for having us at Woodland Creek Park. And
thanks to Dan Clark for providing
the electric trolling motor for the row boat. It made it a lot easier on us. Our next race will be the Diamond Cup at Coulon Park in Renton on May
4th. Tony and Danny Minalia will be our race coordinators. The sponsor will be Eddie Hansen of Hansen Racing.
Hope to see all of you out there ready for more racing. Til then, take
it easy. -Tony “Hired Gun” Minalia
|
|
