Season opener offers surprises

Top teams challenged at first event

By Jim DeFord

RICHLAND, Wash. (May 22, 2005) — The first race of the 2005 season proved exasperating for many of the top teams. Mechanical failures abounded both before and during the race. However, in spite of the hard-luck issues, the race went on without fault or incident before a crowd of nearly 1,000 fans.

Two boats pulled double duty for Super Boat drivers, Tom Nelson and Dean Lautenschlager. Tom’s engine exploded on the dyno just two days before the race and Dean’s engine was not ready for the season opener.

Brad Roberts offered his boat to Dean for use to qualify and receive points, but Dean scratched after two runs not quite feeling comfortable running Brad’s boat. The boat was running fine, but Dean just had a built of “guilt” running Brad’s new engine and placing the extra load on the team. Dean “The Machine” Lautenschlager’s much anticipated Super Boat will run its maiden race at Marsing on June 4th.

It was Ty Applegate offering his boat to Tom Nelson who would run the entire race. More on that later in the story.

The qualifications sessions went largely without a hitch. A missed turn here and there, as expected, but all boats made it through safe and sound except for Rookie driver Chris Sandoval’s Remembrance stock class boat.

Chris and rookie navigator Glenna Sandoval blew a cam on their qualifying attempt. A tough day for the rookie team, but look for them to come back fighting at Marsing in two weeks. The Sandoval's were unanimously awarded the USSBA Hard Luck Award.

Sean Mathews’ boat started out an odd day with a DNS on his first attempt caused by a broken throttle linkage on the Coor’s Light machine.

Another boat on the hard-luck list was Frank Toftemark’s Shockwave. Frank and navigator Julie Johnson’s day ended early in the finals with a suspected melted piston. That would be Frank’s second engine failure in less than three days.

As the teams got used to the newly renovated Richland course the speeds and time gradually increased. A Richland police officer arrived later in the elimination rounds and parked his car at the end of the long straight giving us radar speeds. Top speeds varied from 50-71 miles per hour.

The Finals

The Stock Class was up first with newly certified Ditch Viper pitted against veterans Steve and Brenda Rice in the easily recognizable #13 Superstition. It was the veteran experience with the Rice machine pulling off a 50.298 lap for the win.

In the hotly contested Super Modified class we saw Brad Roberts briefly clip an island that sent him to the trailer. There was no damage to the boat, but his time was damaged beyond repair for this day. Ron Fisher missed a turn at a most inopportune time and they parked their boat early in the elimination rounds.

In the finals it was Trevor and Loren Peterson in the #9 H2O machine battling against Dave Jensen and his 16-year-old navigator/daughter Jennifer in the #17 Cool Tool boat. The Peterson’s were out first having the slower time and pulled a 42.997 lap with a straight-line speed at 68mph.

It was Jensen and Jensen who came out flying and ripped a 41.711 lap taking their first win of the year. The radar showed their fast speed logged at 67mph.

Group A-400 showed Doug Hendrickson and navigator Bill Schmidt posted consistent fast times all day. Sean Mathews was struggling with his “just off the boat” boat. His Dancin’ With The Devil boat had just arrived less than 24 hours prior to the race and was not running when pulled off the crate.

However, with possibly one of the top crews in the USSBA, Sean and navigator Errika McPeak in the #67 Coors Light boat eventually found themselves head-to-head against the Hendrickson/Schmidt #01 En Fuego in the finals.

As a note of interest, En Fuego is Dean Lautenschalger’s former A-400 boat with a revived paint job and new powerplant. Look for this boat to be in the finals all year long.

It was Mathews and McPeak out first and they pulled off a blistering lap of 40.651 and 68mph, offering Hendrickson and Schmidt and challenging river to cross. Try as they might they ended up off the mark only managing a 42.112 lap giving the win to Mathews/McPeak.

The Super Boats took an odd turn when the fastest boat of the day, Lee and Samantha Rice’s #711 Screamin’ Eagle would not start. In addition, the Hi-Tech Redneck boat of Darrin Hartwig and Steve Fowler had an engine problem at the end of the last elimination round and would not be able to make it out for the final giving Nelson his first win of the year with his boat in the shop.

As another note of interest is that the Screamin' Eagle is Keith Richard's former Super Boat from 2004/03.

There were no incidents or wrecks on this slightly cloudy, pleasant northwest day. The facility was marvelously prepared by the dedicated team of Tri-City Watersports. The track was re-configured and manicured by this volunteer staff along with several USSBA volunteers. A special thanks to Dan, Cindy and everyone at Tri-City Watersports.

However, veteran racer and USSBA President, Sean Mathews got a little feisty on his victory lap. Sean is known for his massive, safety crew washdowns. On Saturday, Sean misjudged the shoreline, which is easy to do on the sandy shores of the Richland track. He clipped the shoreline, sucked a pile of sand into the pump and had to be trailered back to the pits. In a post-race interview Sean said there was no damage to the boat.

The next race at Richland will be Saturday, June 18th.

Race #2 of the USSBA series continues at Marsing, Idaho. The ThunderBowl Racing organization has revived the Marsing facility after a year’s absence and we’re all looking forward to seeing the fruit of their labors. Be forewarned that the Marsing race starts at 8am. Get there early for a day of Sprint Boat Racing!

For ticket ordering and more information see ThunderBowl Racing.

Photo galleries and final results will be posted as soon as they available.