Theoret a threat on the Columbia

A year ago, Jean Theoret had his first H1 Unlimited hydroplane victory in the Tri-Cities wrapped up.

He had the fastest boat in qualifying. He had two heat wins over the weekend. He cruised to an easy victory in the APBA HAPO Gold Cup final.

That was until he got tagged with a DMZ disqualification by race officials, handing U-1 Oberto driver Jimmy Shane his third win in the Tri-Cities in four years.

Theoret wrecked his U-96 Ellstrom Elam Plus boat a month later after taking a flat spin in Detroit, which prevented the team from racing for 11 months.

Talk about a rough turn of events.

But there’s hope again for the H1 Unlimited veteran. This weekend’s HAPO Columbia Cup is the first race weekend in which the Ellstrom team has participated since that fateful race last August in Detroit.

“This is a wonderful course here,” Theoret said. “I’ve always loved racing in the Tri-Cities. There’s a great crowd here, and it’s just good to be back.”

And Theoret is running in iconic Pacific Northwest colors: the red, white and green of Oh Boy! Oberto.

While Art Oberto joked that every season his family name was on the side of a boat was the last, his son, Larry Oberto, said the 2015 season on Shane’s U-1 boat was actually looking like the final go-round.

But the Oberto brand wanted to sponsor a boat for next weekend’s Seafair, the Kent-based company’s hometown regatta. The Oberto family also wanted to put a boat in front of the fans at one of their favorite events of the year — the Tri-City Water Follies.

“Corporate decided that Seattle is the most important race, from a media perspective, so they wanted to do a one-race deal,” Larry Oberto said. “So Erick (Ellstrom, owner of Ellstrom Racing) was able to provide a good boat for one race, which ended up being two because Erick Ellstrom really wanted to support the event out here in (the) Tri-Cities because we really like the people.”

So the Obertos partnered with Ellstrom, their longtime rival. Larry Oberto is still trying to get used to it.

“It’s really odd to hear over the P.A., ‘The U-16 Oberto, Jean Theoret,’ ” Oberto said. “So it’s fun — and it’s strange — to be racing with the person who you were the ultimate competitor against.”

So far, Theoret hasn’t let his new sponsors down. Driving the U-16 Oh Boy! Oberto, he blew away the competition in Friday’s qualifying, posting the only lap over 160 mph on the day. In the Ellstrom team’s first heat since crashing in Detroit, Theoret beat out veteran J. Michael Kelly in the U-5 Graham Trucking boat and rookie Andrew Tate, driving the U-9 Gale-Rew Construction presents Les Schwab Tire hull. It was a deck-to-deck battle in which Theoret ran at 151.432 mph.

“It’s always very nerve-racking and exciting when you have your first race, but to come out with a win is fantastic,” Theoret said. “Being in Lane 3 puts you a long way out, but I’ve got a fantastic boat, a fantastic team, and I’m really happy for Oberto and the whole team.”

Shane, who won the final two Tri-City races in the Oberto boat, is driving the U-1 Miss HomeStreet Bank. He has dominated H1 Unlimited racing, winning his past 14 heats and 19 of his past 21.

While Shane and the Miss Madison team still have the boat to beat, H1 Unlimited racing will be a lot more competitive with Theoret in the fold and Tate and Kelly surging.

“Having the top four boats almost within 3 miles per hour of each other in qualifying, it’s gonna be great for the fans,” Shane said. “We’re just looking forward to having some very good boat racing out on the race course.”

Shane and Theoret went head-to-head Saturday in a highly anticipated Heat 2A. The U-1 and and U-16 were dead even heading into the first turn of the final lap, but Theoret, running on the outside, drifted just a little bit too far and allowed Shane to escape for a win. The victory put Shane on top of the HAPO Columbia Cup standings with 870 points, ahead of Theoret with 800.

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Theoret a threat on the Columbia."