|
 2005
Season - 4 DVD set
includes all the
heats, interviews
and three first
place awards =
$35.00
 2004
Season - 3 DVD set
includes all the
heats, interviews
and three first
place awards =
$25.00
2003 Season - 1 VHS
tape includes all
the heats = $5.00
4-6
items - $3.00
7
and up - we will
have to check
Send an E-Mail order
to:
Goldcupvideo@charter.net
to get your order
started more
quickly. Then
send your check to:
Gold Cup Video
Po Box 2055
White City, OR 97503
Biggest Awards Program in ULHRA History.
Over 250 people attended
the 5th annual ULHRA
Awards Banquet on
Saturday night, November
19th. Held for the 3rd
consecutive year at the
Great American Casino
ballroom in Tukwila,
just south of Seattle,
the facility was jammed
with ULHRA team members,
staff, friends and
family.
They all came to honor
and reflect upon season
5 of ULHRA, Inc.. the
season that was 2005,
and get a glimpse into
the future of the
Unlimited Light
Hydroplane Racing Series
(UL), the American
Challenge Cup Series
(G-Boats) and the
Lighter than LIGHTS
(LTL) inboard hydroplane
series.
Hopp Racing were the big
winners, capturing their
third consecutive
Unlimited Lights Team
Championship, and a
first ever
 National
Driving Championship for
Greg Hopp. In previous
seasons, Greg shared
driving duties with his
father and team co-owner
Jerry Hopp, who sat out
competition this year
after undergoing twin
knee replacement surgery
in the spring. Jerry
did some non competitive
driving, and filled in
for Greg in one non
points B-Main, and now,
should he choose, will
be ready to race again
in 2006.
The victory for the
Mike's Hard
Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky
team was the closest in
Unlimited Lights
history; a mere 83
points, over Michael
Flaherty and the UL-72
Miss Boat Electric. The
Hopp Racing machine will
once again be adorned
with UL-1 in 2006. In
11 seasons of Unlimited
Lights racing, only 3
boats have ever won the
title, with the last 9
being divided between
the current UL-1 and the
UL-72. The Hopp Racing
team also has an
impressive win record of
16 victories in the last
27 Unlimited Lights
races. The team won 5
times in 2005
Second Place UL-72 and
2004 Rookie of the Year
Michael Flaherty took
two victories and went
into the final race of
the
 year in Port Angeles
knowing they needed a
perfect weekend to
overcome a 363 point
lead. They had a
perfect weekend of 4
heat wins and 1600
points, but in the end
fell 83 points shy. In
fact, qualifying was the
difference in 2005 as Hopp outscored Flaherty
by 123 points, while in
heat racing Flaherty
outscored Hopp by 40
points.
Third place in the
standings went to Vince
"X-Man" Xaudaro and his
UL-929 Conover Insurance
entry.
 Xaudaro picked
up his first career UL
victory in Evansville to
become only the 3rd
driver to score a race
win in 2005. Fourth
place in team standings
was the Sycuan Resort &
Casino entry from
Freedom Racing in San
Diego CA, driven by
co-owner Kevin
Aylesworth. The Santee
CA resident was injured
when his boat flipped in
the B-Main while racing
alongside Greg Hopp.
Aylesworth was on hand
to pick up his 4th place
award, and showed he has
recovered well and
expects to be racing
fulltime in 2006. He
noted the UL-5 boat was
damaged severely in the
accident and there's
about 4 months of hard
work ahead, but the team
will get it done. In
2006 Aylesworth plans to
drive the turbine
powered Unlimited that
he and partner Jeff
Johnson acquired from
Dr. Ken Muscatel.
Driving duties for the
UL-5 are expected to be
handled by backup driver
and "brother in law" Jon
Church who showed
outstanding talent in
his one appearance this
year, at Silverdale WA.
Fifth place went to the
Miss Red Dot Corporation
UL-40 from Thunder
Valley Racing, and
driven by Harold Mills
in his second full year
with the team. Mills
also edged Aylesworth to
secure 4th place in the
Driver's Championship.
The 5th place team and
4th place driver awards
are both career bests in
ULHRA competition for
Thunder Valley, and
Mills.
Sixth place went to Paul
Droullard and his UL-9
American Eagle, with 7th
place to the brand new
UL-19 Mz Zip Fizz Energy
Drink Mix, owned by Tom
Eckenburg and driven by
Steve Hook. Joe Turner
took 8th place in the
UL-18 Pacific Rim
Brewing Co. with a huge
assist and thanks to
Windermere BC's Ron
Doumont. After Turner's
boat was knocked out for
the year in a traffic
mishap in downtown
Seattle, Doumont with
his UL-117 Escapeius
Maximus hull combine
forces with Turner's
drive train and the
combination went on to a
career best 4th place at
Silverdale, and 8th
place in the season
standings.
 2004 Rookie of the Year
Michael Flaherty
presented the award to
2005 Rookie of the Year,
Wil Muncey. The son of
legendary racer Bill
Muncey made a name for
himself, acknowledged by
Flaherty on stage when
he said. "if Muncey gets
a boat that's
competitive, we're all
in trouble!". The
former Unlimited driver
in the 80's, who took a
decade long hiatus from
racing in the 90's,
surprised many with his
competitiveness, savvy
and talent in "The
Little Boat that Could",
the UL-136 Wyatt's
Diamond Jewelers,
Barrett Engineering, La
Cucaracha IV. Muncey
raced to the Final Heat
alternate position in
his first ever UL race
in San Diego, then
captured 4th place in
the season ending race
in Port Angeles. Muncey
is now seeking a ride
for the 2006 season.
Race Site of the Year
was awarded
to Quicksilver,
the debut event for the
Silverdale Chamber of
Commerce,. an hour's
ferry boat ride west of
Seattle. The Chamber and
its many volunteers were
lauded for their very
professional and
entertaining event,
attracting a sizeable
first year audience, and
creating a race course
that led to some of the
best competition of the
season.
Race Sponsor of the Year
was also a first time
participant. HAPO
Community Credit Union
in Tri Cities signed on
with Tri Cities Water
Follies for the first
ever HAPO Community
Thunder Cup. The HAPO
company has been a Tri
Cities fixture for about
a half century and their
involvement
significantly raised
awareness of Unlimited
Lights racing in
southeast Washington
state.
The 2005 Hard Charger
award was presented to
Michigan's Pingree
Conflitti. Accepting
the honor on Ping's
behalf were ULHRA VP and
GM, Pat Malara, and Joe
Souza of Lakewood WA who
drove for Conflitti in
the final race of the
season at Port Angeles.
Immediately after that
race, Conflitti sold the
UL-559 Outlaw to J.Craig
Fletcher of Mercer
Island WA who will
campaign the boat in
2006. In fact, Fletcher
is one of at least 5 new
teams that will be
competing in 2006, and
that number may increase
by the time Spring
Training rolls around.
Ken Brodie II of the
UL-50 team from New
Jersey announced that he
and his father, Ken
Brodie Sr. will be
campaigning two boats on
the UL circuit next year
in a partial schedule.
Both will compete in all
o the eastern races, and
one of the boats will be
brought to Tri Cities
and Seattle.
Then there's the BPA
Award. It's presented
annually by the previous
year's "honoree". BPA
stands for Burnt Piston
Award, and the trophy is
an actual burnt
piston. Emcee John
Lynch noted that this is
truly the award that "tis
better to give than to
receive". It's
presented to a team that
had a variety of ill
luck, misfortune, and
bad breaks, in the hope
that the same doesn't
occur the following
year. For the past two
years, that's been the
case. In 2003, the
"winner" was Thunder
Valley Racing, for
whom just about anything
that could go wrong, did
go
wrong........including
running into a jersey
barrier while racing in
Valleyfield, Quebec.
Subsequently the Thunder
Valley team had their
best year ever in 2004,
and surpassed that in
2005. Last year's
honoree, Paul Droullard,
wound up 2004 with the
ULHRA's all time single
lap speed record after a
series of misadventures,
blown engines, and
broken propellers. in
2005, the American
Eagle powered its way to
two impressive 2nd place
finishes in 3 series
starts. The
2005 "honor" was
bestowed by Paul
Droullard upon UL-5
owner-driver Kevin
Aylesworth, to a team
that had some success,
but certainly more than
their share of problems
including sinking in
Evansville and the blow
over accident in San
Diego, not to mention
getting "rear ended" by
the American Eagle
during the warm-up for
Heat 2 in San Diego.
Aylesworth accepted the
award in the spirit it
was given and vowed that
the UL-5 will be ready
to go in 2006.
The evening also
featured an appearance
by Bill O'Mara, the
first sportscaster to
broadcast hydroplane
racing on
 television in
Seattle, beginning in
1951 when O'Mara was
Sports Director for KING
TV O'Mara's legendary
call of the Couer
D'Alene Idaho Diamond
Cup duel between Bill
Muncey and Jack Regas in
1959 was shown, and
O'Mara was greeted with
a standing ovation by
the appreciative
audience .......... many,
including the Voice of
the Unlimited
Lights, who grew up
watching the hydroplanes
in Seattle and listening
to O'Mara's broadcasts.
Even now in his late
80's, Mr. O'Mara is
still active as Sports
Director for KLKI Radio
in Anacortes WA.
The Lighter than LIGHTS
series for inboard
hydroplanes concluded
their 3rd season.
Taking top honors for
the second straight year
in 4 cylinder stock was
Pasquinucci Racing's
Perkins Glass-Baker
Equipment Co. Miss
Breezy, driven as
various times in the
series by Brian Perkins,
17 year old sister
Kayleigh Perkins, Jeff
Bernard and Ken
Pasquinucci. 2nd place
in an impressive
performance by this
second year racer was
Joe Gutierrez and third
place went to Charlie
Xaudaro who announced
he's acquired a former
GP hydroplane and will
be racing in Unlimited
Lights next season.
The 8 cylinder
stock champion was Wil
Muncey, driving Debi
Muncey's Wyatt's Diamond
Jewelers presents
 Elaine's American Maid.
Second place went to
Mark Echols in Justin
Weymouth's Silver Cloud
Inn. Echols
 won the
season opener at
Issaquah. Third place
went to Bill Strain in
his "Problem Child
Racing" Miss
Diagnosed.
For the first time in
the LTL series a
modified class was
created, combining both
4 cylinder and 8
cylinder modified
hydroplanes. ESL
Enterprises sponsored
this new class and their
team boat, the
"Instigator" took top
honors by grabbing a
huge lead in the early
going. Second place
went to rookie Rob Hall
in the Marine Dream, a
swift 4 cylinder
 modified that challenged
the larger engine'd
teams on every lap.
Third went Rod Bourke in
the Miss IRS
Environmental, which had
teething problems with
their radically modified
hull at the start of the
year, but by the season
ending races in
Silverdale and Port
Angeles, proved to be
the swiftest of the
swift.
So, what's ahead? One
item may be the Motor
City. Discussions are
underway to return the
Unlimited Lights series
to Detroit. If it all
comes together on Gold
Cup weekend, the
Unlimited Lights will be
racing for the legendary
Silver Cup, a trophy
that bears the names of
winning drivers
representing a "who's
who" of hydroplane
racing. It should be
emphasized here that
talks are underway and
progressing, but local
sponsorship in the
Detroit area will
ultimately determine
whether the American big
block V-8 powered
Unlimited Lights series
returns to the
headquarters of the US
automobile industry.
ULHRA president Joe
Frauenheim announced
there are now 5 teams in
the fledgling American
Challenge Cup Series
with the potential for
additional teams by the
start of the 2006
season. The G-Boats
will be at Spring
Training, to be held at
the Tri Cities race
course in May. All 2005
race sites are expected
to return in 2006, and
if the Detroit Silver
Cup is added, it will be
a busy 10 weekend season
for the Unlimited Lights
in 2006..
John Lynch
"Voice" of the Unlimited
Lights
Coming Attractions The 2004 and 2005 ULHRA Banquet videos, "Little Boys Big Toys" and "ULHRA Goes To The Movies" will be video streamed starting at 9 a.m. PST on Wednesday and ending at 9 a.m. PST on Friday. It will be repeated starting at 9 p.m. PST on Friday and ending at 9 a.m. PST on Monday. Watch for a notice and link on the opening page when it's active. UL teams now on Hydroplane Quebec Just a little note to tell you that the Unlimited Lights fans can now find at www.hydroplanequebec.com, the team profiles of 9 UL teams that were present in Valleyfield. All the UL teams are welcome to send their team info to be include in the profile page.
Regards
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