VICTORIA EXPRESS PRESENTS STRAIT THUNDER.  OCT, 1, 2 & 3. (FRI - SUN)
 
Friday, October 1st.  No admission charge on Friday.  Teams will be arriving throughout the day and setting up the pit area.  There will be Unlimited Lights and Lighter than LIGHTS testing during the afternoon.   FREE to the public.
 
Saturday, October 2nd.  Gates open 8:00 am - 6:00 pm. 
 
Vendor Booths, Foot Booths and Beer Garden open at 9am.
 
Hydroplane testing from 10:00am till 11:30am
 
11:00am  Opening Ceremonies
 
11:45am  Fraser Blues Formation Demonstration
 
12:00 pm  Black Jack Formation Demonstration
 
12:15 pm  Coast Guard Rescue Demonstration
 
12:30 pm  Unlimited Light Qualifying. 
 
1:00 pm    Lighter than LIGHTS first heats
 
2:00 pm    Unlimited Light Heat 1A]
 
2:30 pm    Unlimited Light Heat 1B
 
3:00 pm    Lighter than LIGHTS second heats
 
4:00 pm    Unlimited Light Heat 2A
 
4:30 pm    Unlimited Light Heat 2B
 
SUNDAY October 3
 
Gates open 8am - 6pm
 
11:45 am   Fraser Blues Formation Demonstration
 
12:15 pm   Coast Guard Rescue Demonstration
 
12:30 pm   Livghter than LIGHTS third heats
 
1:30  pm    Unlimited Light Heat 3A
 
2:00 pm     Unlimited Light Heat 3B
 
2:30 pm     Lighter than LIGHTS fourth heats
 
3:00 pm     Unlimited Light B-Main
 
3:30 pm     Lighter than LIGHTS Final Heats
 
4:00 pm     Unlimited Light Final Heat
 
5:15 pm     Closing Ceremonies and Trophy Presentation. 
 
Tickets purchased at the GATE
 
Adults;       $ 7.00 per day or $12.00 Two Day Pass
 
Children      $ 5.00 per day or $10.00 Two Day Pass
 
Pit Pass     $10.00 per day or $16.00 Two Day Pass


UL 6 BCS Racing offers a printable coupon

The fans of Unlimited Light Hydroplane racing that live in the Bremerton
area can benefit from a $1.00 off coupon for the Shur-Kleen Car Wash on
Kitsap Way. Shur-Kleen Car Wash is a proud sponsor of the UL 6 BCS Racing
team. Go to www.ul6racing.com for a printable coupon.

Thanks,
Kerry Beynon
BCS Racing Enterprises


Graham Trucking in the woods

 

Season Finale in Port Angeles to decide championship, again.
 
In 2003, the brand new event known as Victoria Express presents Strait Thunder in Port Angeles WA was the site where Jerry & Greg Hopp and their Mike's Hard Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky won their first ever ULHRA championship.  On the weekend of October 1st, 2nd and 3rd, they hope to repeat. 
 
Going in to the final race of the 2004 season, the UL-1 leads the UL-72 Graham Trucking - Security Race Products driven by George Woods, by 823 points.  But with 3 preliminary heats, a Final heat, and qualifying, there remain 1,640 points available.  Woods' hope is to draw the Hopp team in all heats, and win those heats.  But even if he does it's a daunting task.  For Jerry & Greg Hopp, they can wrap up the title before the Final, if they get 2 second place finishes and 1 third place finish in the three preliminaries. 
 
That's why they race.  Sometimes, things happen.  Just look at San Diego, Sept 17-19.  On the way to San Diego, the UL-72 trailer broke, sending the boat off I-5 into the trees near Grants Pass OR.  Lots of repair work had to be made, keeping the UL-72 off of the water until Saturday.  But, the team and driver put it all together with a perfect 3 heat victory weekend to cut into the Hopp racing lead, while the Mike's Hard Lemonade ran into fuel flow problems and dropped to 7th place in the Final Heat. At the same time George Woods virtually clinched his first ever Driver's championship, to go along with his predecessor Phil Bononcini who claimed 4 Driver's Championships.  Woods needs only to finish one heat to wrap up the driver's title.  Jerry & Greg Hopp alternate the driving assignments in the UL-1 so they are not in contention for the driver's championship. Second place in the driver's title will also be decided at Port Angeles.  Currently, Vince Xaudaro leads Kevin Aylesworth by 395 points.  With 400 points for a heat win, this race could swap positions multiple times in Port Angeles.  In addition, if Xaudaro and Aylesworth falter, Michael Flaherty is less than a thousand points back in 4th place.  Plus, if either Jerry or Greg Hopp decide to drive all of the heats at Port Angeles, either one of them potentially could vault into 2nd place with a perfect weekend.
 
The Port Angeles race organization made a tremendous debut in 2003, earning the Race Site of the Year award at the ULHRA end of season program.  They have a tremendous race site on the Bay of Port Angeles, with a virtual stadium effect that gives race fans outstanding views all around the course. The land mass wraps around both turns and the front straightaway, while the organizers also provide a log boom for boats to tie up and watch the racing action along the backstretch. 
 
Testing will be conducted on Friday afternoon, October 1st.  Qualifying will be held on Saturday morning with racing on Saturday afternoon & Sunday (Oct 2 & 3)
 
John Lynch
"Voice" of the Unlimited Lights


Red Dot Corporation Salutes the U.S. Marines Corps

Red Dot Corporation today announced its participation in sponsoring Thunder Valley Racing’s Unlimited Light hydroplane, the UL-40, at the 2004 Washington Mutual Thunderboat Regatta in San Diego. When the UL-40 takes to the water, this weekend, the word “MARINES” will proudly be displayed on the boat’s tail. Because of the strong military presence in San Diego, the World Series of Power Boat Racing on Mission Bay makes it a perfect place for Red Dot Corporation to say “we salute you and thank you for all your sacrifices protecting this great nation.”

This summer, two teams of twenty U.S. Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina spent a week in Red Dot’s Seattle, Washington facility learning how to install and service air conditioning systems for HMMWV’s (Hummvees) deployed in Iraq. One of those teams has already deployed to Iraq; the other will be there shortly. “They [the Marines] left an indelible impression on everyone who worked with them,” says Gary Hansen, Vice President of Engineering for Red Dot and part time crew member for Thunder Valley Racing. “These Marines are being asked to work in the severest environments with ambient temperatures in the 130’s, installing air conditioning systems as part of the add-on armor program. They are saving soldier’s lives by converting these vehicles from canvas doors and roofs into armored vehicles with air conditioning to allow these vehicles to patrol ‘buttoned up’ making them less vulnerable to attack.” Red Dot thought this would be a nice way to recognize their efforts and the UL-40 Thunder Valley Racing team agreed.

About Red Dot Corporation

Red Dot Corporation is a leading manufacturer of climate control solutions to the Heavy-Duty mobile vehicle market. Three decades of engineering excellence and manufacturing flexibility has led the 100% employee owned Red Dot to be recognized as the most creative, responsive and competitive global supplier in our industry.

So, what do you do if you can't become UL-1?

 
You just keep racing and keep working to improve.  That's one of the beauties of motor sport.  Even if you can't be number one, there still is someone to race against, someone to judge your progress by, someone you'd like to beat.  Keep doing that often enough and successfully enough and some day, like Hopp Racing in 2003, you may proudly wear the UL-1.  Remember, the Hopp team is just like all the others.........a 20 year, overnight success story.  Jerry Hopp began racing Unlimiteds in the early 80's.  He and son Greg began racing Unlimited Lights in the mid 90's, didn't win their firsr race till 2001, and finally broke through for their first title in 2003. 
 
In the previous report we detailed the race between Hopp Racing and their UL-1 Mike's Hard Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky vs the UL-72 Graham Trucking - Security Race Products driven by George Woods jr.  The team title appears well within the grasp again of Hopp Racing, but that's why the racing is on the water and not on paper.  A mathematical chance remains for Woods to take the team title, along with the driving title he currently leads.  Since Woods drives every heat, but Jerry & Greg Hopp alternate, Kevin Aylesworth in the UL-5 Freedom Racing Team from San Diego and Vince Xaudaro in the UL-929 are the only drivers with a reasonable chance to overtake Woods.
 
But as noted, that doesn't stop them from racing.  Just look at the battle for 3rd place.  Aylesworth and Xaudaro, both in Team Standings and Driver Standings, are separated by a mere 37 points.  That's quite a change from last year.  Not for Aylesworth, who's team continues an impressive improvement scale from a very modest beginning in 2002, to 4th place in Team standings and Driver standings a year ago, to this year getting their first ever victory at Valleyfield and now battling for 3rd.  But Xaudaro is another story.  Struggling for his first couple of years with a boat that sometimes was a challenge just in keeping it atop the water.  Then the team upgraded to a newer hull in 2003 but had to make do with an admittedly underpowered engine.  This year, new power, and the continued development of the team and the "X-Man" as a driver, finds the UL-929 team moving up from last year's distant 9th place finish, to within qualifying points of third place with 2 events to go.  Watch the UL-5 and UL-929 in San Diego and know, how well they do on Mission Bay may very well decide the outcome for which team takes third place overall.
 
However, don't ignore two other teams that are within shouting distance of third place.  Currently in 6th spot, 1,037 points out of third with two races to go, is rookie Michael Flaherty in the UL-51 Miss Boat Electric.   Flaherty has learned quickly this year, drawing upon the lessons received from mentor George Woods Jr. in 2003 when Flaherty was Woods' "understudy" in the UL-51.  Now, with Woods in the UL-72, Flaherty has driven to a solid 6th place in the boat Woods drove to third overall last year.  Meanwhile in fifth place, and this is no typo, is Thunder Valley Racing.   The team that was presented the "Burnt Piston Award" at the 2003 season ending banquet, for a year that found if anything could go wrong, it probably happened to Thunder Valley, has completely turned things around.  They do have one of the heavier hulls, an ex Grand Prix racer in the UL-40.  But they also have a team of experienced, capable crew members who knew 2003 just had to be a fluke.  In 2004, they've erased the memories by finishing all but one heat so far this season, and in Olympia last month driver Harold Mills took the team to their best ever UL finish by racing to second place at Speedfest. 
 
Look further down the line.  UL-6 leads UL-14 by less than 600 points in the race for 7th spot with two race to go and both teams will race in both events.  In 10th is Paul Droullard's UL-9, who missed out on heat points at Seattle after securing his first ever number 1 qualifying spot with a lap of over 117 mph.  He was unable to run in Olympia as well, but with the speed of the American Eagle, if Droullard's team can finish heats the rest of the way, he can jump up a couple spots.  He should move ahead of the UL-10 which won't be able to make the trip to California this year from their home base in Alabama.   Plus, Joe Turner in the UL-18 can move ahead of the UL-17 in the standings, because the 17 won't be able to compete at San Diego. 
 
So you see, just because you can't be number one, you can improve your position.  And that brings excitement not only to San Diego and Port Angeles over the next few weeks, it also presents a myriad of intriguing possibilities for the off season, just ahead.   It also shows potential sponsors that a team has what it takes to drive a commercial message, home.    Stay tuned!
 
John Lynch
"Voice" of the Unlimited Lights

 

Click here for updates from August, 2004

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