ALBANY, Oregon (July 24, 2010) — 100mph Super Boats
down the long Albany straights and some very, very tight racing thrilled the
fans at the Field of Dreams on Saturday.
Albany is by far the largest track in the series. Albany is
the USSBA's Talladega—if you will—where high speeds, lots of action and very tight
racing are the name of the game.
In the Super Boat class it was Dean Lautenschlager racing
with his daughter, Loreal, navigating for the first time, taking his second
win in a row in the amazingly smooth Slipstream hull.
Doug Hendrickson and Hannah Macke increased their lead in
Group A-400 with another perfect weekend claiming fast qualify and the win.
But, the highlight of the day was watching Dillon
Brown-Cummings claim his first win, with many more to come I am sure, in the
Super-Modified class. Dillon's Mom, Teri, navigates for Dillon.
Dillon was on his game today and driving the #99 boat
belonging to his Dad, but powered by Dillon's motor. And even though he had
two DNF's in the Qualifying rounds on this extra-long, 37-turn rotation, his driving
was smooth and nearly flawless.
There was a long, fast right sweeper on the Southwest corner
of the track that was giving nearly everyone fits because of the back-wave
action caused by their own boat as they negotiated the corner. Many drivers
were hopping in the air with some getting smacked against the edge of the
island because of it.
I asked Dillon after the race, "Everyone had problems at the
the right sweeper except you. You were glass smooth through that corner. How
did you make that happen?" Dillon replied simply, "You just had to be faster
than the waves."
And that he was. The only faster boats than Dillon and Teri
were The Super Boats.
Qualifying
Dillon Cummings ripped off a 73.280 run right off the trailer
and then a 72.921 between two missed-turn DNFs and snagged the Super-Mod
pole without much argument from anyone else. The only two faster boats would
be Morrison and Johnson in the Super Boat class in which Morrison claimed
the pole there.
Doug Hendrickson took the A-400 pole with a 74.603 followed
by Gahr and Olson.
The DNFs (Qualifying)
Round 1
Scott Saxton and Frank Farrand, from Canada, had a nasty
little flip on their first lap putting the out for the day. Scott was a
little slow getting out of the boat, but was okay. Boat was not.
Cory Johnson smacked an island and flew into the spinout
pool, effectively ending that lap.
Dave Lowney and Trevor Lemour had a gentle little spinout
onto an island.
Round 2
Scott Ackerman/Mike Halls smacked an island and did a
pirouette not unlike Cory's dance steps in round 1. Yup. Right into the
entrance of the spinout pool.
Todd Gary pushed a rod through his oil pan and was
(obviously) done for the day.
Doug Olson visited an island and rookie Jason Nash had engine
problems that ended their short day.
The crash of the day was a very violent ride over two islands
and a flip for Cory Johnson and Gary McNeal in their Super Boat right in
front of the announcing tower. The ended up upside down on the dirt and both
walk away and would return to run in the finals!
Round 3
Murray Powell and Randy Wild pinballed off a few islands but
hung with it only to later beach it and DNF.
It was Ackerman again hot dogging it through the sweeper,
bouncing of the bank a few times, but coming in with a 76.911 time! That was
awesome to watch.
Morrison's boat sounded weird as it finished this run.
Round 4
Robert Cox and Amanda Vestal spun out, but saved it,
pinballed off a couple of islands and then finally beached it.
It was Murray Powell spinning out, recovering, smacking an
island and finally DNF'ing.
Lee Rice had terminal engine problems (broken header) in the final round and
would not be able to make the finals.
Morrison DNS'd this round.
The Finals
Super Boats
Dan Morrison and the Wicked Racing crew could not get get the
boat started and what sounded weird in Q3 was the engine sucking a valve. So
that left Dad & Daughter Lautenschlager and Johnson/McNeal to battle it out
for the checkers.
Dean ripped a 70.611 and Cory pulled a 70.938 in round 1. It
was Cory taking the lead with a 68.530 over Deano's 69.630. In round 3 Cory
lead out on a screaming lap and then suffered engine problems. Dean and
Loreal finished the day with their fastest lap of the day and took the
trophy home.
That was the second win in a row for Dean and the first win
for Loreal on her maiden race as Dean's navigator.
A special note here regarding Pat Hampl's new F1 hull and
re-done Viper V10 motor. It sounded great and is looking to be fast but
there were just too many bugs to make it through the day. I am sure the
Psycho Racing team will have this beats ready for St. John.
Group A-400
Though points leader, Doug Hendrickson and Hannah Macke in
the Wicked Racing #01 boat had the field covered by a second and a half,
they were struggling in contrast to the first two races.
Times were off and the boat did not look like it was handling
good. Doug later would explain that the boat was loose all day and he could
not power through the corners.
Doug Olson would finish second on the day followed by TNT's
Paul Gahr—who is now second in the points—Dale Barger, driving Jack Bright's
bought while he recovers from surgery and Psycho Racing's Kyle Patrick who
is having a ho-hum season in 2010.
Super-Modified
This day was created for Dillon Brown-Cummings and his Mom,
Teri. No one could touch them. Cory and Gary tried but could get no closer
than 6-tenths.
Tim Cummings finished third followed by Ackerman who gave the
points lead to Cory. Rookie Eric Werner was fifth followed by Henderson, Cox
and Hines.
Dillon has become one of our most popular drivers and seems
to have a bit of a following. He drove his heart out this day and proudly
took his first trophy home. We expect him to win more races, but the rest of
the class will not be sitting on their laurels watching this 18-year-old
sensation take the championship laying down.
See you at Webb's Slough on August 28th.
