USSBA Race Review

USSBA Nationals racing a nailbiter!

Three classes decided in final event

By Jim DeFord

RICHLAND, Wash. (Sept. 9, 2006) — The only class that was decided prior to The Nationals was the Super Boat class. Darrin Hartwig would leave today with the Super Boat Championship.

The rest of the classes would leave the fans and teams on the edge of their seats in some of the most competitive racing this year.

Super Boats

All of the Super Boat teams suffered mechanical attrition this year and only two boats would run today. Darrin Hartwig again had engine problems after the first run and that left Tom Nelson to claim The Nationals race trophy while Hartwig claimed the USSBA Super Boat Championship.

You can never, ever take anything away from Tom Nelson who is a true competitor and ran the Piranha boat right on the edge, cutting the corners tight as ever and hammering the throttle through the bottom of the boat.

Stock Class

All three boats running today had a chance at the crown, but ultimately it was between Steve Rice and Chris Sandoval as it has been all season.

Chris had been on a roll, winning the last two races giving him the momentum for The Nationals. And it was Chris Sandoval taking the win and the Stock Class Championship pulling the only sub, 60-second time in the class for the day at 59.790.

Rice finished second followed by Mulvaine.

Super Modified

The Peterson brothers had not lost a race since July 2, 2005. They always run hot right off the trailer and today would prove no different. However, the husband/wife, Ackerman rookies would not have any of that and ran a tenth of a second quicker in the qualifications. Don Smith was third just one-tenth behind the Petersons. Juan Castillo was less than two seconds behind Smith followed closely by Ty Applegate, and new boat owner Tim Cummings, and John Gray. Elliott, Healy & Atkinson, Olson, Yates and Weaver filled out the field.

Going into the eliminations it was all Scott and Lori Ackerman. They pulled out all the stops and ran every run faster than Loren and Trevor Peterson staying anywhere from seven tenths to nearly one second quicker, breaking the Peterson streak of wins.

Smith and Zimmerman finished third while Castillo and Applegate battled nose-to-nose for the fourth spot with Juan and Peggy winning that battle. Gray, Elliott and Healy filled the top eight in this class.

It was Ackerman's proudly taking home the first win of their careers and the Peterson's taking home another USSBA Super Modified Championship crown.

Class A-400

As prefaced in the Race Preview, this was the class to be watched with four teams running very close. Anyone could win the Class-A championship today!

The Patrick/Harris team came into this race in first place and all they had to do to take home the championship was to finish no worse than second. Pfeiler and Bright were also right there in the points battle and if anyone tripped up today they would surely be pounced on and be pushed back a place or two.

Frank Toftemark, although not running for the championship had run well all season and could play the spoiler in the eliminations.

Moving into the eliminations it was Hendrickson, Bright, Toftemark, Patrick and Pfeiler.

Patrick was battling a fuel pickup problem that has been plaguing him all year. The engine would pop from time to time and although he was running well, this was obviously costing him time on the track.

Pfeiler's engine was also a bit off-song today as he struggled through the qualifications. Toftemark was running well in third and Jack Bright was really running strong in second with the bugs worked out of his engine.

In the 8-cut Toftemark DNF'd by missing a corner an was placed on the trailer. In the 4-cut Patrick and Harris were running the front straight and their boat surprisingly spun out. As Kyle tried to recover the boat would not steer or accelerate properly. The frustration grew quickly as his championship hopes quickly vanished. It seems than a $1.00 bolt on the reverse bucket broke, causing the bucket to drop and ending the season on the downside. Kyle would finish fourth.

That left Hendrickson, Bright and Pfeiler. Pfeiler's engine problems continued and he just could not muster enough speed to overtake Bright and was placed on the trailer in the 4-cut.

It was Bright out first running a smooth, clean lap at 53.108. Hendrickson and Hanna Rice held their destiny in their own hands. As they came up the front stretch the boat got loose and nearly spun as the crowd literally gasped! As Doug and Hanna re-gathered their momentum they hammered it through the rest of the run to complete their fastest time of the day, claiming both The Nationals win and the USSBA Class A-400 Championship.

Congratulations to ALL the teams for a fantastic season! There was already talk of more new drivers, new hulls and new engine packages for 2007 as we all gathered to break bread—or roasted pig in this case—at the end of the race.

Stay tuned to the website for more news and information. There is a lot going on the behind the scenes as your President and Board are working diligently to make 2007 a breakthrough year for the USSBA!