Veterans win Saturday Unlimited Hydroplane Heat Race in Seattle - NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA |

by Paul Dughi

Seattle, WASH - The heat draw are done by blind draw - balls drawn out of a hat.  Still, it is interesting that the U-96 Spirit of Qatar and the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto have yet to match up in the same heat all season long.  The oddity continued Saturday at Seafair as the two fastest Unlimited Hydroplanes were assigned to separate heats again.

In the first day of heat racing, it was the two veterans grabbing 400 points and first place finishes.

Heat 1A

Brian Perkins in the U-21 hit the start line first, but Dave Villwock in lane three went into the turn first and came out with about a roostertail lead by the time he hit the start-finish line at the end of lap one.

Once Villwock has the U-92 Spirit of Qatar up and running in front, it's just about over unless something unusual happens.  And that was the story here.  The race for second place was a good one.  Perkins stayed in stayed into the final lap, but Kip Brown in the U-17 Red Dot reeled in Brian in the final turn and ran to a second place finish.

"I just wanted to get a clean start and a good start," Heat 1A winner Dave Villwock said on KIRO-TV.

While Perkins finished third, after review H1 Unlimited official's disqualified the U-21's run and awarded no points in the heat to the team.

Heat 1A Results

1. U-96 Spirit of Qatar - Dave Villwock
2. U-17 Miss Red Dot - Kip Brown
3. U-7 Valken.com - Scott Liddycoat
4. U-57 Formulaboats.com - Mark Evans
5. U-25 Miss PROCRAFT - Ken Muscatel
   
   DNS. U-11 Stevenson Roofing presents Peters & May - JW Myers
   DSQ. U-21 Albert Lee Appliance - Brian Perkins*

Heat 1B

DIfferent heat, same story.  The veteran was in lane three and took the race.  Jeff Bernard hit the start line first in the U-5 in lane one.  Veteran Steve David was in lane three and grabbed the lead on the back stretch and never looked back.

Greg Hopp's boat died on lap three.  Mike Webster's been running stronger this year with a different boat.  He bought last year's backup boat for the U-1 and he managed to just nip Jon Zimmerman in the U-9 at the finish line.

Kelly hit the score-up buoy too early and had to loop back around to get legal.  By the time he did, he was too late to the start line and had to settle for a 5th place finish.  Hopp was able to restart and finish, but the boat limped all the way around, running at maybe 50-60 mph.

"I think we need three more of those this weekend," Heat 1B winner Steve David said on KIRO-TV.

Heat 1B Results

1. U-1 Oh Boy Oberto/Miss Madison - Steve David
2. U-5 Graham Trucking - Jeff Bernard
3. U-22 Great Scott Presents Campaign WSU - Mike Webster
4. U-9 Miss Visit Tri-Cities.com - Jon Zimmerman
5. 88 Degree Men - J. Michael Kelly
   
   DNF.  U-100 Beacon Plumbing - Greg Hopp

FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS