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LEWISVILLE - TEXAS HYDROFEST Six race teams from the Unlimited Lights Racing Series competed at this year's Texas Hydrofest. As the day finally began to cool off, things got hot on the race course. In the end it was Unlimited Lights race team of Milton & Charley Wiggins in "High Pressure"taking the win and moving up to 4th place in the overall Unlimited Lights point standing. Plenty of confusion marked the start as the six teams made the first corner after the start of the race with Mike Mammano in the locally sponsored "Village Ford" failing to negotiate the corner, causing him travel from lane 2 to lane 6. There he collided with Randy Haas in the "Miss Leroi". At the same time, Jimmy Deel in the "Deel Me In" also failed to make the corner causing the rest of the field to scatter. By the time the fleet made the back chute, Mammano was in the lead with Mark Weber in Bob Larimore's "Pontiac Pegasus" in pursuit. Deel lead the rest of fleet, followed by Wiggins, Haas and Tony Stalder in the "Jasper Marine Special." Randy Haas continued to race though there was significant hull damage from the collision. After the four laps were complete and the referees sorted out the calls, Mammano and Deel found themselves disqualified with zero points for Final heat. Saturday's qualifications were marked by two disqualifications in Heat 1A with Jimmy Deel driving his own boat, "Deel Me In" making an improper lane change at the beginning of the heat and Tony Stalder's in Chip Reiter's boat "Jasper Marine Special" taking out a buoy on lap 3 of this 1.25 / 4 lap course. When the action cleared at the end of the heat, "Pontiac Pegasus" with Mark Weber at the helm came across the finish line first with an average speed of 78.336 mph. Randy Haas, driving his father's boat, the "Miss Leroi", came from his lane draw position of lane six and moved steadily through the field, finishing 2nd overall. Stalder crossed the finish line 3rd though his disqualification left him out of the points running and Mike Mammano in the locally sponsored "Village Ford" took fourth. The biggest disappointment in the heat was Charley Wiggins in the "High Pressure" boat. Deel's problems early in the heat put him so far outside the course that he never really had a chance to catch the field. After discussions with referees, Deel made the decision to put Mark Weber of St. Clair Shores into his boat "Deel Me In" for Heat 2A. Weber, the designated driver for Bob Larimore's "Pontiac Pegasus" GNH 1 and winner of Heat 1A, had the heat off as Larimore wanted a shot at the helm anyway. With Larimore's blessing, Weber took the wheel of Deel's boat and lead throughout the heat, taking the win. Lead changes occurred throughout the race behind him however and, after several laps of close competition Charley Wiggins came from fourth place to take 2nd overall in the "High Pressure"; Randy Haas in the "Miss Leroi" came in 3rd and Mike Mammano dropped from second to finish fourth overall. Larimore brought home his boat in 5th place and Tony Stalder placed 6th. The breaking story at the beginning of the weekend was the damage of both boats and motors from the previous weekend in Valleyfield, Quebec Canada where several Unlimited Light Teams competed for the North American Grand National Championship. Jimmy Deel in his boat, "Deel Me In" survived the collisions and blown motors to capture this very prestigious and covenanted title. Bob Larimore watched both "Pontiac Pegasus" power plants blow up and Randy Haas was upside down after a collision on the race course, losing his right sponson on the "Miss Leroi" during a qualifying heat. While motors can be replaced, sponsons take a little longer and boat owner Carl Haas wrangled a "new" boat before he left Valleyfield. Race fans may recognize the boat as the former "Pride of Detroit" owned by Teddy Dudley. Haas plans to leave Texas and head straight for the Washington state and the continuation of the Unlimited Lights circuit. He should have his original boat back by San Diego. HEAT 1A GNH-1 Pegasus Pontiac Mark Weber 1/400/400 78.336
mph HEAT 2A GNH-8 Deel Me In Mark Weber 1/400/400 85.354 mph
* FINAL HEAT
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