Kelly takes heat 2B, leading the entire way

J. Michael Kelly led from start to finish to win Heat 2B in the U-5 Graham Trucking.

Kelly settled into lane 1 early and held it the entire way.

His biggest competition, Andrew Tate in the U-9 Gale-Rew Construction presents Les Schwab Tire, might have lost a propeller in the first turn of the first lap and he shut down his boat.

Brian Perkins drove the U-21 Darrell Strong presents PayneWest Insurance to second place, while Kevin Eacret drove the U-99.9 CarStar powered Miss Rock to third place.

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Jimmy Shane drove the U-1 Miss HomeStreet Bank to a victory in Heat 2A as he out-dueled Jean Theoret in the U-16 Oh Boy! Oberto.

The two boats were dead even going into the final lap.

But coming out of Turn 2, with Shane on the inside, Theoret hit some rough water and lost some speed. That allowed Shane to win the heat.

Theoret took second.

Jimmy King in the U-3 Griggs presents Miss Ace Hardware finished third, while Tom Thompson in the GBR-11 Peters & May was fourth.

Jeff Bernard in the U-7 Graham Trucking was disqualified for going under the 80 mph speed minimum twice in the pre-race setup.

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Jimmy Shane in the U-1 Miss Homestreet unlimited hydroplane won heat 1B during Saturday's racing action at the 51st annual Columbia Cup.

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Jean Theoret in the U-16 Oh Boy! Oberto takes the lead from J. Michael Kelly in the U-5 Graham Trucking in the back stretch of the Columbia Cup unlimited hydroplane race on the way to victory Saturday in heat 1A.

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With 30 miles per hour wind gusts expected Saturday afternoon on the Columbia River, officials modified the HAPO Columbia Cup race schedule to get the H1 Unlimited boats racing earlier and get boats off the water as quickly as possible.

The biggest change to the schedule was moving the SM El Pueblo Market H1 unlimited hydroplane heats 2A and 2B up 80 minutes, to 3 p.m. and 3 :20 p.m. start times. The first two unlimited heats of the weekend, the Frontier Communications Heat 1A and Fast Signs Heat 1B, were moved up to start at 1:40 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.

The schedule revisions came at the expense of eliminating the HAPO All Pilots autograph session, which was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. Instead, all drivers signed autographs at the Atomic Screenprinting session at noon.

The Washington National Guard 5-Liter Hydroplanes and the Plumbers and Steamfitters UA Local 598 & Signatory Contractors Grand Prix Hydroplane Regatta, which race in less-powerful boats that are at a lower risk of flipping because of wind than H1 Unlimited hydros, had their afternoon races moved later in the day to accommodate the new schedule.

The Grand Prix Hydro Heat 1 is set to begin at 2:20 p.m., and Heat 2 is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. The 5-Liter Hydroplane Heat 4, the series’ second heat of the day, was moved to 2:35 p.m.

The afternoon vintage hydroplane exhibition was moved back nearly an hour and will go from 3:10-3:40 p.m

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Kelly takes heat 2B, leading the entire way."