San Diego Bayfair 2013 , Unlimiteds Information and Photos

[Ratickle]

Some Sunday shots. First Heat of the day.


Steve getting just a bit loose in position jockeying.




Steve and Jimmy trying their best to get that coveted inside lane.

[phragle]

Not this trip. Terri is still not feeling very good at all. She made less than half the races, and then we only spent a half day at the zoo. The two restaurants at Paradise Point were pretty good though.

My family came out to Cali to watch me do a 24 hour race years ago.... the next day they wanted to go to the zoo.... Imagine what it was like doing that zoo after a 24 hour atv endurance run in the desert.. My sister was literally pushing me up the hills...

[Ratickle]

Laughing my azz off. I'm surprised you could even stand up to be pushed. After a 400 miler in the desert on my old Husky I would hope I wouldn't crash cause I knew I wouldn't be able to pick the bike back up.....

[Ratickle]

[Ratickle]

[Serious News]

Some comments from Steve before the races in San Diego.

“It’s time,” David said of his decision to retire. “This is the right time to go. I’ve told myself for the past five or six years to go when I saw it was time.

“To me, it’s fitting that the run is ending here on the course named for Muncey. I always respected the man and what he did for our sport.”

Since the death of Muncey and the retirement of Chip Hanauer, David has been the sport’s leading ambassador. The now retired Dave Villwock might have won more races (a record 67) and titles than David, but the reigning champion won more friends.

The retirements of David and Villwock in less than a year will leave a huge void in a struggling sport that has been losing ground to other forms of motorsports for the past five decades.

“I don’t know what the future holds for Unlimited Hydroplanes,” said David earlier this week. “The fans that see us, love us. Thirty-foot boats traveling at 200 miles an hour is quite a spectacle. But we’re no longer on television and we lack the backing we once had.

San Diego last hydro stop for Steve David | UTSanDiego.com Mobile

[Serious News]

Penalty by David gives Shane win, H1 championship
Graham Trucking's Shane erases 163-point deficit to win title by 68 over Oberto/Miss Madison's David in his final race before retirement

David Campbell
Courier Sportswriter

Steve David's hopes for a storybook career ending were ruined by penalty and Jimmy Shane completed a remarkable comeback to win on Mission Bay and claim the 2013 H1 Unlimited National High Points championship Sunday in San Diego.

David, who announced his retirement on Thursday, was attempting to go out on top, with not only a victory in San Diego but his seventh driver's title and fifth team championship for Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison Racing.

But those hopes were dashed when he crossed the starting line too early in the final. Despite leading the championship heat all five laps, David was forced to settle for fourth place.

Shane, who trailed David by 663 points just two races ago, took the checkered flag aboard the Graham Trucking and also claimed his first driver's title and the second for owner Ted Porter. Shane's 68-point margin over David was the fourth-closest in history.

"This has just been an incredible experience driving for this team. I always know I can drive the boat as hard as I need to because they are going to have everything working right," Shane said. "(I have) the best owner and sponsor a driver could have. Get used to seeing me (in San Diego). This is the best place in the world for a boat race and I will be coming back every year for a long time."

Shane's chances appeared to be dwindling after he lost a Heat 2A dual with David that left him 163 points back. Both David and Shane won their other two preliminary heats.

Heading into the final heat, David had the luxury of conceding the race win to Shane and still taking the High Points title but decided instead to go for everything.

Shane camped in lane one before the start but David flew around the field from the outside to steal the inside lane, appearing to cut off Shane in the process and forcing Shane to drive through the Oberto's roostertail and momentarily take flight before coming back down.

While no call was issued on that move, David's early start did not escape penalty. According to a still grab of the race video released by H1 Unlimited, the Oh Boy! Oberto was half a boat over the start line while Shane's Graham Trucking was right on the line.

"We were a 30th of a second over. That's three feet," David said. "I was obviously going for it all, Jimmy and I both were, and it cost us the national championship. We were such a faster boat in the water than everybody. All day long, (the crew) had the boat set up perfectly. We won the heats convincingly and nailed every start down there (at the one minute buoy) which had been our nemesis."

The penalty moved David to the back of the field but thanks to Mike Webster's ride going dead in the water and a flagrant fuel violation on Kip Brown, David moved up to fourth.

But with Shane awarded the race win, David needed to finish no lower than second in order to clinch the season title. Fourth was just too far away.

Shane's 68-point margin in the fourth-closest in Unlimited hydroplane history. Don Wilson won by a mere six points aboard the Miss U.S. I in 1958. Jim Kropfeld won by 31 points in 1986 aboard the Miss Budweiser and Chip Hanauer won by 46 points in 1994, also while driving the Bud.

Shane is the first driver not named Steve David or Dave Villwock to win the driver's championship since 1997. Mark Tate earned the title that season in the Close Call. It was also Shane's sixth victory in the past 11 races.

A field of nine boats made the trek to San Diego for the season finale but only six were still in working condition by the time the final was run.

Mark Evans' FEDCO entry broke a propeller during qualifying on Friday and the Leland Unlimited of driver Dave Warren caught fire during a trailer engine test Saturday evening and was forced to withdraw.

The Miss Beacon Plumbing suffered damage to the boat's transom during a preliminary heat and also withdrew.

With the season now finished, all eyes turn toward the search for David's successor with the Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison team. The field of applicants could range from current standouts Shane and Kelly to current Oberto crew member Scott Liddycoat and former Gold Cup champion Jean Theoret.

David is confident that whomever is named as successor, he or she will be set up to win.

"This boat is leaving here the fastest on the circuit and whoever gets that seat will have a lot of wins ahead of them," David said. "I've just been so proud to have had it for 13 years."