Hopp wraps up the
Western Triple Header
with 2 out of 3.
Greg Hopp and his trusty
UL-1 Mike's Hard
Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky
bested Michael Flaherty
in the winner take all
Final for the first ever
Quicksilver Regatta
championship at
Silverdale WA. The
Final Heat finish was a
reversal of Heat 1A held
the day before, when
Flaherty was able to
drive around Hopp from
the outside and take the
win. This time, there
would be no driving
around Hopp as his
bright yellow hydroplane
drove off to a two
roostertail length
victory. Hopp's victory
comes one week after his
victory at Seafair in
Seattle. In fact, were
it not for a DMZ
violation at Tri Cities,
Hopp would've won all
three events held over
the past 3 weekends.
Flaherty took second,
but stayed in the hunt
for the National
Championship, which
appears headed for a
showdown in Port Angeles
WA, Sept. 30, Oct 1 & 2
where the Unlimited
Lights title has been
decided the past two
years.
Third place after a very
strong weekend, was
Harold Mills in the
UL-40 Miss Red Dot
Corporation. Mills had
deck to deck battles in
the preliminary heats
with Greg Hopp and
Michael Flaherty, only
to come up just short.
But it was a very
productive weekend in
the points battle for
the Thunder Valley
Racing Team as they
scored 1125 points for
the weekend.
4th place went to Joe
Turner in the Escapeius
Maximus, Pacific Rim
Brewing Co. entry. This
is the same boat that
Ron Doumont brought to
Seattle a week ago from
his home in eastern
British Columbia., to
replace Turner's UL-18
that was damaged when
the trailer came loose
from its tow vehicle.
Turner, Doumont, and a
slew of volunteers from
several Unlimited Light
and Lighter than LIGHTS
teams transferred the
UL-18 engine to
Doumont's hull, and
Turner drove to the
alternate spot for the
Final Heat at Seattle.
In Silverdale, they
finished each heat,
including one heat
driven by Doumont, and
Turner drove to 4th
place overall in a very
popular Final Heat
finish. Afterward,
Turner announced that
the collaboration with
Doumont will continue at
San Diego and Port
Angeles.
In 5th was the brightly
painted and lengthy
named Hyundai of Everett
presents Mz Zip Fizz
Energy Drink Mix. The
brand new boat gets
better with each
outing. For the first
time this season, Driver
Steve Hook and the UL-19
finished every heat,
including their first
win in the "B-Main". It
was a thrilling deck to
deck duel with Harold
Mills that wound up with
Hook winning by 26
feet............the
length of the UL-19.
Sixth place went to
Vince Xaudaro in the
UL-929 Conover
Insurance, who's boat
went out for the warm-up
but went dead in the
water in turn two just
prior to the start.
Xaudaro was one of three
drivers who qualified
for the Final without
running the B-Main, but
unfortunately came away
from the Final with no
points. The "X-Man" and
Kevin Aylesworth's UL-5
Baker Equipment Co. team
are in a battle for 3rd
place in the points.
Aylesworth turned over
the driving duties to
backup driver, and
brother in law, Jon
Church who finished all
3 preliminary heats. In
testing he turned a
personal career best lap
in the UL-5 of 114.9 mph
on the 1 1/4 course.
However, following
Sunday's first heat the
team detected a
component failure in the
rudder bracket so they
withdrew from the B-Main
and Final. Aylesworth
says, they'll be ready
for their home town San
Diego race, September
16-18.
The first ever
Quicksilver event was a
tremendous success.
Excellent crowds,
excellent weather, and
excellent racing action
combined for the series'
best first year
event..............since
Port Angeles WA debuted
to rave reviews in
2003. In fact, none
other than Jerry Hopp,
co-owner of the Mike's
Hard Lemonade and
participant in races of
all sizes and markets
for 3 decades,
proclaimed that
Silverdale gets his vote
for race site of the
year.
John Lynch
"Voice" of the Unlimited
Lights
