Sunday, August 05, 2007
OH BOY! What a birthday present for Art Oberto!
Steve David and his Madison, IN, based team proved that Art and Larry Oberto's money was well-founded. David guided the new OH BOY! OBERTO to a picture perfect start and took off and hid from the field to capture the Chevrolet Cup at Seafair in Seattle. Jean Theoret in MISS BEACON PLUMBING and Dave Villwock in MISS ELAM PLUS were out of it before it ever got going by bogging down and started way back in the pack. David would have none of it, and ran his own race - turns out he knew what he was doing.
OBERTO led the entire way, followed by David Bryant in TODD HOSS MORTGAGE INVESTORS, J. Michael Kelly in MISS CAR PROS third, and ELAM fourth. Villwock claimed that they had "figured out what had been wrong and we fixed it" but that Theoret "must have been mad for losing the inside to us, so he hosed us down." Sure, it wasn't that you screwed up by going too slow, Dave - it HAD to be someone else's doing. Admittedly, Theoret did cut him off, but, boo hoo. You're still a poor sport.
A great weekend of racing, and an additional note: I hope that the unlimited owners have their eye on 19 year old Kayleigh Perkins! She's a racer - just some more seasoning and she might be ready to make the jump in a few years. We'll be watching ...
Till San Diego ... later!
Villwock loses twice to Theoret to set up Seafair finale
Seafair '07 has been ANYTHING but dull, that's for sure.
Heat 2-A saw only three of the five entries officially start, as MISS LAKERIDGE PAVING and MISS CONOVER INSURANCE failed to answer the starter's gun. Nate Brown in MISS RED DOT battled Greg Hopp in MIRAGEBOATS.COM for a few laps before Hopp pulled to a comfortable victory. RED DOT was second with Ken Muscatel in PROCRAFT WINDOWS in third.
2-B went down as the closest finish ever for unlimited hydroplanes as David Bryant in TODD HOSS MORTGAGE INVESTORS edged Steve David in OH BOY! OBERTO by only a few feet at the finish, a literal photo finish. What was amazing is that Bryant went from third, passing Jeff Bernard in FORMULABOATS.COM I, to first on the last lap - and he did it from the outside, no less! J. Michael Kelly brought MISS CAR PROS in fourth, with rookie Jimmy Shane in FORMULABOATS.COM II coming in fifth.
Jean Theoret needed to win heat 2-C for a crack at getting into the final. To do that, he was up against Dave Villwock in ELAM, Jimmy King in TODD HOSS-RONALD McDONALD HOUSE, and rookie Brian Perkins in THE PLUMBING JOINT. Theoret made it count by snagging the inside lane and making a picture perfect start and took the lead out of the first turn. Despite a strong run by ELAM, Theoret and BEACON PLUMBING had too much cha-cha for this dance and won convincingly. ELAM was second, with PLUMBING JOINT third, and TODD HOSS II fourth after being penalized a one lap penalty for jumping the gun.
Heat 3-A saw Jeff Bernard win his second heat of the event, once again besting J. Michael Kelly, who finished second. Muscatel took third, with Greg Hopp fourth, Jimmy Shane trailed in fifth, and Nate Brown brought his craft home in sixth.
The drama was set for heat 3-B ... all the hot dogs were in this one. BEACON would do battle again with ELAM, plus throw in the OBERTO, TODD HOSS I and TODD HOSS II, and poor Brian Perkins in THE PLUMBING JOINT thrown in the midst. Both BEACON PLUMBING and OBERTO forced ELAM into lane 3 with TODD HOSS I in four. TODD HOSS II trailed slightly with THE PLUMBING JOINT a distant sixth at the start. Once again Theoret nailed the start from lane one and was never headed. ELAM never seemed to have the superior speed shown earlier in the season and took second. It was the second straight heat loss for Villwock, and only his third overall for the season. OBERTO was third, followed by TODD HOSS I fourth, TODD HOSS II in fifth, and THE PLUMBING JOINT sixth.
The qualifiers for the final are:
U-5 FORMULABOATS.COM I / Jeff Bernard
U-16 MISS ELLSTROM ELAM PLUS / Dave Villwock
U-6 OH BOY! OBERTO / Steve David
U-37 MISS BEACON PLUMBING / Jean Theoret
U-10 TODD HOSS MORTGAGE INVESTORS / David Bryant
U-13 MISS CAR PROS / J. Michael Kelly
U-25 MISS PROCRAFT WINDOWS / Ken Muscatel (won provisional)
