Mauldin, Johnston win first day of 5-Liter racing
Deck-to-deck racing was on tap in both of the Washington National Guard 5-Liter Hydroplane races on Friday at the Tri-City Water Follies, and true to power boat racing form, engine troubles and disqualifications played a huge part in deciding the winners.
In the first competitive heat of the weekend, Jim Mauldin in the E-31 Mauldin Well Drilling and Sparrowgrove Photography hull was outdueled by Kurt Meyer in the E-26 boat. But three boats, including Meyer’s, were disqualified because of DMZ violations, giving Mauldin the win.
The victory was a technicality, and Mauldin said the thrill of the close race was what he’ll take away from the heat.
“It felt good, but we’re just having fun,” Mauldin said. “The good deck-to-deck boat races — I mean we’ve been doing this for 20 years. First is cool, but I mean, I enjoy the good, hard, deck-to-deck boat races more than anything.”
When the race started, Mauldin, Meyer and Wally Johnston in the E-98 Agitator For Sale boat were almost even, and they stayed three-wide the entire first lap.
In the second and final heat of the day, Meyer took a narrow lead on Johnston’s E-98 coming out of the final turn but pulled up dead in the water before he hit the line. The result was Johnston taking a huge lead on the rest of the field and winning the second heat by almost a full lap.
The real excitement in the heat was in the battle for second place, where Kennewick’s own Josh Culver, racing the E-6 Leisure Pool and Spa, beat Bill Strain and the E-87 Problem Child’s Nasty New Heifer on the home stretch to pick up the 95 points.
“I know (deck-to-deck racing) is what the fans are looking for, so I hope we get some more of that over the weekend,” Culver said. “It was a fun race to run out there next to Bill. It’s always fun whether you’re running for first or for fifth. It’s fun to run next to another boat and that’s what the fans want to see.”
Heat 3 is scheduled to get underway at 9:40 a.m. Saturday, and Heat 4 has a start time of 1:30 p.m.
Grand Prix West
The Plumbers and Steamfitters UA Local 598 & Signatory Contractors Grand Prix Hydroplane Regatta didn’t run any official heats or qualifying on Friday, but Ed Preston in the GP-20 Blown Income Racing hull won a four-wide race in the Grand Prix Hydroplane Dash.
The Grand Prix boats will begin competitive racing with their first heat at 1:50 p.m. Saturday, and Heat 2 is scheduled to fire up at 3:50 p.m.
This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 7:23 PM with the headline "Mauldin, Johnston win first day of 5-Liter racing."