Hot and wild in Marsing

Attrition adds another dimension to the championship

By Jim DeFord

MARSING, Idaho (July 29, 2006) — Treasure Valley had record breaking weather up until race day but the relief from the nationwide heat wave would be slight. However, the heat on the track would far outweigh anything mother nature could offer.

Let's get right into the action here and start with the Super Boats. Tom Nelson and crew were back in full force and ready to rock and roll. Unfortunately, the Piranha boat was not cooperating.

The crew worked in the morning to get the boat tuned. All is good. Then comes the first run and the boat will not start. This is the same problem that plagued them prior to the last race and prevented them from even coming to the race.

Another MSD ignition system gone belly-up. The Piranha crew was devastated that yet again they would not be able to run. Defending their championship was totally out of the question. However, one other team stepped up to assist. More on that later.

So that left Lee Rice with his super-charged Screamin' Eagle against Darrin Hartwig who was subbing in Pat Sumrall's boat as his engine is still being repaired.

And once again, Lee Rice and Company provided some of the best entertainment of the day/week/month/year/season.

In Round #1 of the qualifications the throttle stuck on the Screamin' Eagle and Lee had to shut the engine down. A thankfully slow push onto the shore would be a non-issue and the boat was trailered back to the pits for repairs.

Back Round #2 and right off the line the Eagle was Screamin' with a stuck, wide-open-throttle. Lee was having a hard time finding the kill switch and the boat went up the front straight with all 1500-plus horsies running as hard as they could.

The boat careened from shore to shore and ended up rolling and then flipping on its nose into the water with the boat ending up driver/navigator side up.

The safety crew was there in a blink of an eye as Lee and Daryl exited the boat unharmed. We did capture the crash and you can view the crash sequence by clicking HERE.

Amazingly, that was NOT the end of the day for the Screamin' Eagle and she would end the day with the top spot on the podium as Darren could not match Lee's speeds in Sumrall's Super Modified boat.

Congrats to Lee, Daryl and the Tsunami Racing Team!

So we enter Super Boats Part II.

Doug Hendrickson offered his boat to Tom and Linda to run at least for qualification points. Tom was hesitant as he does not like running someone else's boat. Doug insisted that he and Linda suit-up and run En Fuego to qualify. Tom agreed.

So, in Round 2, right after Lee's crash, Tom and Linda come hard out of the gate and then he eased off as he entered the first corner. The boat went a little wide and then things went out of control from there as the boat hit the far shore and crashed hard on the driver's side against the fence and one of the blue barrels.

As the safety crew arrived and righted the boat, Linda climbed out but Tom was very slow in exiting. Eventually, Tom climbed out and walked dejectedly to the pits. Doug, obviously concerned about Tom (not the boat), headed to the crash site at the same time. The three met in the middle and consoled each other. You can view the crash sequence HERE.

Tom was devastated. In a post race interview Tom said, "It was a total driver error. Doug's lock-to-lock steering is much more than on Piranha," Tom explained.

"I turned the wheel and had severe under-steer. I turned a bit further and then it grabbed, over-steered, and I lost control. I could not recover. It was a driver error and I feel horrible."

"But," Tom continued, "We will be taking Doug's boat in tomorrow (Sunday) and start repairs. By Richland, it will be perfect. If it's not perfect, then Doug will be driving a (purple boat) as he pointed to the trailer where Piranha sat. I know that's how Doug would do it and I will do no less. The boat will be perfect."

As of this writing the engine was pulled Sunday and was off to Carlson Sheet Metal Sunday afternoon to be measured for the new panels. And then it was off to JETCO on Monday where Tony would work his magic and massage En Fuego back to life.

So now we'll cover the A-400 Class. With Hendrickson and Hanna Rice out of the picture yet again, that left Pfeiler, Patrick, Root and Bright to battle it out. Bright was running a stock substitute boat again for the second race (engine) and would not be a factor in the finals. Root and Dietrick pushed hard but ended up third a couple seconds off the pace set by Pfeiler and Patrick.

Dave and Kyle ran pretty close all day, but Dave always seemed to have just a little more. Kyle's boat was hopping around the track and it seemed he was still hitting the rev-limiter a tick as his still-new engine popped from time to time.

And that was what Pfeiler and Bridges needed to pull off their second win of the season. With back-to-back wins under his belt, Dave's walking pretty tall these days.

However, one might want to note that Doug and Hanna still had the field covered with the fastest time of the day in the class by nearly three seconds.

That leaves Pfeiler and Patrick tied for first and Hendrickson 30 points out. Keep an eye on this class as we head to Richland.

As we move to the Stock Class, we find Rice, Sandoval and Mulvaine running within 30 points of each other. These guys are running neck-to-neck week in and week out. It doesn't get much better than this!

Once the teams have qualified we see points leader Rice and Sandoval running some pretty close laps with Chris surprisingly holding the fast time into the finals. Mulvaine is a second off the pace and finishes third.

In the finals elimination round and under pressure from Sandoval, Steve and Brenda Rice miss a turn halfway through the run and it's all over. As a reminder, one new rule for 2006 is a driver cannot "go back", recollect the track and continue running. Once you have missed a turn your run is over.

This left the Sandoval/Weeks team at the helm of their own destiny. All they had to do is run a clean lap, no matter what speed and they would own the first win of their career.

Although it was not his fastest time of the day—which Chris had run in qualifying—it was just a tick off his previous run. Congratulations to Chris Sandoval for his first win in the USSBA Sprint Boat racing series.

In the Super Modified class, the brother's Petersen came into this race with a world class lead by 70 points over second place driver John Gray.

Sitting another 40 points below Gray and 110 behind Bernin' H2O, Smith and Zimmerman are working hard, but it's tough when Loren and Trevor are so, so fast right off the trailer. Seems they can do no wrong.

And this weekend was no different. Except that Ty Applegate was driving this weekend!

Although they were beating at the door, the Petersen's would still come out on top with Applegate/Rose just not having enough motor, finishing a strong second and sometimes-run—Pat Sumrall—standing on the third rung of the podium.

We also had Gray/Bailey, the rookie-sensation team of Scott and Lori Ackerman, and longtime sprinters Castillo/Schwebach running nose-to-nose within a second or so of each other.

This was one of the most exciting, gut-wrenching, teeth gnashing races I have seen in some time.

Race #5 of the 2006 USSBA Sprint Boat racing series, will be at Richland, Washington on August 12th.