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Greg Hopp gets his
first Seattle win.
In a tremendous Final
Heat dual that lasted
the entire 5 mile
distance, Greg Hopp held
off Kevin Aylesworth for
the win at the Graham
Trucking Cup at Seafair
for Unlimited Lights.
Fans were on their feet
throughout as Hopp, in
the UL-1 Mike's Hard
Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky,
was forced to start in
lane three by Aylesworth,
driving his UL-5 Venture
Bank in lane 2 and
Michael Flaherty in the
Jensen Motor Boat
Co. presents Miss Boat
Electric in lane 1,
Champion racer Chip
Hanauer noted on KIRO TV
that Aylesworth squeezed
in to lane two between
Hopp and Flaherty prior
to the score up buoy,
and they may have traded
a little paint. Hanauer
said, no call was
deserved; it was "just
good racing". No call
was made and in the end
both drivers heartily
congratulated each
other after an
outstanding race.
The lead was never so
much as a roostertail
length as Aylesworth was
able to close in the
corners but Hopp's
superior acceleration
off the corners made the
difference. While it
was a bit disappointing
to come so close to
victory, Aylesworth demonstrated his
team has their Ron Jones
tandem wing hull "dialed
in". In this writer's
opinion, it was
Aylesworth's best drive
ever in his Unlimited
Lights career that
began at this very race
in 2002.
Meanwhile for Greg Hopp,
he finally has a Seattle
trophy on his mantle. Hopp
Racing has won at
Seafair 3 of the past 4
seasons, but the
previous two wins were
by "Grandpa" Jerry Hopp,
while Greg was driving
an Unlimited at this
race. This time, Greg
did double duty, except
in one instance which
we'll note shortly.
That Final Heat
excitement continues a
now 4 year tradition at
Seafair where the
Unlimited Lights Final
Heat highlights the
competitive end of
Seafair. Last year, a
pair of "old salts,
Jerry Hopp and George
Woods showed the "kids"
how to do it with a
marvelous dual that was
won by Jerry. In 2003,
Cal Phipps edged Dave
Bender at the finish
line after trailing
Bender throughout the
heat by less than a
roostertail length, and
in 2002, Jerry Hopp,
Phil Bononcini, Dave
Bender, and J.W. Myers
all entered the final
lap with a chance at
victory. Jerry won.
Third place in the
Graham Trucking Cup at
Seafair went to Michael
Flaherty, who just
didn't have the
acceleration needed. We
found out why after the
heat. The UL-72 was
running on only 7
cylinders. Still
Flaherty was able to cut
into Greg Hopp's ULHRA
championship points lead
for the second week in a
row, and with 3 races
left the two are locked
in a very close battle.
Fourth place after an
excellent "flying start"
on the outside was
Harold Mills in the
UL-40 Miss Red Dot
Corporation. The
Thunder Valley Racing
team recovered well
after losing their
number one
engine, "Batman" on
Friday. That engine had
completed a run of 33
heats of competition.
So with "Batman"
sidelined, the team
installed "Robin" and
drove to a solid 4th
place finish. 5th place
went to Paul Becker in
the UL-14 Underwater
Sports presents Miss
Software Prototype, and
winding up with a DNF
after a good start was
Steve Hook in the UL-19
Hyundai of Everett
presents Mz Zip Fizz
Energy Drink Mix.
The "B" Main was an
exciting race with a
surprising
twist involving the
Mike's Hard Lemonade,
the Miss Software
Prototype, and the
Escapius Maximus
presents Pacific Rim
Brewing Co. First of
all, Joe Turner in the
newly renumbered UL-18
drove to a solid 3rd
place finish and the
alternate spot in the
Final Heat. After the
week Joe's team had, it
was a very successful
finish. If you didn't
catch this before, the
Turner team was
trailering their boat to
a sponsor reception in
Seattle on Wednesday.
The trailer became
unhitched near downtown
Seattle and slammed into
the back of the truck
taking out the right
sponson. So, no sponsor
reception and no Seafair
race, right? Nope.
Quickly Canadian Ron
Doumont from Windermere
B.C. was recruited to
bring his currently
inactive UL-117 to
Seattle and lease it to
Turner for the Seafair
race. The 10 hour drive
was only one of the
challenges, but Doumont
got to Seattle. There a
collection of crew
members from Turner's
UL-18 team, Gerry
Jarvis's S-24 team in
the Lighter than LIGHTS
series, Joe Gutierrez
from the LTL series and
fellow UL teams all
pitched in to
complete the difficult
adaptation of the UL-18
engine into the UL-117
hull. They succeeded
with Turner driving to a
3rd place finish in Heat
2B, a 3rd place finish
in the B-Main, and a
happy owner and
employees of
sponsor Pacific Rim
Brewing Co.
Turner was racing
between the roostertails
of Paul Becker inside,
and Hopp on the outside
in the B-Main, only
here's the twist. It
was JERRY Hopp in the
UL-1, not Greg. The
last second change was
made because Greg was
scheduled for the
Unlimited Provisional
right after the UL
B-Main. The change
caught everyone by
surprise, including
Jerry's wife Dorothy who
learned AFTER the heat
that her husband had
driven his first
competitive laps of the
year after undergoing
twin knee replacement
surgery in the spring.
It wound up being an
exciting 3 laps around
the Ted Jones race
course, with Becker and
Hopp trading the lead
and Turner close
behind. In the end Hopp
won by less than a
roostertail length, but
if was Becker who earned
the kudos of those
watching for his
outstanding drive in a
31 year old Ron Jones
boat. None other than
Jones himself marveled
at the performance
of Becker and the UL-14,
while working on the
Infinity Radio Seattle
broadcast.
Next up, the Unlimited
Lights go across Elliott
Bay from Seattle, to
Silverdale WA for the
first ever Qucksilver
Regatta, this weekend,
August 13 & 14. This
will be the first of 3
salt water races to
close out the 2005 ULHRA
season. It's a ULHRA
sanctioned event that
will also feature the
Lighter than LIGHTS
series of 4 cylinder
stock, 8 cylinder stock,
and 8 cylinder modified
hydroplanes. 10 to 12
UL teams are expected,
which possibly could
include the 2 boat fleet
out of Detroit owned by
Pingree Conflitti; the
UL-58 Union Dooz and the
UL-559 Outlaw. Gearbox
issues with the 559 hull
have kept Conflitti from
the first two races on
the Western Triple
Header but he's making
every attempt to be at
the Quicksilver event
with both hulls.
John Lynch
"Voice" of the Unlimited
Lights
More of Saturday.... What a show in 2A !! Vince Xaudaro took the lead over Kevin Aylesworth--a little too soon. And though the first lap was an exciting duel, the film review showed the UL 929 jumped the gun. Then Vince stopped and Steve Hook hit a buoy--instead of Vince so he was not penalized. The UL 5 team had a fine celebration and Paul Becker posted his first points of the weekend. Another happy guy was Bryan Richards, also with his first points at Seafair. On further inspection of the UL 929, the situation is a mystery. Vince said he hit a hole and the motor shut down. 2B was a rematch of the UL 1 and UL 72. Once again, Greg had a pretty good lead over Michael, when he threw the belt off his oil pump, allowing the Red Boat a comfortable win. Harold Mills and the Thunder Valley team were quite pleased with a second, but the big story was third place UL 18 and Joe Turner. On Wednesday, Joe's original UL 18 was being trucked to a display in Pioneer Square, when the trailer came loose and the boat crashed--losing a whole sponson. A call to Ron Doumont was made and he drove his Escapius Maximus to Seattle, leased the boat to Joe, then helped put Joe's motor in and voila!!!! AND you should have heard the celebration when they came in--in third place. Kudos to the entire team.
The G Boats are set to rerun later this afternoon. They started out on time, but were black flagged due to buoy problems. Four boats are seeded for the Final Heat tomorrow including: UL 72, UL 5, UL 40 and UL 19. They will be joined by 2 more boats from the B Main and that third place finisher will become first alternate. Boats in the B Main will be: UL 1, UL 14, UL 18, UL 929. Unable to participate are the UL 6, due to a broken motor in the first heat and the UL 4 which sustained a crack in the hull. Patti Darling, ULHRA reporting  GRAHAM
TRUCKING CUP AT SEAFAIR
Saturday's news Six boats took the water on this cooler morning in Seattle. Paul Becker in the UL 14 was first in the water and had a good ride, but failed to increase his qualifying speed. Michael Flaherty ( UL 72) on the other hand, hopped up to number two, with a speed of 112.955. which prompted Greg Hopp to go out and do better. The UL 1 thought they were ready, then spotted some broken coils and had a frantic 18 mnutes of repair before going out to take the top speed of 115.849. Then George Woods, Jr. took the festive G-13 out for a few beautiful laps, before an ignition wire separated. (At this printing he is but still on the water--so no more details). As soon as he was towed off the course, Kevin Aylesworth in the UL 5 posted his first speed of the weekend at 107.872 and Harold Mills upped his UL 40 time to 99.076mph In Heat 1A, Gregg Hopp took a comanding lead over Michael Flaherty, with Al Castensen and Steve Hook in hot pursuit. Then Al's motor started vibrating and he did not finish. Order of finish: First Place: UL 1 Gregg Hopp Mikes' Hard Lemonade 400 points Second Place:UL 72 Michael Flaherty, Jensen Motorboat Co. Presents Miss Boat Electric 300 points Third Place: UL 19 Steve Hook, Hyundai of Everett presents Mz Zip Fizz 225 points Heat 1B saw Vince Xaudaro edge out Kevin Aylesworth and Harold Mills for the win. Order of finish: First Place: UL 929 Vince Xaudaro, Conover Insurance Racing, 400 points Second Place: UL 5 Kevin Aylesworth Venture Bank, 300 points Third Place: UL 40 Harold Mills Miss Red Dot Corporation, 225 points
GRAHAM TRUCKING CUP AT
SEAFAIR
Friday report 8-5-05 Well, folks, it has been a very active day to the Unlmited Lights. 10 boats are in the pits and ready to roar!! We also have 3 ACCS boats here. Welcome to the new G -55, "Cobalt 2" from Saint Clair Shores, MI. Owners Mary Ann and Justin Schaller are the proud parents of this 500 c.i. Chevy powered, J.R. (Ron Jones, Jr.) built boat. Completed just weeks ago, Seafair will be its maiden race. Schaller Tool and Die will sponsor and Scott Schatz will drive. Scott used to live in Detroit, but now is in the Marine Business in Oklahoma City, where he lives with wife Brandy. Note: The first "Cobalt" was a 225, raced by Mary Ann's Dad in the 1950's. The G-13 "Tempo" will be driven by George Woods, Jr. , and G-329 by David Warren. Some great news for the G-17. Both Shawn AND Rick Bridgeman were in the Pits for a short time this afternoon. Rick (following his accident in Tri-Cities), looks very good and has a positive report from his Physician. Back to the Lights....and some last minute activity. The UL 6 got a great ride from their new motor and Al Carstensen is the number one qualifier, after day one, at 113.947. Congraulations. UL 1 and UL 929 were also over 100mph. There will be an additional opportunity for both testing and qualifying tomorrow morning. UL 6 Al Carstensen 113.947 BCS Enterprises UL 1 Greg Hopp, 111.309 Mike's Hard Lemonade/Happy Go Lucky UL 929 Vince Xaudaro 105.300 Conover Insurance Racing UL 14 Paul Becker 98.969 Underwater Sports presents Miss Software Prototype UL 40 Harold Mills 97.506 Miss Red Dot Corporation UL 4 Bryan Richards 88.853 Shoreline Sign and Awning UL 72 Michael Flaherty 79.333 Jensen Motorboat Co. presents Miss Boat Electric UL 19 Steve Hook 77.669 Hyundai of Everett presents Mz Zip Fizz Energy Drink Mix UL 5 Kevin Aylesworth n/t Venture Bank UL 18 Joe Turner n/t Pacific Rim Brewing Company *n/t = no times Last week the UL 40 ran a career best speed of 112.7 mph in the B Main.. As a bystander commented, "Where have THESE guys been?" That was just prior to the demise of the fuel pump and shaft.... Again, Seattle has great weather, though a bit windy in the afternoon. The Air Show has been very entertaining as well and the many fans of boats and planes were in evidence. Until tomorrow, Patti Darling, Reporting for the ULHRA
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