One hydro team dominates 1st day of Tri-Cities Columbia Cup racing with 155+ mph
Mike Hanson, crew chief of the U-1 HomeStreet Bank, walked around his boat Saturday afternoon while his team was busy wiping it down.
Hanson had just finished watching his driver, Jimmy Shane, drive the U-1 to two easy heat race victories at the HAPO Columbia Cup.
And considering these were the first two competitive heats this boat, built in 2018, had run since September 2019, he couldn’t be any happier.
Shane easily had been running lap speeds of 155 mph or better all day, and he was never threatened in the two heats.
“We’ve had this boat pretty much ready during COVID,” said Hanson.
The Miss Madison race team elected not to run the boat this season. Instead, the plan was to just run the backup boat, built in 2007.
That boat, sponsored by Seattle businessman John Goodman, raced in Alabama and Madison, winning the Gold Cup at the latter event.
But HomeStreet asked the Madison team to pull the newer hull, with its blue and white HomeStreet paint job, out of mothballs and run it on the West Coast.
Hanson and his team were ready to comply.
“There were some parts we took off of it to use on the Goodman boat,” said Hanson. “The guys got the boat back from Madison on the 15th (of July), and it took us five days to get it back together and ready.”
The last time it had been raced competitively was in September 2019 in San Diego.
“I didn’t get a good start in that final, so I didn’t push it,” said Shane.
Because of that, the boat came back to shore intact, and the team basically had to clean the saltwater out of it, check the parts, and maybe kick the tires of the trailer … and put it away for the winter.
“That was a huge advantage,” said Shane. “It allowed us to focus on other things.”
And even though that winter turned into two winters — thanks to the pandemic — it was pretty much ready to run.
So when the Columbia River finally opened Saturday — after Water Follies water operations members successfully cleared the course of the Sago pondweed that forced the fleet to stay on land all day Friday — Shane was unstoppable in both of his heat races.
Saturday results
He enters Sunday’s race with the most compiled heat points at 800.
Right behind him are Andrew Tate in the U-12 Graham Trucking, and J. Michael Kelly in the U-8 Miss Tri-Cities. Both have 700 points.
Tate won Heat 1A to start the day, then couldn’t overcome Kelly in Heat 2A, and finished second.
The Graham team had been problem keeping wings stabilizers intact this weekend, breaking a borrowed one in the first heat race from the U-11 J&D’s team, then using a borrowed one from the U-1 team in the second one.
“We just keep breaking them,” said Tate. “But that first win is the best way to start off the weekend. It kind of alleviates some pressure.”
Meanwhile, Kelly had a few bugaboos happen.
In 1A (which Tate won), Kelly lost his radio right before the race began. So he drove without a spotter and played it safe, staying back and out of everyone’s way.
But it worked out.
While Tate won the race, Jimmy King in the U-3 Grigg’s/Ace Hardware had crossed the starting line too soon and was penalized a lap. And Dave Villwock in the U-40 Beacon Plumbing was disqualified for a fuel flow violation.
Because of that, Kelly still grabbed second.
In the second heat, Kelly’s team had problems with the canard, which helps keep the boat down on the water. Two crew members raced to get electric drills to fix it before the boat was required to get out on the water.
“We’ve had some issues today, and it’s just frustrating,” said Kelly. “It’s been one thing after another.”
In addition, Kelly complained all day at how hot the cockpit was.
“I don’t remember it ever being that hot in the cockpit,” he said.
Plus he was protecting bruised ribs suffered from a spinout at Madison earlier this month.
Regardless, Kelly was still able to earn 700 points.
Sunday races
Sunday should be a battle, especially in the final.
While all preliminary heat races have no more than four boats in them, Sunday’s final could have seven — six on the front line, with one trailer boat.
“It’ll be fun out there with seven boats,” said Kelly, a bit sarcastically.
It’s been a process of surviving attrition to the equipment, but also some mind games are going on. out there between some of these drivers who have raced for years against each other.
“It’s a little bit of both,” admits Tate. “With seven boats out there it will be twice as rough in that first turn. Turn one will be brutal no matter what.”
Then, Shane says, throw in the mind games the drivers are playing.
“Racing is all about mind games,” he said. “The mental part is a huge part of racing. There are always mental games going on.”
▪ Here are the points standings through two rounds of heat racing (not counting qualifying): 1. U-1 HomeStreet Bank, Shane, 800 points; 2. U-8 Miss Tri-Cities, Kelly, 700; 2. U-12 Graham Trucking, Tate, 700; 4. U-11 J&D’s, Jamie Nilsen, 525; 5. U-9 Pinnacle Peak Consulting, Corey Peabody, 338; 6. U-40 Beacon Plumbing, Villwock, 300; 7. U-3 Grigg’s/Ace Hardware, King, 225; 7. 440 Bucket List Racing, Dustin Nichols, 225.
▪ Sunday’s Heat 3A draw is as follows: U-1, U-3, U-40, 440; Heat 3B:: U-8, U-9, U-11, U-12.
▪ Here is Sunday’s schedule (as always, tentative): Heat 3A, 10:40 a.m.; Heat 3B, 1:35 p.m.; Heat 4A, 2:25 p.m.; Heat 4B, 2:50 p.m.; E350 final, 3:15 p.m.; Grand Prix America final, 4:05 p.m.; HAPO Columbia Cup, 4:30 p.m.
This story was originally published July 24, 2021 at 9:47 PM.