Sunday, Jul. 30, 2006

Hopp gets elusive trophy, precious points

By Jody Moore, Hydro.commentator

It's been a long time coming for Greg Hopp, but the last year may have been the longest. Hopp finally conquered the Columbia River, racing to a victory in the wind-swept Hapo Community Credit Union Thunder Cup. Hopp thought he had won the race last year, but the victory celebration was cut short when he was disqualified for violating the DMZ prior to the start. This year would be a different story, though.

"This is a big win for us, and we gained a little points on the points lead, and we won the race," Hopp said.

Hopp said weather played a factor in the race. Action was delayed by two flips in unlimited racing, and by high winds early in the day.

"It was rough. It was definitely windy, and choppy, and white-cappy," he said. "I radioed in on the warm up period and said it was rough out here, and dad said 'oh good,' because he knew it was going to be a barn-burner between us and the 72, and we were going to see speeds we hadn't seen all weekend."

Hopp – driving the same former Alamo boat that he had driven to the two previous national championships – hit the start perfectly from the inside lane and never looked back. Flaherty gave chase, but came up short in the UL-72 Miss Boat Electric/Powerboats NW.

The weekend's activities had an impact on the high points race. Flaherty had a lead of a little over 400 points coming into the event, but a DNF and a penalty took their toll. Hopp on the other hand was nearly perfect, and secured the points lead – for now.

"It's been a rough weekend, that's for sure," Flaherty said. "Second place, that's better than we expected. We lost a little (points) to (Hopp) but we're still right there. I don't know where the points are, but it's going to be close."

Bob Estes earned a well-deserved third place in the UL-33 Graham Trucking, followed by Paul Becker in the UL-14 Miss Critical Logic. Becker grabbed fourth after Al Carstensen went dead in the UL-6 BCS Racing. Wil Muncey was fifth in the UL-83 Power Punch. Muncey overtook Joe Turner in the UL-18 Pacific Rim Brewery on lap three for the position. Bill Strain was seventh in the UL-56 Miss Diagnosed, while Carstensen did not finish.

The Unlimited Lights will continue on to Seattle, Wash. next week for the Chevrolet Cup, along with the American Challenge Cup Series and the ABRA Unlimited Hydroplanes. Qualifying starts on Friday, August 4, with racing on Saturday thre 5th and Sunday the 6th.

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