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Lynch Line, May 2008 The annual Tastin’ n Racin’ Festival will be held on Lake Sammamish with a variety of racing classes this weekend. The Unlimited Lights which have been a major part of the event since 2000 won’t be at Issaquah WA. It’s been a very successful run as the event recorded a solid increase in crowd count over the course of eight years. The event was started by one of the founding teams of ULHRA, Inc. Unfortunately race organizers and ULHRA, Inc. couldn’t reach an agreement this year that would work for both sides. Still, a few ULHRA teams will be racing at Lake Sammamish in the NM class and it’s possible that some teams may enter as GP’s, plus Lighter than LIGHTS teams will be there. As we’ve seen with the return of the Tri Cities Water Follies to the ULHRA schedule, missing TnR this year is not necessarily an indication of the future and we certainly wish all the best to the Tastin’ n Racin’ organizers for their upcoming event. In a way, not competing this weekend can be viewed as a bit of a blessing as the ULHRA fleet prepares for what’s been dubbed “The Gauntlet”. That begins July 12th & 13th with the Pepsi Racing Power Cup at Chamberlain-Oacoma, South Dakota, followed by the Anderson Broadcasting Radio Waves Regatta at Polson, Montana on July 19th & 20th and the Graham Trucking Cup at Tri Cities WA July 25th through the 27th. Then it’s the big Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair in Seattle, WA August 1-3 followed by the Silverdale Thunder Regatta on August 9 & 10. Yes, five races in five weeks……and that certainly has earned the title “The Gauntlet”. It’s the most aggressive scheduling in the history of ULHRA and the nearly 2 months of preparation time for the teams after the Richland race will be well used. Desert Thunder II: Sometimes it’s just rough out there. The race at Richland WA was completed but it was an immense challenge for ULHRA’s Safety & Rescue (SAR) Team in keeping the race course……..well, a race course. High water levels in the Columbia due to rapid snowmelt from a record snow pack in the Cascade Mountain Range kept the river current strong and kept the SAR members working overtime to keep course buoys in place. The brand new Official ULHRA Pace Boat, the F-18 from Aksano Catamarans in Monroe WA www.aksano.com with the 150 hp Suzuki outboard engine made its debut an active one. SAR leader Pat McQuade of ULHRA helped with the final design concepts of the pace boat which is also the lead rescue craft and it performed flawlessly all weekend long. The Suzuki horsepower put the SAR team’s Aksano Catamaran in position, rapidly. Pickwick Landing, Tennessee was a very pleasant weekend in early May. Not only does the area and countryside provide excellent views, the race site is very promising. So is the addition of another new ULHRA sponsor; Lake Trash Apparel and Laketrash.com which made the event possible for the ULHRA teams to conduct an exhibition. The race was the season opener for the Champ Boat Series and this was the first time that Champ Boats and ULHRA collaborated on the same event. Coordination between the two organizations was excellent and the potential exists that more such “joint operations” could be developed in the future. Did you see the Speed Channel announcement? The On The Edge show, sponsored by Lucas Oil, will focus on Racing, ULHRA Style at Chamberlain-Oacoma SD in July. The 30 minute telecast will be part of the 2009 season on SPEED. Just ahead on Father’s Day weekend (June 13-15) at Pier 66 on the Seattle Waterfront is Classic Weekend 2008 where there will be “something for everyone” from classic cars to dozens of classic yachts, many built prior to 1942. Four teams from ULHRA will be on display and drivers will be available to meet racing fans and sign autographs. Those teams participating include the UL-00 Trafficade with driver Wil Muncey, UL-11 ROXY 94.5 presents Power Punch and driver Michael Flaherty, UL-14 Miss Critical Logic and driver Paul Becker, and the G-13 Jet Chevrolet – Tempo with driver R.W. Dick Lynch. Admission is free. If you click on the box to the left titled STANDINGS you’ll see that after two races Kayleigh Perkins in the UL-72 Miss Boat Electric leads Greg Hopp & Jerry Hopp in the UL-15 Pump Tech presents Graham Trucking G.T. – Happy Go Lucky by 125 points. That’s two points less than one 5th place heat finish. Perkins won at Phoenix and the Hopps prevailed at Richland. For the Red & Yellow boat teams it’s been this way for some time…..occupying the top rungs of the Unlimited Lights season point race. The 72 team won the title in 2000 (before the Hopps acquired their current UL-15) and 2001 & 2002. The Hopp Racing Team took the title from 2003 through 2006 before the Frauenheim-Bononcini Impact Racing team returned to the #1 slot in 2007. Can anyone derail these two teams’ championship reign in 2008? Currently the “closest to” is Paul Becker in the UL-14 Miss Critical Logic just 625 points behind. Becker’s team has an amazing streak going. Nine heats started, nine heats finished and each time in Second Place. With no other teams within 2000 points of first place it can lead one to expect that this will be a 2 team race for the Unlimited Light championship again this year. However, with Becker in striking distance and “The Gauntlet” just a few weeks ahead, anything is possible. Teams that currently trail the leaders can get “on a roll” while others can run into mechanical woes or incidents and with 400 points per heat win and at least 3 heats per race weekend, no lead is safe this early in the campaign. The 5 consecutive races may not decide the Unlimited Light championship. After all, Port Angeles “Strait Thunder” presented by Victoria Express in early October is “where champions are crowned”. However that 5 week stretch will decide the 14 boat UL lineup for the Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair in Seattle. Ten teams will be determined through the Participation and Bonus Points program that was launched this year by the ULHRA Board of Directors in support of the ULHRA race sites. The other 4 positions at the Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair will be determined by total points. All of the Seafair slots will be earned by the teams that run “The Gauntlet”. ULHRA teams will need to treat that series of races as they truly are…….a marathon, not a sprint. There could be sizeable changes in the STANDINGS, each week. Stay tuned! You can do so by watching ULHRA racing right here each race weekend with our live web casts.
John Lynch |
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