King Cobra shifting issue

[blackhawk]

92 cone clutch King Cobra that shifts great. But, if he has to throttle the boat and gets close to the shift point it will pop into neutral.

And heres the weird part, it will not shift back into forward right away. The shift lever moves and everything is moving on the shift "block" on the engine. If he shifts it into reverse 3-4 times then it will go.

This weekend we ran for about 15 miles on plane. We stopped for a second and wouldn't go into forward. Reverse 5 or 6 times then pops into gear.

I am wondering if something could be getting warm/hot while on plane and expanding enough to not move properly inside the drive. Then once the drive is submerged it cools down and works again?

We tore the side panel off the drive to look at the linkage and everything looks perfect. The lever that hooks to the "shoe" is moving all the way down. The cable on the block is also collapsing all the way.

I'm stumped.