Sunday, Jul. 29, 2007

Villwock wins 4th straight Columbia Cup, 7th overall (expanded)

By Jody Moore, hydro.commentator

Dave Villwock showed the awesome potential of the U-16 Miss E-Lam Plus, powering past the field on the second lap to win his seventh Tri-Cities race, tying Chip Hanauer's mark for most wins on the Columbia River. It was also Villwock's fourth straight Columbia Cup/Atomic Cup victory, and his fourth straight of the year.

"It was the hardest final that we've been in,- Villwock said. "We just ended up lucky enough. We've got a tremendous crew that worked hard all weekend long to come up with a great combination for the final that would give us some big speed, and a good enough boat ride to use it.-

Jeff Bernard took the inside lane in the U-5 Formulaboats.com, but the boat just didn't seem to have the power of the rest of the field. Steve David took over the lead coming out of the first turn, with Jean Theoret on his inside hip in the U-37 Beacon Plumbing.

Villwock took over on as the field headed for the first turn of lap two, coming all the way out from lane four to make the pass. David gave chase, but ended up second as Villwock opened up a roostertail lead.

"It's what we've done the last three races is lead a bit in the final,- David said. "Ellstrom's got some good gearing and props and they passed us by. We'll keep working on it, and I believe by San Diego we'll have the right combination to not only lead for two and a half laps but lead for all five.-

Villwock's run from what is normally considered to be a less-favored lane. In the past, the strategy has been to try to run from the inside lane, which is typically a shorter line around the course. But Villwock has used the outer lanes to his advantage several times this year and in the past.

"I keep preaching that sometimes the inside lane ain't all it's cracked up to be,- Villwock said. "Boats have to get through the corner with speed, and I think you can see we would get into the corner with everybody, and get off with more speed, and then build that into higher speed.-

Villwock says the secret to his success isn't simple horsepower domination, but a combination of factors, from gearbox and propeller combinations to other variables.

"It takes a few components to get that top-end speed. It's not straightaway speed or horsepower or anything else, it's a combination of things to be able to build speed,- Villwock explained. "That's why it take us a lap or so to get going. It's like NASCAR at Talladega. If we would have missed on the set-up, we wouldn't have got there.-

Dave Bryant was third in the U-10 Hoss Mortgage Investors, while J. Michael Kelly surged from the trailer position to fourth place in the U-13 Spirit of Detroit. He was giving chase to Bryant on the last lap when the boat porpoised in the rough water of turn one, taking a big hop and forcing Kelly to let off the throttle and settle in.

Bernard fell back to fifth in the U-5 Formulaboats.com after nearly colliding with the U-37 Beacon Plumbing in the second lap. Bernard had to slow down, and the move drew a one-lap penalty for Beacon Plumbing driver Theoret.

"We got wet. I don't know how many boat lengths was there, but I was coming hard,- Bernard said. "When he came over he didn't have ten boat lengths. I backed off considerably to avoid crashing.-

Theoret was incensed by the penalty, and said that he had left enough room for Bernard, and that the penalty should rightfully be given to Steve David in the Oh Boy! Oberto for forcing him over from lane two to lane on in front of Bernard.

"If there was an encroachment call, it should be on Steve David,- said the usually affable Canadian driver. "Because I was about 50 feet behind him, and he just left me lane one. So I had no where to go.-

The penalty knocked Theoret back to seventh, behind Chris Bertram, who started as a trailer in the U-9 Conover Insurance and finished sixth.

The unlimited fleet heads to Seattle next week for SeaFair, a home-town race for many of the teams on the circuit. Theoret has two straight wins in Seattle in the Beacon Plumbing.

The season ends in San Diego in September.

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