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Lynch Line for December 2006
As we enjoy the holidays and reflect on the 2006 season it’s time to also look ahead to the 2007 campaign. Recently the tentative 2007 ULHRA schedule was posted on this website. Schedules in boat racing traditionally are tentative until late winter or even early spring. ULHRA and our race site partners are working together to move scheduling even further in advance in the years ahead which will benefit the race sites, our race teams and ULHRA. After a 3 season hiatus, Detroit welcomed the Unlimited Lights to their 2006 Gold Cup weekend. ULHRA delivered a then record 16 Unlimited Light entries but as you may have already noticed Detroit is absent from the 2007 schedule. Detroit River Racing Association officials have indicated that budgetary restrictions are preventing a return of ULHRA Racing. However, one of the few advantages of a tentative schedule in December is things can change between now & July 2007 so it is hoped a way can be found to return the “Lights” to the Detroit River. If not there are many other potential race sites intrigued by that now available mid July date. The highlight of the “eastern swing” of ULHRA races is the annual Regates de Valleyfield in Quebec province near Montreal. The Regates is a race fans dream because it’s all racing throughout the 3 days with plenty of live music each evening. The nearly 70 year old event transforms the small city of Valleyfield into a mecca for hydroplane racers and fans, drawing up to 100 or more hydroplanes, and 100,000 or more fans each year, and featuring the Unlimited Lights. Now, the Valleyfield organization is attempting to revive the essentially extinct Grand Prix class of hydroplanes which used to be a popular element at the annual Regates. It will be interesting to see how well their efforts succeed. Keep in mind that first year results are just that……..first year. Valleyfield is approving a controversial engine package they hope will be economical and successful, but others question whether that will be the case. One of the hallmarks of the Unlimited Light supercharged engine package has been its reliability. The majority of ULHRA “blower motor” teams use one or two engines per season………and that’s economical. One reason Hopp Racing has won 4 consecutive titles has been their reliability including over 100 heats on the same engine without parts failures or major repairs. How Valleyfield’s effort looks 3 & 5 years down the road will be the determining factor. The fact that a race site of Valleyfield’s stature is making this kind of move is quite intriguing, and certainly unique in hydroplane racing. Valleyfield’s approach includes the race committee acquiring hydroplanes which they will make available to racing teams capable of adding the engines, props, and funding to campaign the race craft throughout the season. In 2007 the Valleyfield plan is for 3 such teams, including two new hydroplanes being built by Canadian Bert Henderson from molds by Jamie Auld. Those molds were used to build the most successful hull in Unlimited Lights history. The first UL-1 of Jerry & Greg Hopp and their Mike’s Hard Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky racing program won twice in 2007 before being replaced by the newer design of the former UL-9 American Eagle which won at San Diego in 2007 and set an all time Unlimited Lights qualifying speed record of better than 126 mph. The first UL-1 hull began its competitive life as the Alamo Rent a Car driven by Bo Schide to 12 victories in the late 90’s. Valleyfield has stated they plan to acquire additional race craft in future years. So what’s the future of Valleyfield’s GP effort? Certainly those boats with the engine package approved by Valleyfield won’t fit the rules of the Unlimited Lights. However, could they be part of the Thunderboats (G) series? The answer is yes they could. Will they be part of the Thunderboats series? The answer will come from Valleyfield. Putting the GP & G teams together has plenty of merit and interest particularly the fact the combo series would have 10-12 teams in 2007 and possibly more. A key decision would be where would the combo series run? If the two categories are combined they would run together at Valleyfield. In order to lock in this new series concept, Valleyfield would need to have their teams also run on live television at Tri Cities and Seattle. Whether that happens is the big question. Certainly if the program is to be successful it needs to think global, not local, and run on both sides of the North American continent. Stay tuned. There was another boat similar to the Hopp’s UL-1 hull built by Jamie Auld in the mid 90’s. It returns to ULHRA racing in 2007after being idle since mid season 2003. Paul Becker, who drove the UL-14 to third place in the championship standings; quite a feat for a 32 year old hydroplane, has acquired the former UL-110 hull and will be aiming for his first career race victory in 2007. Meantime a new team is being formed by Greg & Lora Walden of Kennewick WA who’ve purchased the UL-14 from Becker. See details elsewhere on this website. But that’s not all. Two more boats have been acquired out of Mexico and may also compete in 2007 plus some of the teams that competed in the eastern UL races last year as “non compliant invitees” are making their race craft UL legal for an even larger fleet of Unlimited Lights competing in 2007. Another veteran Unlimited Lights team looking for their first victory in UL competition will be ready from the outset. The Miss Ted’s Red Apple Market, owned by Rick & Shawn Bridgeman of Olympia WA returns to UL competition as a brand new Ron Jones Jr. hull which was delivered this month. The Bridgeman’s converted their previous UL-17 to the Thunderboats program but suffered devastating wrecks at Tri Cities WA the past two seasons. The brand new UL-17 will have final prep completed in Olympia prior to Spring Training in late April, and will compete on the entire UL circuit. Co-owner Shawn Bridgeman says returning to Valleyfield for the first time since 2003 will be a highlight as the entire team enjoyed that experience. The team will test at Spring Training in April in preparation for a full season effort as they make a concerted effort for their first ever Unlimited Lights race victory. Noting the success of the new UL-1 of Greg Hopp which was essentially a Ron Jones design, and the success of rookie Ryan Mallow in the UL-19 in 2006 gives this team plenty of reason for optimism. UL rookie and two-time World Champion limited class driver Dustin Echols will drive. Co-owner Rick Bridgeman will be the crew chief and backup driver. What’s up with the Lighter than LIGHTS? There is a meeting on January 6th in Tacoma WA, two weeks prior to the National Meetings of ULHRA, also in Tacoma. The LTL teams are working on improvements to the series. Just as the Unlimited Lights teams assumed command of their own program in 2001, the LTL teams are being given the same opportunity today. Debi Muncey, the LTL representative to the ULHRA Board of Directors, and Bud McKay, 8 Cylinder Stock Champion in 2006 are coordinating this meeting along with newly appointed 4 cylinder rep. Kayleigh Perkins. Indications are this will be a well attended LTL meeting. More details after the January 20th ULHRA National Meetings. John Lynch P.R. Director, ULHRA Inc.
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