2006 Mapes Mile High

            Dateline- Angle Lake Seatac, WA, Sunday, July 25^th.  Clear skies and hot temperatures greeted drivers for the 2006 Classic Thunder Mapes Mile High Trophy Race.  17 Division 1 boats came out to have a go at the trophy.  12 Division 2 boats rolled in.  The winner of that class would be the first to take home the brand new Mapes perpetual trophy.  Highlights of the preliminary heats included the debuts of two new Div. 2 hulls.  Mark Beaty built the first turbine powered Oh Boy! Oberto and Clint Crain broke into Div 2 with the first turbine Miss Rock.    Both hulls are “beaty”utiful and fast.  Tragedy struck for Dale Schroeder and his 1959 Miss US in Heat 3C.   The boat had flipped in turn one, coming to a rest with only the bow of the hull in sight.  An unexpected impact from the Parco’s O-Ring Miss released the trapped air in the nose of the US and she slipped beneath the surface for good.  Word had it that recovery efforts were planned for early the following week, but it turns out that Dale will leave the boat to her final resting place beneath the waves of Angle Lake.  Dale is sitting on a brand new 69 Notre Dame hull and we expect to see that project accelerated.  Don’t be surprised to see it on the water in the very near future.  On the brite side, Dale’s driver must have gotten tired of waiting for rescue, freed himself from the cockpit and popped back to the surface and was found later in the afternoon.  The Division 2 Consolation winner was the new Oh Boy Oberto driven by Mark Beaty.  The Oberto would move up to be the trailer in the Final Heat.  The final had The Trendwest, Bubble Bud, Blue Blaster, Elam, KYYX and Oberto as the trailer.  The KYYX would lead the field across the line, but just a fraction too soon.  The KYYX was declared over and given a 1 lap penalty.  That put the Trendwest out front for good.  The Bubble Bud made a run on the Trendwest up the backstretch on lap 1 but a gust of wind caught the Bud and over she went, coming to rest upside down in the north turn.  The battle for second was a good one.  Pat and the Blue Blaster withstood the consistent pressure put on him by Jeff and the Elam.  The KYYX would come home 4^th and ended up only about a straightaway behind that great battle for 2^nd and 3^rd.  The Oberto crossed in 5^th after suffering a spin in the south turn.  Not bad for the first time out.

            The winner of the Division 1 Consolation Heat was Pete and the Cabover Bardahl but honorable mention goes out to John Dyer’s Miss Great Lakes, who made a race of it until a blowover ended the tight dual.  The Final Heat of the day was made up of the Tahoe Miss, Short Circuit, 66 miss U.S., Miss Thriftway, Miss Seattle and the Cabover Bardahl as the trailer.  The Tahoe would lead the field away on the mill.  With 10 seconds to go before the start the Tahoe and Short Circuit tangled at low speed on the backstretch and remained hung up on each other for the remainder of the race.  That scattered the field as some boats went inside and others outside of the two.  Leading the boats across the line and into the first turn was the Brent Hall’s Miss U.S.  Her lead would be brief as the Miss Seattle would move around her on the outside and take the lead going up the backstretch on lap 1.  Moving up fast was the Thriftway, making quick work of the U.S. and setting sights on the Seattle.  By the third lap the Thriftway was really putting the pressure on the Seattle and had closed the gap to about two boat lengths.  With only one lap left the Thriftway charged hard into the south turn, took a bad hop and rolled upside down.  The Miss Seattle was able to back off a little to finish the last lap and take the win in front a hard charging Cabover Bardahl who moved up from the trailer to take second.  The third and final finisher was the 66 Miss U.S.  The Miss Seattle had won the Mapes for the second year in a row and Dale had recorded his first ever perfect day. 

            Jeff Howard brought out some goodies for a prize drawing and also brought out 6 individual race trophies to go with the 2 perpetuals for the race.  Talk about hardware!  If I am not mistaken Danny Minalia got a little wheel time with the Gypsy.  Clint Crane took a Heat win in the Parcos.  Dan Clark’s Tahoe Miss made her first Final Heat.  Bob VandenAkker and Judy were in attendance on the way home from a vacation in Oregon.  All in all Angle lake provided good water conditions again.  Looking forward to next years Mapes,  I am thinking Threepeat!!

We’re now officially halfway through the 2006 season.  It’s gone by so fast.  Now comes the big one.  On Sunday, July 9^th at Coulon Park we will be having THE GOLD CUP!  Remember, the boats in Division 1 will be making qualifying runs starting at 10am for season points.  We will also be running an extra flight of heats in both divisions, so be prepared for a long day of boat racing.  Can’t wait!

Dale Van Wyk

1957 Miss Seattle