Sunday, Jul. 29, 2007

Villwock 2 for 2 after heat 2A win

By Jody Moore, hydro.commentator

Dave Villwock is one step closer to tying Chip Hanauer's record of seven Columbia River victories after winning his second preliminary heat in 2007 Columbia Cup action. It was a much better start for Villwock and crew than 2006, when the flipped on the first lap of the first heat and had to make hasty repairs before coming back to win.

"Last year, I was in the ambulance down the street here," Villwock smiled. "This is better."

Villwock put his U-16 Miss E-Lam Plus on the inside lane at the start, and ran away from an early challenge by Jean Theoret in the U-37 Beacon Plumbing. Theoret looked like he might grab lane one, while Villwock appeared to be sitting in lane two. In the end, Theoret charged to the outside of Villwock for the start.

"I left it in lane like one and three quarters," Villwock said. "If he wanted to go in a real tight lane one, he could, and he chose to go outside."

Theoret finished second in the Beacon Plumbing, followed by Dave Williams in the U-48 Lakeridge Paving and Chris Bertram in the U-9 Conover Insurance.

"We're happy with what we did," said Theoret after the race. "We stuck with our game plan. We just want to accumulate points to get that Beacon Plumbing boat in the final.

Bertram earned a one-lap penalty for dislodging a buoy in the first turn on lap two. As he made his way through the apex, the boat jumped out of the water and hooked inward, pointing him toward the inside of the course. Bertram had to steer out to get back on track, but still hit the buoy.

"It came unhooked, and unfortunately I popped my first (buoy) in an unlimited. I guess everybody does it," Bertram said. "It doesn't make you happy, but we still got our points and finished the heat. But it's rough out there."

Heats 2B and 2C will wrap up the second flight, followed by heats 3A, 3B and 3C beginning at 12:50.

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