Spirit of Detroit Hydrofest, APBA Gold Cup, Photos and Info

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The Gold Cup race in Detroit kicked off today with practice and qualifying. Not only are there the Unlimited Hydros competing for the Gold Cup, there are also Vintage Unlimiteds, Formula 2's, and the Grand Prix class hydros.

The Unlimited pits:


The Grand Prix pits:

 

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Second fastest qualifier.

 

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Fastest qualifier at a lap speed of 160.822 MPH. Jimmy Shane in the old Oberta boat:

 

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Nice view from the room at the Renaissance Center.

 

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Shane out-duels Kelly, Bernard to run Detroit win streak to 11 straight
David Campbell, Courier Sportswriter

Heat 2B is now scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Sunday morning with the third set of heats slated for 12:50 p.m. The Gold Cup Final Heat is set for 4:30 p.m.

DETROIT, Mich. — Rain washed out Saturday’s final preliminary heat but not before Jimmy Shane rolled to a pair of wins on the first day of racing at the UAW/GM APBA Gold Cup in Detroit.

Shane steered his bright blue U-1 Miss HomeStreet Bank/Miss Madison to an exciting deck-to-deck win over J. Michael Kelly and the U-5 Graham Trucking in Heat 1A and then cruised to a much easier win over Kelly’s teammate, Jeff Bernard and the U-5 Graham Trucking II, in Heat 2A, a race contested under threatening skies.

In fact, before Shane had even secured his win in Heat 2A, H1 Unlimited officials called off Heat 2B as severe weather and heavy rain moved into the Detroit area. Heat 2B will now be run on Sunday with the remainder of the H1 Unlimited APBA Gold Cup program to follow.

Shane’s victory over Kelly in Saturday’s first heat was one of the more exciting races the sport has seen this year. Stuck in lane four at the start with Kelly in lane one, Shane swung wide coming out of turn one at the start and used that momentum to slingshot past two boats to his inside and keep pace with Kelly.

Shane and Kelly then waged a four-lap duel for the lead with Shane finally taking over the lead late in lap three and then pulling away for a one boat-length win with an average heat speed of 152.851 mph to Kelly’s 152.249.

“We kind of got boxed out there at the start; the other two boats got up there early I thought so I wanted to stay conservative and not get any penalties for going under 80 mph,” said Shane, who has now won 11-straight heats at Detroit and 16-of-21 on the Detroit River in his career. “We had to start out in lane four and the only way I could do that was get a good flying start. They were running really well and I think we beat them all down there. That’s really what kept us in the race. Mike’s running really well on the inside so we really had to pull him and run it hard.”

Shane’s second win was nearly as close but neither he nor Bernard appeared to push their crafts very hard with severe weather moving in to the often difficult Detroit River. Like Kelly, Bernard had lane one but Shane pulled ahead from the outside on the second lap and never trailed again.

Shane’s duels with Kelly and Bernard were sandwiched around a low drama win by rookie Andrew Tate in Heat 1B. Tate pulled away at the start and never looked back, cruising to an easy win in the U-9 Delta RealTrac Performance over Brian Perkins and the U-21 Al Deeby and Bernard in the Graham Trucking II.

Heat 2B is now scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Sunday morning with the third set of heats slated for 12:50 p.m. The Gold Cup Final Heat is set for 4:30 p.m.

http://www.madisoncourier.com/Conte...etroit-win-streak-to-11-straight/18/289/98892

 

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As the storms rolled in, the last heat run was definitely getting dark. But there was just enough sun left to highlight the roostertails.

 

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Races on Sunday will be live-streamed at h1unlimited.com

 

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Kelly, Graham Trucking claim APBA Gold Cup

For J. Michael Kelly, Sunday's UAW-GM Spirit of Detroit Hydrofest APBA Gold Cup was his third successive day of battling from behind.

The Bonney Lake driver had been racing hard while watching the two-time Gold Cup champion, Covington's Jimmy Shane, lead the fleet in qualifying on Friday, watching the young local rookie favorite Andrew Tate win three heats on Saturday (one unlimited and two Grand Prix).

Early on Sunday, he bounced through Tate's roostertail plume after hitting a boat's wake, breaking off parts of his stabilizing wing in the third set of preliminary heats.

Then with an unruffled calm, Kelly and his U-5 Graham Trucking team put together a game plan that no one could beat. Kelly worked to take the inside lane during the milling on the flying start then never let Shane in the U-1 Miss HomeStreet Bank get close as he went on to win the winner-take-all championship final for his first Gold Cup in the 100th anniversary of boat racing on the Detroit River.

"I couldn't be happier for my team by winning this race," said an emotional Kelly. "My team told me don't worry don't worry about anything that happened this weekend and Tom Anderson (the Graham Trucking crew chief) told me he was going to give me a boat that could win the Gold Cup."

What looked like it was going to be a three-boat battle on the 2.7-mile course turned out to be Kelly-Shane rematch when Tate received a one-lap penalty for dislodging a course buoy prior to the start in his U-9 Delta Realtrac.

With Kelly in lane one and Shane in lane two, Shane had a slight edge when he first crossed the starting line. Kelly's Graham Trucking hydroplane quickly grabbed the lead going into the Belle Ilse first turn.

The only hiccup came on lap two when Kelly's boat bounced through the roostertail turn with Shane on his heels. Shane also had to go wide, and Kelly seemed to gain momentum. The result was an even bigger lead; one Shane could not reel in.

Jeff Bernard in the U-7 Graham Trucking II made it an even bigger day for owner Ted Porter. He took third place giving Porter Racing two podium finishes. Brian Perkins in the U-21 Miss Al Deeby was close behind in fourth with Tom Thompson in the U-11 Peters & May taking fifth.

The H1 Unlimited Hydroplanes head to San Diego on Sept. 16-18 for the final race of the season.

UAW-GM SPIRIT OF DETROIT HYDROFEST APBA GOLD CUP

1, U-5 J. Michael Kelly, Graham Trucking, 150.157 mph

2, U-1 Jimmy Shane, Miss HomeStreet Bank, 146.103

3, U-7 Jeff Bernard, Graham Trucking II, 141.320

4, U-21 Brian Perkins, Miss Al Deeby, 137.379

5, U-11 Tom Thompson, Peters & May, 131.041

6, U-9 Andrew Tate, Delta Realtrac, no speed given