Sizzler in the desert

Heat takes toll on drivers & teams

By Jim DeFord

RICHLAND, Wash. (August 6, 2005) — The sales of bottled water and sno-cones were at an all-time high. The crowd—the largest of the season—huddled under the masses of awnings on the hillsides. The number of DNF's was unusually high as the drivers, navigators and support teams sweltered in 100-plus degree Richland sun. Tri-Cities Watersports anticipated the heat and had several cooling stations throughout the track for the teams, safety crew, staff and fans. We love you for that!

The course chosen for this day was long and technical. The water was much lower than the last race held here in June. The lanes and turns would be much, much tighter which just adds to the difficulties the teams must endure as this sandy track changes constantly throughout any race day.

Stock Class

In the stock class we welcomed the new team in boat #45 of Andy Wallace and Joe Hampl. They would end up finishing 4th out of 5 entries. Welcome to the sport!

The #25 boat of Lorenzen/Gerome would not make it to the finals with four DNF's. One of many victims of the heat.

Rice, Bright and Sandoval battled head-to-head all day with times just within a second of each other. However, when it came time to lay down the fastest laps, Bright and Sandoval went to the finals.

With everyone taking a deep breath and a long swig of cool water they both headed out to the track with Bright up first. Jack pulled a 64.164, which was not his fastest time of the day.

Chris and Phillip were up next and they were looking good and fast, but Chris' final lap was also not his fastest and he posted a 64.196! Just .028 of a second and Rock Chucker took the top trophy. Excellent racing!

Currently Rice/Rice and Bright/Bright are tied in points for 1st place with Bright having more wins, so as of this time, Rock Chucker holds first place.

Super Modified

With 13 boats entered this is by far the largest class in the USSBA. The field is deep and very competitive. However, we will move directly to the final 8.

This class again welcomed rookies Doug Smith and Jeff Zimmerman in boat #34. While they would make it to the finals, they DNF'd in round one, finishing in 8th place. Not bad for a first outing!

7th place was awarded to Dale Yeager, 6th to Ron Fisher, 5th to Frank Toftemark and then it was off to round #2.

Dave Jensen in the #17 boat had some problems on his lap and could only muster a 64-second lap. Definitely not their best of the day and he would have to settle for 4th place.

Ty Applegate ran a super hot lap in round 2, but even that wasn't good enough for the finals and he took the bottom rung on the podium.

In the finals it was Roberts/Yancey in the #60 Squirt up against 2004 champion and current points leader in the Bernin' H20 machine handled by the Petersen brothers.

These two had been at it all day running head-to-head hot laps and this session was no different. However, Roberts had a few run-ins—as did many others through the day—with the sharp right turn heading up the back straight. Unfortunately it was a tangling with the sand that would slow him down and place him in second place as the Petersens again smoked the track with a clean, error-free run. although not their fastest of the day. Exciting stuff!

Group A-400

We had a total of 4 boats entered in this very tight class. The boats ran within a few tenths throughout the day, once they got running.

2004 Champion and current points leader Sean Mathews struggled with two successive DNS' due to electrical problems. Very unusual for this team. Fortunately, the team was able to repair the problem and get the Coors Light machine and Mathews/McPeek out onto to track.

The only DNF in this class was suffered by Applegate/Neilson in the #6 boat, but they would recover quickly and run some very respectable laps and finished third.

Dave Pfeiler premiered his highly anticipated, new boat, Climax. Sporting a shiny Dart powerplant and a paint job to die for this boat was quick off the trailer and looked to be there battling in the finals. And they were.

Amy and Dave ran their first elimination lap flawlessly and the entire track gasped as they ran aground just 6 feet from the timing lights. But they took it all in stride and were awarded the Tri-Cities Hard Luck Award for the day. Look for the #5 machine to be on top of of the podium in the near future.

In round three it was he familiar faces and boats of Hendrickson/Schmidt is En Fuego and Mathews/McPeek in Dancin' with the Devil. With the heat of the day there was indeed smoke on the water.

This run was eyelash close. Doug popped off a 54.462 and then it was Sean again running fast enough to take the top trophy, beating Doug by just .356 of a second at 54.106. Racing just doesn't get any better than this!

Super Boats

The Super Boat class presented 4 boats for the day with everyone welcoming back the Screaming Eagle of Lee Rice. Lee loves blown motors and this machine is no different. Tuning is tricky and when the boat moves, it flies, but it seemed a bit temperamental on this day. Rice and Healy would make it into the second round and take the the third rung on the podium. Folks, when this engine gets tuned and hot, watch out!

Darrin Hartwig/Steve Fowler did not have a good day and only ran one successful lap, DNS'ing in round three of the eliminations and three DNF's on this highly-technical track. Been a tough season for Darrin and Steve.

So now we sit with the final two we have seen all season: Lautenschlager/Hibbard vs. Nelson/Ensminger. You'll find it hard to meet four nicer people, but when they are out on the track they are ruthless and will take no prisoners.

After an unsual DNF on his first qualification run, Nelson ran sub-50-second laps all day. Dean struggled with a very unusual three successive DNF's on his first three tries, but finally posted a qualifying lap at 50.493. Off the mark, but he would make to the eliminations.

Dean was up first in the #4 boat and posted his fast time of the day with a 49.105. Tom had run consistently under that time all day and won the finals with his second fastest time of the day of 47.696.

Final Notes

During the awards ceremonies, Tri-City Watersports announced they will be back for the 2006 USSBA season. Unofficially, the first race at Richland in 2006 will be under the lights in a night race!

There were thank yous, hugs and yeah, maybe a few tears as the USSBA closed the season at Richland. I will not name names—because when you do you always forget someone—but the folks at Tri-City Watersports and the City of Richland all deserve a huge thanks for the success of the USSBA 2005 season and we are all looking forward to 2006!

NEXT RACE: September 3rd - The USSBA Nationals - Marsing, Idaho