The Lynch Line

June 2006

Race wins are one thing. Series points are another. In ULHRA Unlimited Lights racing the two don't always match. Take last year for example. Greg Hopp won 6 of 9 races but won the title by a mere 83 points. That is because each Unlimited Light heat carries the same point value, except for the B-Main which has no points. ULHRA uses the traditional hydroplane scoring system of 400 points for a heat victory, 300 points for 2nd, 225 for third, 169 for fourth, 127 for fifth and 95 for 6th place. In addition, 10 percent of heat points are earned in qualifying. Thus the number 1 qualifier gets 40 points, #2 gets 30 points and so on down the line. Note that qualifying points apply only to the UL National Championship and not to the individual race; meaning that qualifying points are not used to break ties for entry into the B-Main or Final Heats.

The point here is, after Race #1, Tastin n Racin at Issaquah WA, the winner of the race was Thunder Valley's UL-40 Miss Red Dot Corporation driven by Brian Perkins. However because points are accumulated from preliminary and Final heats as well as qualifying, Perkins currently sits third in the national championship standings, behind Michael Flaherty in the UL-72 Powerboats NW presents Miss Boat Electric, and Greg Hopp in the UL-1 Mike's Hard Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky. Flaherty, with 1355 points holds a 46 point lead over Hopp with Perkins in third at 1117.

Lots can happen over the course of the next two races. Two tough and completely different courses face the fleet in Canada and the U.S. July 7-9 the Unlimited Lights will be featured at the annual Molson Dry Regates De Valleyfield. A real "stadium like" setting with 100,000 fans lining both sides of Bay St. Francois will greet the UL racers in one of their most favored stops all season long. The 1 mile course is not just the shortest course of the Unlimited Lights circuit, it's also the tightest. It's the hydroplane equivalent of Martinsville in NASCAR racing. With seawalls that bounce wave action back onto the race course, Valleyfield is a rugged test for the Unlimited Lights. It's also the site where upsets can and do occur, such as Pingree Conflitti's victory in 2002 and Kevin Aylesworth's win in 2004; both benefiting from other teams' penalties for jumping the gun.

Both Aylesworth and Confilitti expect to be in Valleyfield. Aylesworth is now driving in the Unlimited ranks, while Conflitti hopes to debut a new engine in his UL-58 Union Dooz. It appears that 14 Lights Unlimited Lights may compete for the Valleyfield title.

One of those Unlimited Lights teams has just changed hands, and it means for the first time ever, the province of Quebec and the home of Regates De Valleyfield will be represented in Unlimited Lights team ownership. You'll recall a year ago that Pierre Maheu from Valleyfield made his UL debut in Ping Conflitti's then UL-559 Outlaw (now, J. Craig Fletcher's UL-13 Celtic Racing). Maheu had a solid debut and has since been working to get more active in the series. He has now announced the acquisition of the UL-7 "Controller" from Jay Tolbert and will be racing with Denis Rousse and possibly Tolbert for the first couple of races at Valleyfield and Detroit and also the demonstration event in Ogdensburg NY coming up July 1st & 2nd. It's always great to welcome new ownership into the series and particularly this group carry the flag for the thousands of race fans in Quebec province. Tolbert's future plans in ULHRA have not been announced.

One week after Valleyfield, July 14-16, it's a return to the motor city for the Unlimited Lights........the first time since 2003 and the "Lights" will compete on the Detroit River for the famed O.J. Mulford Silver Cup.

In news from Issaquah, according to the Washington State Parks Dept. which operates the Lake Sammamish site where Tastin n Racin is held annually, over 36,000 fans attended the two day event, and that is a TnR record. Twelve Unlimited Lights competed and that's another TnR event record. The Lighter than LIGHTS series also had a tremendous number of competitors and the weatherman smiled on race day Sunday as well. All in all a great send-off for retiring Tastin' n Racin' Co-Chair Chris Courtright who was there when the program began 10 years ago.

This website and this column don't normally get involved in Help Wanted Ads but we're making an exception for Rob Graham of Graham Trucking; longtime race and team sponsor in ULHRA. The company is headquartered in the Seattle area and for those of you in the Diesel Mechanic field, you're invited to contact Graham Trucking as they have a couple of openings. One position available is for a top notch mechanic while the second opening could go to an apprentice level Diesel Mechanic. Hourly rate depends on experience, plus the company has Medical & Dental benefits and a 401K program. You can apply online at http://grahamtrucking.com/recruit.htm or call Rob directly at

206 763-9734 x 269.

John Lynch

"Voice" of the Unlimited Lights, American Challenge Cup Series, and Lighter than LIGHTS.