GP-99 along with GPW headed to San Diego 2010
Unlimited Hydroplanes Returning To San Diego Bayfair
Air Guard Championship Presented by Degree Men Set For San Diego
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA (August 31, 2010) – H1 Unlimited Hydroplanes will return to San Diego’s Bayfair on Mission Bay September 17 – 19 for the Air Guard Championship presented by Degree Men.
In announcing the agreement which led to the return of the world’s fastest race boats to Bayfair after a one year absence, H1 Chairman Sam Cole said, “This is a fantastic moment for our sport. To be able to announce that we are racing in San Diego with the Air National Guard as the race sponsor and Degree Men as the presenting sponsor is awesome.”
Cole continued, “We are honored and excited to be able to showcase our sport with these nationally known motorsports sponsors. We will be following the NASCAR Air Guard 400 on September 11 with the Air Guard Championship presented by Degree, what a weekend it will be on Mission Bay!”
“The Air National Guard is proud to partner the H1 Unlimited series at the San Diego Bayfair as we look to increase overall awareness of the Air Guard. We invite people to consider joining their local unit as a way for them to give back to the community and serve their country, and this event will help us do just that,” stated Capt Rondal Perry, Division Chief of ANG Marketing and Advertising.
“We’re thrilled to have H1 Unlimited returning to San Diego,” added Jeff Thomas, chairman of San Diego Bayfair’s Board of Directors. “We feel there is no better place than Mission Bay to admire the beauty and the speed of the hydroplanes. Racing fans are in for an action-packed three-day event.”
Former CEO and President of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Scott Carson and his wife Linda are also supporting the event financially in honor of American military serving in Afghanistan. The Carsons have a son-in-law currently serving there.
Degree Men will also be involved as title sponsor of one of the race teams appearing at the event, which will be featured in an aggressive marketing and advertising campaign in Southern California.
A very fast twelve boat field is expected to be on Mission Bay for the three day event where they will reach speeds in excess of 200 mph. Steve David, defending series high point champion and three time winner in 2010 driving the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto, will be looking to build on his 506 point lead over chief rival and 2010 Gold Cup Champion Dave Villwock in the U-96 Spirit of Qatar as the two veterans battle for the season high point title.
2008 Bayfair winner Jeff Bernard will return in the U-5 Formulaboats.com, currently in fifth place on the high points ladder. Bernard’s team mate J Michael Kelly, winner of the final event of 2009 is in second place driving the U-7 Graham Trucking with Brian Perkins in the U-21 Miss Albert Lee Appliance in third.
The automotive powered hydroplanes of the Grand Prix West series will also compete at Bayfair. The GPW boats were the featured class at Bayfair in 2009.
The Air Guard Championship presented by Degree Men will be the fifth race on the H1 Unlimited 2010 circuit. Immediately following the event, the top ten boats in the fleet will be shipped to Doha, Qatar for the second running of the Oryx Cup UIM World Championship on Doha Bay November 19-21, which will conclude the season.
The Air Guard Championship presented by Degree Men will be seen on the Versus Network on Saturday, October 16 and will be streamed live on the internet by Tampa Digital Studios.
GPW heading to Pateros
Grand Prix West boats race on Moses Lake earlier this summer. The GPW – which has hydroplane, flatbottom, and Grand Prix Hydros classes – will race this week on the Columbia River in Pateros. The series will also come to Lake Chelan in September.
PATEROS – The small town of Pateros will be host to some big-time boat racing this weekend.
The Grand Prix West Hydroplane Association will take to the Columbia River in Pateros for the Terry Troxel Memorial Regatta on Saturday and Sunday.
The GPW will have a field of inboard hydroplane and flatbottom classes in addition to the Grand Prix Hydros as the headliners.
Grand Prix West operates similar to the IROC auto races, in that it is “intended to promote a homogeneous class of hydroplane racing where technology, hulls, engine packages, and drivers are comparable enough to provide close, exciting competition not only at each race but within each heat with no one team considered the ‘one to beat,’” according to its vision statement on www.gpwracing.com.
The series, which has raced in Moses Lake, Issaquah, Olympia, and Evansville, Ind., this season, also will come to Lake Chelan on Sept. 25-26.
Grand Prix Boats A Black Lake Hit
Black Lake has long had a reputation of being one of the best places in the world to race hydroplanes, with its glassy surface and calm waters.
Dustin Echols proved it’s also one of the fastest.
Echols, driving Shockwave Racing’s GP-17 Miss Ted’s Red Apple Market, set a world record in heat one of the Grand Prix class Saturday at the 2010 Skookum Creek Tobacco & Kiamichi Trading Post Western Divisional Black Lake Regatta by roaring to a top speed of 116.189 miles per hour.
Unfortunately for Echols and Shockwave Racing owners Rick and Shawn Bridgeman of Olympia, the team was unable to duplicate the feat Sunday during the 37th Annual Black Lake Regatta after the Miss Ted’s Red Apple Market struck debris that tore about a two-foot hole in its sponson during heat one.
“It was just a tough break,” said Rick Bridgeman, who has co-owned hydroplanes with wife Shawn since 1990 and also serves as crew chief. “It was hard not being able to race today, but it felt great getting that world record on Saturday. Plus it’s been about 10 years since I’ve raced on Black Lake so it was nice to be able to set the world record in our hometown.”
The Larry Garcia-owned RCL Motorsports, driven by Scott Pierce, captured heat one on Sunday, while the Jerry Hopp’s GP-15 Graham Trucking GT took the second heat.
“Neither broke our time,” Rick Bridgeman said. “So we’re happy about that.”
The American Power Boat Association’s inboard hydroplane class known as the Grand Prix West was a new addition to this year’s 11/4-mile course regatta and unquestionably the most popular and certainly the loudest division. It featured supercharged block engines producing 1,500 horsepower that resonated with the distinctive sound of methanol-injected thunder that could be heard for miles around.
Fans packed the bleachers adjacent to pit row during the two days of the event – a common sight regatta organizers are hoping will grow with the addition of Grand Prix hydroplanes in years to come.
“This entire weekend, when the Grand Prixs start up everyone runs to the beach,” said Shawn Bridgeman. “It’s like someone opened the cattle gate.”
This year marks the inaugural season for Grand Prix West. The Black Lake Regatta was the third of a scheduled 10-race season.
“It was something that was needed,” Shawn Bridgeman said about Grand Prix racing in the Pacific Northwest. “It was just a positive thing all the way around. Every person in the organization believed in this. It’s very exciting. The fans are definitely going to love it.”
Grand Prix was one of several classes competing on Black Lake.
Charlie Marquard of Puyallup’s Tribal Thunder Racing won the super stock 50 Western Divisionals.
“(Black Lake) is one of the best courses in the country,” said Marquard, a 21-year veteran of the sport. “Today we had a little rougher conditions than we normally have here, but it still was a great day. Fans love to come here. It’s one of the fastest courses around.”
Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/07/12/1301791/grand-prix-boats-a-black-lake.html#ixzz0th2sUjhP