|
Greg Hopp and Brian
Perkins teamed up for a perfect weekend in
Detroit, capturing the Silver Cup on July 17th
on the famed Detroit River. Perkins drove to
victory in the preliminary heats and Hopp won
the Final in the 2 time Unlimited Lights Series
Champion UL-1 Happy Go Lucky - Mike's Hard
Lemonade. Second place went to new ULHRA member
Mario Maraldo of Detroit in his UL-59 Baby Doll
III.
Perkins was featured
in the 2004 edition of Thunder & LIGHTS magazine
as one of the "Young Guns" in the sport of
hydroplane racing. After taking 2nd place in
2003, he won the 2004 ULHRA Lighter than LIGHTS
series. Brian also debuted in Unlimited Lights
competition in 2003. This was Perkins first
drive with supercharged power and his grin never
faded. He's a member of the U-8 Llumar crew and
was on hand for the Gold Cup. Hopp was driving
for Fred Leland in the Gold Cup so Perkins
helped out by driving the preliminary heats.
Normally Greg's father and team co-owner Jerry
Hopp would've driven but he is recovering from
twin knee replacement surgery conducted in the
spring.
Instead of
scheduling an Unlimited Lights series race, the
Detroit organizers chose to invite a collection
of GNH, NM and GP hulls along with a handful of
ULHRA member teams, including Hopp, Maraldo, Jay
Tolbert, Dennis Macy, Ken Brodie II, and Pingree
Conflitti. Now the ULHRA members get ready
for the much faster speeds and tough competition
on the Columbia River as the Unlimited Lights
series resumes with the HAPO Community Thunder
Cup at Tri Cities WA, July 29-31, followed by
the Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair in Seattle WA
August 5-7 and a brand new event, "Quicksilver"
in Silverdale WA on August 13 & 14. Silverdale
is a one hour ferry boat ride west of Seattle.
Three races in three weeks. Call it the Western
Triple Header.
For many years, Hopp
Racing has been sponsored in Detroit by longtime
friends Bill Rands and his wife "Happy".
That's where the Happy Go Lucky moniker comes
from.
Valleyfield by Lee Lafleur (friend of UL-5)
A little humor from the UL-5
More Gold Cup Video at Valleyfield
G-17 testing on Black
Lake
Mark Sharley
ULHRA Photographer
Tracy Morgan at Valleyfield
Gold Cup Video on Saturday
at Valleyfield
More Gold Cup Video on Friday at Valleyfield
Gold Cup Video on Friday at Valleyfield
The American
Eagle Racing team congratulates X-man! A
great victory in Evansville. Shows what a
full winter of very hard work can do.
After a hectic work and display schedule
back east, a great deal of fun, and very
small amount of success,
 the
Eagle
has returned to Seattle (with a badly hurt
motor) in hopes of securing adequate
sponsorship to rejoin the series on the west
coast. We offer our wishes for a safe and
exciting time in Valleyfield to all of our
competitors. We will miss you all.
In our own little way, we also were winners
at Evansville. This
doesn't pay as well but it sure helps the
fun. What do you think?
Evansville redux; Valleyfield just ahead.
First time
victories are always special. When they are
somewhat unexpected, the special nature is
heightened.
At the start of
the 2005 season, following a career best
campaign in 2004, the UL-929 team of Vince
"X-Man" Xaudaro was "in the mix" of 6 or 7
teams expected to challenge for victories in
2005. An offseason of major changes to the
hull, plus a new engine added to the
expectation. However problems in pre season
tests and a modest performance in the season
opener lowered some expectations at least in
the early season. Even after qualifying at
Evansville the Holweger Development &
Construction entry wasn't expected to
contend.
Two things were
missed by those with lower expectations.
1. The "all
black, all the time" UL-929 was improving
with each appearance on the water, and 2.
Xaudaro is one of the most consistently good
starters in Unlimited Lights competition.
Both played a part in the outcome.
Xaudaro won the
start, by a significant margin, and showed
impressive chute speed. The team has some
challenges remaining in the turns, but after
reviewing their performance at Evansville,
may have found something to improve that
aspect.
The good news
for Xaudaro, was anathema for Cal Phipps.
Driver of the UL-10 Wright Pontiac,
Cadillac, GMC from Wiggins Hydroplane Racing
in Alabama, Detroit resident Phipps and the
UL-10 were running strong all weekend. He
won three times on the course, but due to
infractions was credited with winning only
Heat 1B. In Heat 2A, Phipps survived
contact from the UL-5 but had already been
penalized one minute for jumping the gun.
The team successfully repaired the damage
the third heat, and then answered the call
for the Final. While appearing to earn a
come from behind win, Phipps encountered
another infraction, this one for bearing out
in the turn prior to the start. That
resulted in a one minute penalty and a 4th
place finish in the Final. Still, this
team, along with the UL-929 and the UL-72,
showed that non supercharged power is still
a viable engine package in Unlimited Lights
competition.
The UL-72, Miss
Boat Electric. The boat is as good as there
is in the Unlimited Lights; a sister hull to
the UL-10. The driver, Michael Flaherty, is
making strides every time out. The 2004
ULHRA Rookie of the Year stepped up in
equipment caliber this season to a boat
designed to be "flown" rather than be
anchored to the water. He drove to the
second fastest qualifying speed of the
weekend at over 116 mph....also his quickest
recorded lap ever, and a win over Greg Hopp
in the third heat. Then Flaherty drove to a
second place finish in the Final.
Speaking of Hopp,
the UL-1 Mike's Hard Lemonade-Happy Go
Lucky team looked ready to defend their
Evansville victory of 2004 after a top
qualifying run of better than 117 mph.
While winning Heat 2B, Hopp was defeated by
Phipps in 1B, and also was second in Heat
3. The team then was unable to start the
Final after launching an engine change
following the third heat. Still, Hopp
maintains a 520 point lead heading to
Valleyfield.
The Freedom
Racing Team, competing as the Spirit of
Evansville UL-5, had quite a weekend. A
heat victory in 1A was followed by a deck to
deck battle for more than two laps with the
UL-10. Going into turn one on the final
lap, Kevin Aylesworth had a slight lead on
Cal Phipps, but the tandem wing hull hooked
just past the entrance pin, and collided
with the UL-10. Phipps went on to win the
heat, only to learn that he and Aylesworth
and Harold Mills all had jumped the
gun, which gave the victory to the UL-559
Outlaw driven by owner Pingree Conflitti.
What was worse, was the UL-5 was seriously
damaged and taking on water. It was
substantially submerged by the time it
was towed back to the pits. Then one of the
great elements of ULHRA racing took place.
The "family" got together to put the UL-5
back together. While the UL-5 team worked
to change engines, the UL-72 team worked on
replacing the rudder and checking the
steering. Plus, the UL-9 team combined
efforts to repair the hole in the left
sponson. The end result wasn't a
"Cinderella finish". The Spirit of
Evansville didn't win the Final, but it did
start the Final, and after seeing that hull
mostly underwater two hours before the
Final, to have started at all was a big
victory and one that should be shared by all
who combined to put the UL-5 back in race
ready shape.
Unfortunately,
one of the quickest teams in the fleet has
been lost for Valleyfield, and possibly
longer. The UL-9 Summit Contracting
American Eagle of Paul Droullard finished
3rd in Heat 1B, just behind Greg Hopp and a
couple of roostertails back of Cal Phipps.
In the second heat, Droullard was going deck
to deck for the lead with Hopp when his
engine expired on the backstretch of lap
#2. Without a backup engine due to lack of
budget for a second engine, Droullard and
the American Eagle team were done for the
weekend and returned to their Auburn WA
homeport. Droullard hopes to find the
engine damage modest, but until they tear it
down they won't know for sure. With UL
engines costing in the range of $30,000 a
copy, and Droullard, a retired
tradesman funding most of his racing costs
himself, it would be a shame if the speed
record holding American Eagle had to be
parked due to lack of sponsorship.
As we look ahead
to the 66th annual Molson Dry Regates De
Valleyfield, it's a wide open contest.
2004 winner
Kevin, Aylesworth and the UL-5 Freedom
Racing Team will be ready to defend. So
will Valleyfield's own Patrick Haworth, as
he'll return to the cockpit of the UL-10 for
his hometown race for the third consecutive
year. Haworth won in 2003. Greg & Jerry
Hopp will be ready in the Mike's Hard
Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky, plus the improving
Michael Flaherty in the UL-72 will
definitely contend. If turning speeds
improve, the Evansville winning UL-929 can
be expected to challenge. Also, Thunder
Valley Racing's Miss Red Dot Corporation
with Harold Mills keeps improving.
Valleyfield will
also see some ULHRA debuts. Local favorite
Pierre Maheu will drive the UL-58 Union Dooz
of Pingree Conflitti, while Conflitti will
drive the UL-559 Outlaw. Veteran GP racers
Jay Tolbert UL-7 and Mario Maraldo UL-59
will join the series......Tolbert while on
leave from his contractor job as an air
traffic controller in Afganistan. Plus, for
the first time since 2002, Detroit's Scott
McGregor will compete in an Unlimited Lights
event with his UL-102. McGregor says his
program sustained a recent setback. The
shop where his new supercharged engine was
being tested, was broken into and the engine
stolen. But McGregor says he's determined
to be part of the Unlimited Lights event at
Valleyfield.
Qualifying at
the St. Francois Bay course begins on Friday
with heat racing on Saturday & Sunday.
Updates will be provided here throughout the
weekend of July 8-10.
John Lynch
"Voice" of the
Unlimited Lights
Another Unlimited Light
"rests" prior to Valleyfield...
Tracy Morgan Wyatt’s Diamond Jewelers, with locations in Monroe and West Seattle, has announced its sponsorship of the E-83 Elaine’s American Maid racing team. The team campaigns an automotive-powered five-litre hydroplane at race sites across the Pacific Northwest. Wyatt’s joins with other local sponsors, such as Woodinville’s Bubble Below dive shop in supporting the locally owned racing effort.
Wyatt’s Diamond
Jewelers is a local family owned and operated
business with their first store at 106 Main
Street in Monroe, Washington. A second store was
recently opened in West Seattle. Owners Jim and
Kathy Keppler are excited to be involved with
the American Maid Racing Team. Elaine’s American
Maid, owned by Redmond resident Elaine Evans is
not your ordinary housekeeping service. Elaine
also provides free house cleaning to women
battling cancer.
The hydroplane is
owned by Monroe resident Debi Muncey, and driven
by her husband, Wil Muncey. Wil is the eldest
son of Bill Muncey, probably the most famous
hydroplane driver in the history of the sport.
While the five litre hydroplane powered by a 305
Chevrolet engine, is a smaller boat than the
ones most folks remember his father driving, it
can never the less get the adrenaline flowing
just fine.
The hydroplane will
be on display for the Fourth of July
celebrations in conjunction with the Naval
Station Everett Family Freedom Festival. The
Munceys and all of the Elaine’s American Maid
racing team sponsors are proud to be a part of
the Navy’s celebration of America’s
Independence Day.
The hydroplane will
next be racing on the APBA circuit July 9-10 in
Olympia, Washington on Black Lake. Then again on
the ULHRA circuit August 12-14 in Silverdale,
Washington on Sinclair inlet. The Silverdale
race dubbed “Quicksilver” will represent the 2nd
race of the 2005 Lighter-than-Lights Race
Series.
Click here for updates from June, 2005
Questions, comments? E-mail
the site's
webmaster. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
a.jpg)
a.jpg)
