Battle in Treasure Valley

Passionate, competitive racing invades Marsing

By Jim DeFord

MARSING, Idaho (June 5, 2005) — The weather was perfect. A majority of the drivers and teams were skeptical. It had been two years since the USSBA had raced here at the rocky, very tight Marsing course. A test session last year by one of the teams resulted in a horrific crash and the LifeFlight helicopter.

The traditional walk-around-the-track took longer than usual. There were actually two people walking in the water at the direction of USSBA President, Sean Mathews, to check track depth at many of the points and corners.

Once Sean and the other drivers were satisfied the qualifications began. Cautiously…

All the drivers began the first session tip-toeing around the track, getting their bearings and generally seeing where they could and couldn’t go.

There were only a handful of drivers with off-track excursions and they were minor spinouts with only pride hurt and some pebbles sucked into the pump. Over the course of the event there were a half-dozen teams that blew blades due to rocks, but overall the day was incident-free and safe.

The first round of qualifications produced five DNF’s with the #7 Wild Ride/Budweiser boat of Baze/Dunning producing the fastest time of the session. As the drivers and navigators gained confidence the heat was on and the battle began as the USSBA presented the estimated crowd of 1,100 a show it would not soon forget.

After the qualifications were complete, we had the #13 Superstition boat on top for a $250 fast lap of 66.815 in the Stock Class. In Super-Modified it was Bernin’ H20 taking the money and the opportunity to start last in Eliminations which is always the advantageous start in this style of racing.

For the GroupA-400 Class, Baze/Dunning would keep their top spot through the four qualifying sessions ahead of points leader, Sean Mathews in the Coors Light #67 Dancin’ With the Devil.

In the methonal-powered SuperBoat Class, the #4 machine driven by Dean Lautenschalger scored the first sub 50-second time of the day in session #4 with smoking 49.312 lap. Dean was premiering the brand-new Jetco hull powered by a newly revamped powerplant. Also in a brand new hull and engine from down-under was Tom Nelson in his wicked looking Piranha boat. However, Nelson suffered a slight mechanical problem and DNS’d the final round.

Stock Class Eliminations
It was Rice/Rice, Bright/Bright and Sandoval/Sandoval competing for the top prize. The #00 boat of Ellis/Smith was put on the trailer after spinning a bearing in the final round of qualifications.

Sandoval was out in the first round after missing a turn. After coming back around and re-gathering the course he finished third with a 92.812 and that left Bright and Rice to fight it to the finish with 66.023 and 66.786 times respectively.

The Bright team, driving the newly hulled Rock Chucker moniker had the advantage of starting last and held on with a mere .011 second faster lap and taking the top trophy.

Super-Modified Class Eliminations
In the only class large enough for the 8/4/2 eliminations we saw Bernin’ H20 with Peterson/Peterson, GeeForce with Morris/Morris, Cool Tool with Jensen/Jensen and Squirt with Roberts/Yancy moving to round two. Fisher, Castillo and Toftemark couldn’t muster the speed to stay with the faster boats and joined the mechanically challenged boat of Bill Root on their respective trailers.

All four boats posted faster times in the third round except Cool Tool , but it was Roberts and Jensen off to pack up for the day and 2004 Champion Jensen/Jensen taking an unusual bottom rung of the podium.

In the final session, the #9 Peterson/Peterson Bernin’ H20. L&S Racing Team continued their dominance over the field and beat the #51 Morris/Morris GeeForce machine.

Group A-400 Class Eliminations
Baze and Dunning dominated the day in the Group A-400 class and continued that through the eliminations taking the top spot of the day. Sean Mathews, who usually pulls a racing rabbit out his hat in the final round was forced to settle for second place with Hendrickson and Schmitt taking third place.

SuperBoat Eliminations
Tom Nelson, in his brand new, ultra-dark, purple-pearl, Pirahna boat struggled out of the box with a nagging mechanical issue and limped in with a time of 95.297 in Round 1. He looked to possibly be finished for the day. Fortunately with Rice/Healy DNS’ing, they did not have to load up the boat.

Round 2 revealed that Nelson/Ensminger had resolved their issues and they ripped a 49.402 against Dean’s 49.738. Reg Smith, visiting from down-under and racing Sean Mathews’ boat in the Superboat Class nailed the bottom rung of the podium with a 53.609. Hartwig/Fowler in #711 went to the trailer with a 58.537.

In the final round it was Lautenschalger up first and he pulled a 49.513, which was his fastest time in the eliminations rounds, but still not as fast as the 49.3 in qualifications.

Tom Nelson pulled out all the stops at the end and scorched the track with the only sub 49-second lap of the day at 48.958 and took the top trophy of the day for the SuperBoats. Look for this to be a familiar scenario the entire season. However, let us not forget the Rice machine that is still in repair. That boat is (also) fast and smooth and should be a contender for the Race #3 at Richland, Washington, on June 18th.

Be there.