Mark Evans may be driving again in Gold Cup

Mark Evans left Chelan on Thursday not sure whether to bring his racing gear with him.

He hadn’t driven an unlimited in two years.

“But I had a premonition,” said Evans. “Actually I got it in and out of my closet three times. When my brother Mitch picked me up, I took it.”

Good things for the U-12 Miss DiJulio team. All weekend long the U-12 team was having problems getting the boat together.

The team’s regular driver, Patrick Sankuer, still needs laps to qualify as a driver because he’s a rookie.

With the U-12 team running out of time Saturday morning to get the boat qualified, owners Denise Garl and Jay Leckrone asked Evans to drive it and qualify it.

No need to ask him twice.

But Evans needed to get his shoes, which are at the hydroplane exhibit up the river at the REACH Museum.

Niles Mayfield, who helps run the media trailer in the pits, went to the museum and got them.

Evans, ever the wily veteran, got into the boat and ran laps of 134 and 136 to qualify. But the first lap had fuel flow problems.

The second lap was good, but a third lap Evans ran was blackflagged because H1 Unlimited officials had to shut the course down because the air show was about to start.

The course will be open after the last heat, between 5 and 5:45 p.m., for the U-12 and the U-18 Bucket List to attempt to qualify for Sunday’s heats.

In Heat 1A, the five-boat lineup will be the 3, 7, 9, 11, and 96. The 100 will be a trailer boat.

In Heat 1B, it’ll be 1, 5, 21, 22 and 27.

This story was originally published July 25, 2015 at 11:56 AM with the headline "Mark Evans may be driving again in Gold Cup."