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Two other craft in race-ready condition remain in Mexico. The former UL-23 of Bob Larimore out of Springfield OH and the former UL-21 from Thunder Valley Racing from Issaquah WA are available. Details are in the For Sale section. Sr. Buitron also owns the former GP-44 and the first UL-929, both of which are ready for display duty but could be re-worked and returned to racing. All 4 hulls come with trailers and Sr. Buitron also has engines and various hardware components. X-Man puts UL-929 on the sale block Vince "X-Man" Xaudaro is placing his very competitive UL-929 racing team up for sale. The sale is driven by a position change with his employer and is not his exit from the sport. To the contrary, Xaudaro hopes to stay active as a race driver with another team and return to the ranks of ULHRA team owner in the future. This craft has a successful history in ULHRA racing dating back to the mid 90's. After it was significantly modified by Xaudaro and others a couple of seasons ago, Vince drove to his first Unlimited Lights victory at Evansville in 2005. Since joining the series in 2001 Xaudaro has been a mainstay on the circuit, competing in just about every event in the past 5 seasons. His season was stopped short due to damage at San Diego caused by a broken propeller. By missing the Port Angeles race his team dropped from 5th to 7th in the final 2006 Team Standings after finishing 3rd in 2005 and 2004, and was second in the Driver's Standings in 2004. Information on the UL-929 is available in the For Sale section. LTL 4 Cylinder Champion steps up to Unlimited Lights  Eric
Christensen of Bremerton WA has acquired the former UL-117
Escapeius Maximus hull and will enter the Unlimited Lights
series in 2007. He parlayed a strong performance at the
season ending Stait Thunder Regatta at Port Angeles WA into
the 4 Cylinder Lighter than LIGHTS title. He joins previous
4 cylinder stock champions, Jeff Bernard (2003) Brian
Perkins (2004) and the combination of Brian Perkins, Jeff
Bernard, Kayleigh Perkins and Ken Pasquinucci (2005).
 Christensen
will re-number the boat as the UL-35 and plans to be ready
for Spring Training 2007 and compete on the west coast with
his Unlimited Light team. Many of the members of his S-35
Heads Up Brewing presents Graham Trucking 4 cylinder stock
team will be joining Christensen in the new venture.
Sponsorship and engine combination will be announced in the
near future.
Christensen has crewed for the UL-18 Turner Racing Team, and
joined the UL-1 Hopp Racing Team for the east coast races at
Valleyfield and Detroit in 2006. The former UL-117 last
raced in the Unlimited Lights series at Seattle, Silverdale
WA, San Diego and Port Angeles WA in 2005. Then owner Ron
Doumont was recruited to bring the inactive hull from
Windermere B.C. to substitute for the UL-18 driven by Joe
Turner that had been damaged in an accident while being
transported to a display appearance right before the Seafair
Seattle race. Two weeks later Turner drove the boat to 4th
place at the inaugural quicksiver regatta in Silverdale, a
race that was launched on the interest and initiative
of none other than Eric Christensen.
John Lynch
P.R. Director, ULHRA Inc.
'Thunder and 'LIGHTS' needs your photos Production of the 2007 edition of 'Thunder and 'LIGHTS' is under way, and your photos are needed. With each successive year, T&L has grown, both in size and circulation, and '07 will be no exception. With more pages to fill, the T&L staff will need more photos. Needs include; crowds, fans, crews, equipment, action... anything that portrays the UL "race-day experience". Photos should be submitted on disk-- include as many images as you wish but do as little "image-correction" as possible -- and mail to: ULHRA, Attn.; T&L, 12065 44th Place, South, Tukwila, WA., 98178. Please download the copyright-release form, print it out, sign it, and include it with the disk. 'Thunder and 'LIGHTS' cannot publish any material without an original, signed release form. While we're not establishing a deadline, the T&L staff will have the magazine largely complete by the first of the year, so the earlier your submission, the better chance your work will be utilized. All published photos are credited to the respective photographer, and all contributors are listed on the magazine masthead. Please contact T&L Editor, Mark Sharley if you have further questions.
Writers;
if you have a story, article, or idea you'd like to see included in
our 2007 edition, please contact
Mark.
Thank you
for your help --
Mark
Sharley
Editor;
'Thunder and 'LIGHTS'
The passing of a great friend of the Unlimited Lights Bob Curran, 88, great friend of the Unlimited Lights, passed away on Friday, October 13th. He was at home, with Maria, and joking even in his last hours. The day before, he had meetings with the Edgewater, as well as Seafair officials--working as usual. Bob was a charter member of the Seafair Boat Club, a retired Army officer and served as our liaison with the military in Hawaii for all those wonderful years of racing off Ford Island. And for many years, he hosted a breakfast to bring together top military officers, community officials and boat racing leaders. (This provided a very successful forum for a working relationship which we will enjoy for many more years). Bob was an amazing man, and we will miss him.
Patti Darling
Gold Cup Video at Port Angeles #2
Gold Cup Video at Port Angeles #1
Belfair’s ‘Flying Gecko’ gets double win in Port Angeles
BELFAIR, Wash. – For the third-consecutive
race, Belfair’s Bud McKay won the Victoria Express Presents Straight
Thunder Lighter-Than-Lights 8-cylinder stock hydroplane race in Port
Angeles. The win vaulted McKay’s GEICO Presents Namron Racing Team to
the 2006 Lighter-Than-Lights 8-cylinder stock series’ high point
championship.
"I’m almost 47 years old, 6-foot-5 and pushing 300 pounds, but man I felt like a little kid when I saw the checkered flag in the final heat," McKay said. "It was such a special moment for me because I could feel my dad with me on the victory lap, so I popped open the lid (canopy) as I brought the boat back to the pits and waved at all of the fans. That was always, always a dream for my dad and I – that one day we could race a hydroplane and wave at the crowd after winning ‘the big race.’ It took me more than 46 years, but I wasn’t going to miss that moment for anything." Bud lost his dad, Norman McKay, to cancer more than three years ago. Bud bought a hydroplane and started the Namron Racing Team in 2005 in honor of his dad. Namron is simply Norman spelled backwards. The Lighter-Than-Lights are part of a four-race series on the Unlimited Lights Hydroplane Racing Association campaign. Besides, the 8-cylinder stock hydroplanes, 4-cylinder stock hydroplanes make up the Lighter-Than-Lights series and race between Unlimited Lights and American Challenge Cup Series races, offering fans a full and exciting day of racing. On Sunday, Orting’s Brandon Payne, the team’s crew chief, jumped in the GEICO Presents Namron Racing Team’s cockpit in heat 3 and made his Lighter-Than-Lights debut as a driver. And what a debut. Running in lane two, sandwiched between Rob Schueler’s Miss Complete Concrete, and rookie Chris Dreewes driving The Terminator, Payne won the heat by .87 mph in a classic, three-boat, deck-to-deck dual. "I can’t tell you how proud of Brandon I was," Bud said. "Rob, Chris and Brandon were all going hard at it for the entire race and gave each other plenty of room to race – you can’t ask for anything better." While the GEICO hull secured the series championship on Saturday, the race was on for second place. When the boats finished the final heat on Sunday, Schueler just edged Bob Donley’s The Terminator 2,038 to 2,014 – a difference of 24 points. The GEICO hull ended the season with 3,225 points. Over the course of the season, five drivers earned points in Donley’s Terminator hull – which is the sister boat to McKay’s hull. Auburn’s Mike Jarvis, Belfair’s Steve Clark, Dreewes, from Monroe, Donley himself, and then Gigi McKay, Bud’s wife, all drove in 2006. Gigi and Bud usually share seat time in the GEICO Presents Namron Racing Team. But when Donley had surgery on his knee, he asked Gigi to drive for him. Which meant she would go head-to-head with Bud. GEICO Insurance of Lakewood added fuel to the fire by also sponsoring Gigi’s new ride and renaming the hull, GEICO Presents The Terminator. The McKays squared off four times against each other – each winning two times. Gigi, who missed most the 2006 season because she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the start of the season, drove in Tri Cities in July just two weeks after completing an aggressive chemotherapy session. She was giving the all-clear in August, but in late September she learned the cancer had returned and showed up in her liver. Gigi started a new round of chemotherapy Sept. 18; two days later she flew to California to start her Harley-Davidson charity bike run for Amazon Heart Thunder along with a dozen other breast cancer survivors. She helped raise donations on the 1,000-mile ride for breast cancer support programs and met with groups of women each day who were going through breast cancer. She returned home Sunday night. "Next year, when we defend our series championship, you’ll see a lot more of Gigi driving," Bud said. "The most fun I’ve had all year, was going deck-to-deck with her. The least fun I’ve had was going deck-to-deck with her when she passed me and waved bye-bye. "Maybe next year, we’ll have Gigi pop open the hatch and wave to the crowd after we win ‘the big race’ again." Top 5, 2006 Final 8-Cylinder Stock High Points 1. Bud McKay, GEICO Presents Namron Racing Team 3,225 NOTE: Photos from this weekend race should soon appear on the
Unlimited Lights Hydroplane Racing Association’s website:
http://www.ulrs.org.
Bud McKay in the GEICO Presents Namron Racing Team, heads into a
corner at quicksilver.  Bud
McKay, on the inside, brings the GEICO Presents Namron Racing Team along
side his wife, Gigi McKay in the GEICO Presents The Terminator at Moses
Lake.
Ryan Mallow “Zips” to victory at Strait Thunder. Rookie Ryan Mallow and the UL-19 Mz Zip Fizz Energy Drink Mix Unlimited Light Hydroplane took advantage of two teams jumping the gun and raced to victory in the 4th annual Victoria Express Strait Thunder at Port Angeles WA. The traditional season ender for ULHRA, Inc provided tremendous weather and racing conditions, as well as competition. It was the final event in the 6 race West Coast Series presented by Powerboats NW of Tacoma WA. Both Greg Hopp in the 2006 Champion UL-1 Mike’s Hard Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky, and Michael Flaherty in the UL-72 Powerboats NW presents Miss Boat Electric were fractions of a second too early for the start. The resulting one minute penalties relegated them to 5th & 6th respectively. Mallow won the event with an average speed of 85.559 mph over the one mile course on Port Angeles Harbor off the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Second place went to Al Carstensen in the UL-6 Roadrunner 76 presents Miss Victoria Express. Third place, both in the race and in the final standings for the Unlimited Lights 2006 series was Paul Becker in the UL-14 Miss Critical Logic, followed by Wil Muncey in the Wyatt’s Watches presents Power Punch. In a rare occurrence, the top two teams in the Final both had to advance by taking first and second in the B-Main. Mallow and Carstensen each had problems with their race craft that forced them to miss one preliminary heat and their 700 points apiece through three preliminary heats came up 50 points short of the 4th automatic seed into the Final. On the weekend Mallow and Carstensen were matched 3 times and Mallow edged Carstensen in all 3 in very exciting racing. Carstensen by his outstanding effort at the beginning of the B-Main earned the Wyatt’s Watches Best Start of the Weekend award, presented by Jim and Cathy Keppler’s six year old grandson Wyatt…….for whom the company Wyatt’s Watches is named. In Heat 3B fans saw a return to Unlimited Lights racing of Jerry Hopp, patriarch of the Hopp Racing Team. This was the first points heat in Unlimited Lights competition that “Grandpa Jerry” had driven since the 2004 season in San Diego. The senior Hopp underwent twin knee replacement surgery in the spring of 2005 and he was victorious in Heat 3B. He chose to race in 3B because by winning Heat 2A on Saturday, Greg Hopp had wrapped up the team and driver’s titles for Unlimited Lights racing. It is Greg Hopp’s second driving title and Hopp Racing’s 4th consecutive Team title. For the 4th year in a row the second place team in the series was the UL-72 driven by Michael Flaherty. This craft also won the title from the year 2000 through 2002. The performance of the Tom Eckenberg owned UL-19, in winning at Silverdale in August and now at Port Angeles signals there is increasing competition in the Unlimited Lights field. In 8 races this year, Mallow and Flaherty each won twice, Hopp won 3 times and Brian Perkins in the UL-40 Miss Red Dot Corporation won once. Next year with new teams and new race boats, including proven competitive teams like Shockwave Racing with their new Ron Jones Jr. hull, and the potential return of San Diego’s Freedom Racing Team and their UL-5, the 2007 season looks to be the most competitive ever. In the Lighter than LIGHTS Series finale, Bud McKay and the E-10 Geico Insurance –Namron Racing entry won the Strait Thunder Final in 8 cylinder stock, and Eric Christensen in the S-35 Heads Up Brewing presents Graham Trucking won the 4 cylinder stock trophy. Both McKay and Christensen also won the Lighter than LIGHTS 2006 series in their respective divisions.
John Lynch
With
two
heat
wins
and
the
number
1
qualifying
position,
Greg
Hopp
and
the
Mike's
Hard
Lemonade-Happy
Go
Lucky
have
clinched
the
2006
Unlimited
Lights
Championship.
Going
into
today's
final
round
of
competition
at
the
4th
annual
Victoria
Express
Strait
Thunder
Regatta
in
Port
Angeles
WA,
Hopp
holds
an
insurmountable
929
point
lead.
While
Hopp
was
winning
his
two
heats
on
Saturday,
Michael
Flaherty
in
the
Powerboats
NW
presents
Miss
Boat
Electric
took
third
&
second
place
finishes.
However,
Flaherty
certainly
went
down
swinging.
Matched
against
Hopp
in
Heat
2A,
Flaherty
grabbed
Lane
1 at
the
score-up
pin,
and
took
the
lead
at
the
start.
Hopp
was
right
on
his
hip
in a
deck
to
deck
battle
and
took
the
lead
for
good
on
lap
3.
The
victory
margin
was
4
tenths
of a
mile
per
hour;
less
than
a
roostertail
length.
In
Heat
2B,
Ryan
Mallow
in
the
UL-19
Mz
Zip
Fizz
Energy
Drink
Mix
and
Al
Carstensen
in
the
Roadrunner
76
presents
Miss
Victoria
Express
hooked
up
in
an
excellent
dual,
with
Mallow
holding
the
edge
by
just
a
roostertail
length......also
about
a 4
tenths
of a
mile
per
hour
speed
difference.
In
Heat
1B a
classic
side
by
side
battle
developed
right
at
the
starting
line
and
ended
4
laps
later.
Ryan
Mallow
and
Greg
Hopp
went
at
it
in
some
relatively
rough
water
conditions,
neither driver
able
to
gain
much
of
advantage
till
turn
1 of
the
4th
lap.
There,
while
overtaking
lapped
traffic,
Mallow
was
able
to
gain
a
roostertail's
edge
on
Hopp.
Still,
Hopp
went
for
the
victory,
pulled
even
in
the
final
turn
of
the
1
mile
Port
Angeles
Harbor
course,
and
edged
Mallow
at
the
line
by
about
3
boat
lengths.
Paul
Becker
in
the
UL-14
Miss
Critical
Logic
won
Heat
1A.
Becker
had
already
clinched
third
place
in
the
season
standings
after
the
last
race
in
San
Diego.
Wil
Muncey
took
second
in
the
UL-83
Wyatt's
Watches
presents
Power
Punch
and
Bob
Estes
was
third
in
the
UL-33
Miss
Graham
Trucking.
Today,
the
Estes
Racing
Team
has
announced
that
backup
driver/radio
man
Mark
Echols
will
be
given
the
opportunity
to
race the
UL-33.
This
marks
the
4th
consecutive
year
that
the
Hopp
Racing
Team
has
win
the
team
title,
and
the
4th
consecutive
year
the
Impact
Racing
team's
UL-72
has
been
runner
up.
Because
repairs
hadn't
been
finished
to
the
UL-40
Miss
Red
Dot
Corporation
in
time
for
yesterday's
competition,
the
Estes
Racing
UL-33
has
moved
into
4th
place
in
the
season
standings
with
today's
final
heats
to
decide
that
placement.
Thunder
Valley's
UL-40
moved
into
the
pit
area
last
night
and
is
ready
for
competition
today.
The
difference..............just
25
points.
Vince
Xaudaro
currently
holds
a
precarious
6th
place
with
3619
points.
It's
precarious
because
Xaudaro's
UL-929
could
not
be
repaired
in
time
following
the
San
Diego
race
and
Al
Carstensen
in
the
UL-6
from
BCS
Enterprises
racing
has
3360
points
with
today's
racing
remaining.
Wil
Muncey
and
Ryan
Mallow
have
both moved
ahead
of
Mike
Webster
in
the
race
for
8th
place.
Webster,
from
Reading
PA
is
not
competing
this
weekend
Muncey
has
2185
points
and
the
fast
rising
Mallow
now
has
1808.
Racing
action
can
be
seen
here
starting
about
11::45am
Pacific
time.
John
Lynch
Voice" of the Unlimited Lights Click here for updates from September, 2006
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