Three H1 drivers with two Seattle wins each vie for HomeStreet Bank Cup victory

SEATTLE (July 31, 2019)- Seafair, an icon of summer in Seattle, celebrating their 70th year of hosting an unlimited hydroplane race on Lake Washington, are expecting several thousand race fans to the shores of Lake Washington for this weekend’s HomeStreet Bank Cup. Eight H1 Unlimited hydroplanes, the world’s fastest powerboats, take to the 2-mile racecourse beginning on Friday and continue through Sunday. Vintage hydroplanes will make exhibition runs throughout the weekend as well.

Defending national champion and 2018 defending HomeStreet Bank Cup champion Andrew Tate of Walled Lake, Mich., pursues his third win on Lake Washington. Tate also saw the victory stage after winning in 2016 aboard the U-9 “Les Schwab Tires.”

Tate, in the U-1 “Delta/RealTrac” dominated the circuit last season, but winning has escaped the team in 2019 and Tate would like nothing more than to win his third Seafair race.

Tate also will be chasing U-12 “Graham Trucking,” piloted by J. Michael Kelly of Bonney Lake, Wash., victor in last weekend’s race in Tri-Cities, Wash. Kelly, also with two wins at this event won in 2014 and 2015.

Kelly said, “We have been trying a lot of different set-ups including the gears, motors, and propeller combinations this year and we are making a lot of progress & have been learning a lot about what this boat likes and doesn’t like.”

He said although this is a shorter course than “what we won on last weekend, we have ran on two other courses this size this year, & we feel pretty confident.”

Kelly said, “I looking forward to being back racing on my home racecourse in front of family and friends and I would really like to win my third race in Seattle in front of them.”

Rob Graham, owner of the U-12 “Graham Trucking” will also field a second boat driven by 40-year-old rookie, Corey Peabody. That entry – the U-98 “Graham Trucking American Dream” – has a throwback paint scheme from one of Graham’s first sponsorship.

Someone who has dominated the first two races, Jimmy Shane from Maple Valley, Wash. and driver of the U-6 “Miss HomeStreet”, is coming off a perfect weekend last month at the Gold Cup trophy race in July — topping qualifying, winning all his preliminary heat races and the final, will try to get back on track after a streak-breaking third place finish last weekend.

In addition to the “Miss HomeStreet,” the Miss Madison Racing team will field a boat for long-time hydroplane sponsor, Oberto Specialty Meats. Jeff Bernard will drive the U-1918 “Oberto Super Salami” for the Oberto family who first sponsored a hydroplane in 1974 after a directing a TV telethon to save the race.

A driver that has yet to experience the consistently choppy backstretch in Seattle is U-7 “Boitano Homes” driver, Bert Henderson from Canada. The oldest driver in the field at age 47, is from Brockville, Ont., just north of Syracuse, NY. Prior to this year, Henderson had only raced H1 Unlimited hydroplanes on the Detroit River. Despite his inexperience at West coast races, he is currently in third place in national championship points, trailing the leader, Shane, by 1,845 points.

Former minor league professional baseball player, Jamie Nilsen, driver of the U-11 “J&D’s presents Reliable Diamond Tool” who replaced Tom Thompson as driver after the first two races has re-qualified as an H1 Unlimited hydroplane driver and his permit license restrictions have been lifted by H1 Unlimited hydroplane officials.

“Felt really good to be back racing on the water,” Nilsen said. “We feel the boat is really close to where it needs to be and I’ll be on no restrictions as a driver at Seafair.” Nilsen and his team would like nothing more to be the spoiler this weekend.

The U-99.9 “CARSTAR powered Miss Rock” driven by Brian Perkins hopes for a change of luck – after developing a new hydroplane for ten years, his new race boat that was christened last weekend, but on only the boat’s second run, it lost its custom escape hatch to the bottom of the Columbia River. After a scramble to find a replacement, the team found one on Mark Evans’ hydroplane boat in storage in Chelan, Wash.

Seattle’s romance with roostertails began on June 25, 1950, when Stan Sayres drove his “Slo-Mo-Shun IV” to a world straightaway record – 160.323 miles an hour – on Lake Washington. The event caught the city by surprise – few had ever heard of a hydroplane – but by the time the Gold Cup starting gun sounded a year later, “hydromania” had infected the populace.

After Sayres’ record, Ted Jones took the “Slo-Mo-Shun IV” to Detroit and won the Gold Cup – bringing the trophy and the hydroplane fleet to Seattle for 1951. Excited Seattleites even sponsored two races that first year.

The history of hydros here is a rich one, dotted with tragedy, bitter rivalry, fist-shaking arguments and lots of thrills — Seattle’s annual lakeside party.

HomeStreet Bank Cup Schedule:

Friday 8/2/19
9:00 – 10:00 am H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Testing
11:45 – 1:05 pm H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Qualifying

Saturday 8/3/19
9:00 – 9:30 am H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Testing
9:50 – H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Testing
2:25 – H1 Unlimited Hydroplane preliminary Heat Race 1A
2:40 – H1 Unlimited Hydroplane preliminary Heat Race 1B

Sunday 8/4/19
9:00 – 10:10 am H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Testing
11:50 – 12:05 pm H1 Unlimited Hydroplane preliminary Heat Race 2A
12:10 – 12:25 pm H1 Unlimited Hydroplane preliminary Heat Race 2B
2:20 – 2:35 pm H1 Unlimited Hydroplane preliminary Heat Race 3A
2:35– 2:50 pm H1 Unlimited Hydroplane preliminary Heat Race 3B
4:30 – 4:45 pm HomeStreet Bank Cup winner-take-all final
Awards Ceremony to follow

HomeStreet Bank Cup Line Up:

U-1 “Delta/RealTrac” | Andrew Tate (29), Walled Lake, Mich. | Home port: Enumclaw, Wash.

U-6 “Miss HomeStreet” | Jimmy Shane (33), Maple Valley, Wash. | Home port: Madison, Ind.

U-7 “Boitano Homes” | Bert Henderson (47), Brockville, Ont. | Detroit, Mich.

U-11 “J&D’s presents Reliable Diamond Tool” | Jamie Nilsen (34), Gig Harbor, Wash. | Home port: Edmonds, Wash.

U-12 “Graham Trucking” | J. Michael Kelly (40), Bonney Lake, Wash. | Home port: Milton, Wash.

U-99.9 “CARSTAR powered Miss Rock” | Brian Perkins (34), North Bend, Wash. | Home port: Covington, Wash.

U-98 “Graham Trucking American Dream” | Corey Peabody (40), Kent, Wash. |Home port: Milton, Wash.

U-1918 “Oberto Super Salami” | Jeff Bernard (34), Kent, Wash. | Home port: Madison, Ind.



H1 UNLIMITED HYDROPLANE RACING SERIES HIGH POINTS TOTALS
(Pre HomeStreet Bank Cup)

1) U-6 “Miss HomeStreet” 5,950 points
2) U-12 “Graham Trucking” 4,539 pts
3) U-7 “Boitano Homes” 3,805 pts
4) U-1 “Delta/RealTrac” 3,152 pts
5) U-98 “Graham Trucking American Dream” 2,711 pts
6) U-11 “J&D’s presents Reliable Diamond Tool” 2,190 pts
7) U-440 “Bucket List Racing” 2,020 pts
8) U-1918 “Oberto Super Salami” 1,313 pts
9) U-99.9 “CARSTARS powers Miss Rock KISW” 958 pts
10) U-3 “Griggs presents Miss Ace Hardware” 630 pts

http://www.h1unlimited.com/2019/07/t...k-cup-victory/

There’s a new Miss Rock unlimited hydroplane at Seafair and it’s just as wacky as the old one

After building the boat for 10 years, the U-99.9 Go Fast Turn Left Racing team just wanted to get its unlimited hydroplane on the water.

The problem was there was this big hole on the bottom of the boat.

The boat, which will run at Seafair this weekend as the U.99.9 CARSTAR powered Miss Rock KISW, has been a longtime project for Greg and Brian O’Farrell. The team was understandably excited to race it at the Columbia Cup in the Tri-Cities, but during testing Friday the escape hatch opened and was torn off by the water.

Boat racing is a family, and normally teams help out when a part is missing or broken. But the new boat had a hatch different from the boats around it. Divers even emerged empty-handed when searching the bottom of the Columbia River.

“There was nobody to beg, borrow or steal one from,” Greg O’Farrell said.

That turned out to not quite be true. Veteran boat racer Mark Evans had the old boat from the Ellstrom team, which ran last as the 96 Spirit of Qatar, sitting in his shop on Lake Chelan His brother Mitch Evans was at the race and got in touch with his brother, who had an employee drive it to Kennewick.

Driver Brian Perkins did the remaining grinding and fiberglass work to get the replacement hatch on the boat — 15 minutes before Heat 1A.

And so the boat hit the water and acted as a boat typically does when it’s right out of the box.

“It was a handful at first,” Perkins said. “It didn’t want to do what we wanted it to do at first.”

The weekend turned out OK as the boat qualified for the final and took sixth.

This weekend the Maple Valley-based team takes over the Miss Rock sponsorship after running as the Albert Lee for a decade. The boat that ran as the Miss Rock last year was sold to the Graham Trucking team after owner Stacey Briseno died en route to the San Diego race in 2018.

The O’Farrells started building the boat when the unlimited hydroplane circuit raced in Doha, Qatar, with the thought that maybe the boat could stay in the Middle East. That race went defunct in 2014 and work on the boat slowed.
It’s had several notable names to help build it: former Miss Budweiser crewman Dale Van Wieringen, veteran boat builder Ron Jones Jr. and Miss HomeStreet crew chief Mike Hanson.

The team has the old boat, the U-21, as a solid backup, but O’Farrell said he’d like to sell it, so another team will get involved in the sport. Just as the O’Farrells did 11 years ago when they bought two boats from Fred Leeland.

Greg O’Farrell will tell you his first boat was the one he drug behind his bike, as did so many kids in Seattle growing up.
Perkins, who works for his family business Perkins Glass, grew up watching as well, but never thought he’d have the opportunity until his family bought a smaller class of hydroplane.

He got his first shot at the unlimiteds with a San Diego team, Freedom Racing, in 2007 and did three races. When the O’Farrell brothers bought the boat before the 2010 season, he went along for the ride.

And perhaps with a new boat, the smaller team will get a shot at competing with some of the better-funded boats.

“I think it could be very, very fast,” Perkins said.

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/...y-for-seafair/

We will get there’: U-11 Unlimited Racing Group slowly climbing unlimited hydroplane ladder

As most of the people around the Stan Sayres pits, watching or working during qualifying for Seafair’s HomeStreet Bank Cup, Scott and Shannon Raney grew up with unlimited hydroplanes.

The Raneys, who own the U-11 J&D’s presented by Reliable Diamond Tool, have made sure their kids have grown up with it as well.

“This is our summers. This is our winters,” said Shannon Raney, who manages the Edmonds-based Unlimited Racing Group team. “We do this all year along. And it’s just ingrained into our family.”

Scott Raney is the crew chief for the team, which qualified fifth Friday on Lake Washington at 147.266 mph. Two of their kids work for H1 Unlimited. A third does social media for the team.

And that extends to the crew, many of which have been with Scott, as he worked on other crews, for decades.

Scott and Shannon grew up watching Seafair. Shannon’s great grandmother even got a ride in the Slo-Mo-Shun IV with Stan Stayres, who was her neighbor. That boat famously won the Gold Cup in 1950, which is how Seafair started in 1951.

Scott did a bit of driving, but he decided to focus more on the crew side of the sport, something he’s done for 30 years. They turned into a family job. Scott would work as a crew chief, and Shannon would handle the front-office work.

In 2011, they decided it was time for their own team, and bought equipment from the retiring Ken Muscatel.

“We literally started at the bottom of the barrel, and we just keep fighting and clawing our way to get to the top,” Scott said. “It’s not been easy.”

The team has been working its way up the qualifying ladder, adding speed over the years to become more competitive. The team was the No. 4 qualifier in Tri-Cities. And the 147 mark Friday was 7 mph better than what the team qualified in Seattle in 2013.

“I’ve watched them over the last three years continually raise the bar,” said Andrew Tate, the defending national champion and driver of the U-1 Delta/RealTrac. “Scott and Shannon Raney work extremely hard at it.”

Before Tri-Cities, the team made a change at driver, bringing in Jamie Nilsen, who had a brief run in the unlimited five years ago.

Nilsen, 34, has been winning championships in the Grand Prix class, and pulled double duty in the Tri-Cities and will do the same in San Diego next month. Nilsen was a standout baseball player at Central Washington University and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 2008.

“It’s a real team sport,” Nilsen said. “I love competing as a team and being part of a team. In a way it’s filled that void for me.”

Speaking of voids, the Raneys are still looking for their first win as owners.

“There’s a lot of speed in that boat,” Nilsen said. “As I get more and more comfortable, I’ll get the boat going faster just on my own.”

The Raneys are proud of saying there’s no offseason for the team, putting in hours and hours in the winter in order to improve.

“We’re going to get there,” Scott said. “We will get there.”

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/...oplane-ladder/

Kelly & Shane top Saturday heats at Seafair

SEATTLE (Aug. 3, 2019)–J. Michael Kelly from Bonney Lake, Wash., driver of the U-12 “Graham Trucking presents Beacon Plumbing” and Jimmy Shane of Maple Valley, Wash., both seemed to thrust their H1 Unlimited hydroplanes to easy victories in today’s preliminary heat races at the HomeStreet Bank Cup on Lake Washington.

In Heat 1A, Kelly went deck-to-deck at the start of the three lap with last year’s race winner, Andrew Tate, from Walled Lake, Mich., driving the National Champion U-1 “Delta/RealTrac” race boat, followed by Jamie Nielsen in the U-11 “J&D’s presented by Reliable Diamond Tool” and Bert Henderson, in the U-7 “Boitano Homes.”

On the second lap, Tate hit some rough water in the backstretch in turn two and was forced to slow. Kelly capitalized and pulled away from the second place Tate. By the third and final lap, the race had spaced out by several roostertails and it became a parade. First place went to Kelly in the U-12 “Graham Trucking presents Beacon Plumbing”, second, went to Andrew Tate driving the U-1 “Delta/RealTrac,” third went to Nilsen in the U-11 “J&D’s presented by Reliable Diamond Tool” and fourth was Henderson in the U-7 “Boitano Homes.” Henderson was assessed a one-minute penalty for going below 80 mph prior to the start.

Afterwards, Kelly said, “This is exactly how we want to start the race weekend off.” He added that, “conditions were not ideal but my crew gave me a boat that can go out and run in the rough waters.” Kelly, who won last weekend’s HAPO Columbia Cup race is optimistic about tomorrow’s racing. “I’m pleased with the performance of my race boat and I am excited for Sunday’s racing.”

In the second preliminary Heat 1B of the day, Jeff Bernard in the U-1918 “Oberto Super Salami” and Corey Peabody in the U-98 “Graham Trucking American Dream” were each penalized one minute for jumping the start. Friday’s top qualifier Shane jumped out front early in the race by half of roostertail ahead of Bernard. Peabody and Brian Perkins in the U-99.9 “CARSTAR powered Miss Rock” fell back several roostertails from the two leaders. The race boats nearly duplicated their positions on the second lap and on the third and final lap Perkins pulled ahead of Peabody for third. Although the order across the finish line was Shane, Bernard, Perkins and Peabody, Bernard and Peabody received one-minute penalties, dropping them to third and fourth respectively. Shane scored the victory and Perkins was second after the one-minute penalties were added to Bernard and Peabody’s time.

“Course conditions were definitely not ideal but the race boat flew over the top of the water and we are in great shape going into Seafair Sunday.” Shane said.

He was a little concerned at the start, saying, “I knew a couple boats were going to be close on jumping the gun, but I maintained my timing marks and plan. It worked out great. I didn’t hear until the second lap that the two boats had jumped but by that point we had complete control of the race course.”

http://www.h1unlimited.com/2019/08/k...ts-at-seafair/

Kelly awarded HomeStreet Bank Cup after Shane is penalized

SEATTLE (Aug. 4, 2019)— In one of the most confusing Seafair races in recent memory, fans were surprised that the celebrated win by Jimmy Shane of Maple Valley, Washington was stripped after the race.

The race was awarded to J. Michael Kelly of Bonney Lake, Wash., driver of the U-12 “Graham Trucking” after officials determined after the race that Shane had violated the minimum 80 mph rule several times in the pre-race milling period.

After reviewing on-board video, H1 Unlimited hydroplane officials said that Shane had indeed gone below the minimum speed twice and added a one-minute penalty after the race.

Officials also reviewed on board video from Kelly’s race boat and determined that the penalty called during the race on Kelly for going under 80 mph was incorrect and his one minute penalty was rescinded.

This is the third consecutive year Seafair has been decided by penalty.

The official order of finish for the HomeStreet Bank Cup at Seafair is:

1) U-12 “Graham Trucking”, J. Michael Kelly, 136.294 mph

2) U-1 “Delta/RealTrac”, Andrew Tate, 132.161 mph

3) U-11 “J&D’s presents Reliable Diamond Tool”, Jamie Nilsen, 128.026 mph

4) U-1918 “Oberto Super Salami”, Jeff Bernard, 123.902 mph

5) U-6 “Miss Home Street”, Jimmy Shane, 111.254 mph

6) U-98 “Graham Trucking American Dream”, Corey Peabody, 110.162 mph

7) U-99.9 “CARSTAR powered Miss Rock”, Brian Perkins, 101.290 mph

http://www.h1unlimited.com/2019/08/k...-is-penalized/

J. Michael Kelly wins Seafair as Shane is penalized; Edmonds boat 3rd

J. Michael Kelly was determined the winner of Sunday’s HomeStreet Bank Cup after a penalty of his Graham Trucking hydroplane was reversed and an hour after the trophies had been awarded.

As fans left the Lake Washington race course, they were all under the impression that Jimmy Shane had won in his Miss HomeStreet. They were told that a penalty had been called on Kelly, whose boat had been dropped to sixth place. Kelly filed a protest that he hadn’t driven under the 80 mph limit. That penalty was removed, and Kelly was put back to second place. However, during the review the officials noticed that Shane had violated the rule and he was now given the penalty, moving him to sixth and Kelly to first.

Despite all the confusion, it was an excellent day for racing, with sunny skies and temperature in the mid 80s. The racing was also quite interesting, except for the penalties. No matter which of the two leaders got a penalty, second place went to Andrew Tate with the Delta RealTrac. Edmonds-based J&D’s presented by Reliable Diamond Tool finished a season-best third followed by Jeff Bernard on the Oberto. Fifth was Corey Peabody in the Graham Trucking II, followed by the penalized Shane and Brian Perkins in the Miss Rock, who was also penalized.

Kelly almost didn’t make the final as the engine cowling of his hydroplane flew off and got lodged in his horizontal wing during the last of the preliminary heats. The cowling was damaged beyond repair and the only option appeared to be to go to their shop in Milton to bring back a spare. That seemed an impossible task, given the hour time fame they had. A miracle cure then came. The Boitano Homes, which was done for the day, had been a near identical sister ship to the Graham when it was first run as Miss Budweiser hydroplane 15 years ago. Boitano would lend the Graham its cowling for the final. All needed to do so was to re-work the latches. The Graham Trucking ran the final with the Boitano Homes engine cowling. A win-win for the two teams.

Our Edmonds hydroplane, owned by Scott and Shannon Raney with new driver Jamie Nilsen, had an excellent day. It won its first heat of the day and was second in the next. That was followed by an excellent run in the final. Looks like crew chief Scott Raney has solved the fuel system issues and Nilsen is getting more comfortable in the boat.

In the kids J-Stock hydros, Eric Peterson driving the boat aided by the J&D’s crew, won the race. As we reported earlier, J-Stock hydros are designed as beginner boats for young people ages 9-16 to learn boat racing skills. In Seattle, most of these small boats have been adopted by the unlimited teams and are paired up in the same paint and color schemes.

https://myedmondsnews.com/2019/08/mi...onds-boat-3rd/