| 7/27/2009 3:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| The
U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison was a repeat winner of the Columbia Cup
on the Columbia River at Tri-Cities, Wash., taking over the ABRA points
lead in the process. (Photo courtesy Bill Osborne) |
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| Oh
Boy! Oberto owner Art Oberto makes a few comments at the awards
presentation as (from left) driver Steve David, Hanson, owners
representative Bob Hughes, sports marketing vice president Larry
Oberto, and team manager Charlie Grooms join him on the stage. (Photo
courtesy Bill Osborne) |
| | 2009 Lamb Weston Columbia Cup Race Results | AMERICAN BOAT RACING ASSOCIATION
2009 Lamb Weston Columbia Cup
Columbia River, Kennewick, Wash.
Final Heat
Pl. Boat Driver Avg./mph Pts.
1 U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison Steve David 145.431 400
2 U-5 FormulaBoats.com Jeff Bernard 142.946 300
3 U-37 Hoss Mortgage Investors J.W. Myers 142.570 225
4 U-16 Miss Elam Plus Dave Villwock 135.156 169
5 U-17 West Pasco Family Dental Kip Brown 130.763 127
6 U-48 Whirlpool Presents Albert Lee Brian Perkins 126.613 95
7 U-22 Matrix Systems Auto. Finishes* Mike Webster 117.181 71
Fastest Lap: U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison with a speed of 150.991 mph in Lap 2.
Penalities: *U-22 assessed one lap penalty for going outside course markers
PRELIMINARY HEATS
Saturday
Heat 1A
Pos. Boat Driver Avg./mph Pts.
1. U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison* Steve David 146.448 250
2. U-5 FormulaBoats.com Jeff Bernard 139.290 300
3. U-100 Jerrys Tavern Greg Hopp 137.081 225
4. U-48 Whirlpool Presents Albert Lee Brian Perkins 127.971 169
5. U-22 Matrix Systems Auto. Finishes Mike Webster 124.779 127
6. U-16 Miss Elam Plus** Dave Villwock 144.393 95
Fastest Lap: U-16 Miss Elam Plus with a speed of 152.374 mph in Lap 1.
Penalties: *U-1 docked 150 Pts. after heat for lane infraction; U-16 assessed one lap penalty during heat for lane infraction
Heat 1B
Pl. Boat Driver Avg./mph Pts.
1. U-7 Graham Trucking J. Michael Kelly 151.254 400
2. U-3 Grandview on the Lake Jimmy King 147.514 300
3. U-17 West Pasco Family Dental Nate Brown 147.167 225
4. U-37 Hoss Mortgage Investors J.W. Myers 137.824 169
U-25 Mr. Home Loan presents Servpro Ken Muscatel DNS 0
Fastest Lap: U-7 Graham Trucking with a speed of 152.972 mph in Lap 1.
Sunday
Heat 2A
Pl. Boat Driver Avg./mph Pts.
1 U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison Steve David 148.142 400
2 U-17 West Pasco Family Dental Kip Brown 145.151 300
3 U-25 Mr. Home Loan presents Servpro Ken Muscatel 134.748 225
4 U-100 Jerrys Tavern Greg Hopp 131.620 169
5 U-48 Whirlpool presents Albert Lee Brian Perkins 123.575 127
DNF U-7 Graham Trucking J. Michael Kelly accident 0
Fastest Lap: U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison with a speed of 149.385 mph in Lap 2.
Heat 2B
Pl. Boat Driver Avg./mph Pts.
1 U-37 Hoss Mortgage Investors J.W. Myers 147.014 400
2 U-5 FormulaBoats.com Jeff Bernard 146.155 300
3 U-22 Matrix Systems Auto. Finishes Mike Webster 128.331 225
U-16 Miss Elam Plus* Dave Villwock DSQ 0
Fastest Lap: U-16 Miss Elam Plus with a speed of 154.501 mph in Lap 2.
Penalty: U-16 Miss Elam Plus disqualified for failing postrace inspection for an N2 fuel violation
Heat 3A
Pl. Boat Driver Avg./mph Pts.
1 U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison Steve David 152.753 400
2 U-16 Miss Elam Plus Dave Villwock 152.064 300
3 U-5 FormulaBoats.com Jeff Bernard 142.893 225
4 U-17 West Pasco Family Dental Kip Brown 132.506 169
U-7 Graham Trucking J. Michael Kelly DNS 0
Fastest Lap: U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison with a speed of 154.336 mph in Lap 3.
Heat 3B
Pl. Boat Driver Avg./mph Pts.
1 U-37 Hoss Mortgage Investors J.W. Myers 144.579 400
2 U-48 Whirlpool Presents Albert Lee Brian Perkins 133.095 300
3 U-22 Matrix Systems Auto. Finishes Mike Webster 132.519 225
U-100 Jerrys Tavern Greg Hopp DNF 0
Fastest Lap: U-37 Hoss Mortgage Investors with a speed of 149.484 mph in Lap 1.
FInal Qualifying Results
Pos. Boat/Driver Driver MPH Pts.
1. U-16 Miss Elam Plus Dave Villwock 163.223 100
2. U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison Steve David 161.957 80
3. U-7 Graham Trucking J. Michael Kelly 158.083 70
4. U-17 West Pasco Family Dental Kip Brown 157.667 60
5. U-5 FormulaBoats.com Jeff Bernard 156.950 50
6. U-100 Jerrys Tavern Greg Hopp 155.402 40
7. U-3 Grandview on the Lake Jimmy King 154.921 30
8. U-37 Hoss Mortgage Investors J.W. Myers 154.469 30
9. U-48 Whirlpool Presents Albert Lee Brian Perkins 144.624 30
10. U-25 Mr. Home Loan presents Servpro Ken Muscatel 142.947 30
11. U-22 Matrix Systems Auto. Finishes Mike Webster 140.466 30
Columbia CuP Points
Total Includes All Heats & Qualifying
Boat Name Driver Pts.
U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison Steve David 1,530
U-37 Hoss Mortgage Investors J.W. Myers 1,224
U-5 FormulaBoats.com Jeff Bernard 1,175
U-17 West Pasco Family Dental Nate Brown 881
U-48 Whirlpool Presents Albert Lee Brian Perkins 721
U-22 Matrix Systems Auto. Finishes Mike Webster 678
U-16 Miss Elam Plus Dave Villwock 664
U-7 Graham Trucking J. Michael Kelly 470
U-100 Jerrys Tavern Greg Hopp 434
U-3 Grandview on the Lake Jimmy King 330
U-25 Mr. Home Loan Presents Servpro Ken Muscatel 255
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2009 National High Points
Boat Standings
Boat/Name Driver Points Behind
U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison Steve David 4,640 -
U-16 Ellstrom Elam Plus Dave Villwock 4,041 599
U-5 FormulaBoats.com Jeff Bernard 3,743 897
U-7 Graham Trucking J. Michael Kelly 3,121 1,519
U-100 Miss Shoreline Propellers Greg Hopp 2,693 1,947
U-17 Activ Water Kip Brown 2,443 2,197
U-48 Miss Albert Lee Brian Perkins 2,371 2,269
U-37 Bellos Pizza Jean Theoret 2,135 2,505
U-3 Miss Chrysler Jeep Jimmy King 1,569 3,071
U-25 Superior Racing Ken Muscatel 1,312 3,328
U-22 ServPro Mike Webster 1,028 3,612
Driver Standings
Driver No./Boat Points Behind
Steve David U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison 4,640 -
Dave Villwock U-16 Ellstrom Elam Plus 4,041 599
Jeff Bernard U-5 FormulaBoats.com 3,743 897
J. Michael Kelly U-7 Graham Trucking 3,121 1,519
Greg Hopp U-100 Miss Shoreline Propellers 2,693 1,947
Brian Perkins U-48 Miss Albert Lee 2,371 2,692
J.W. Myers U-37 Glacier Energy presents Miss DYC 2,085 2,555
Jimmy King U-3 Miss Chrysler Jeep 1,569 3,071
Kip Brown U-17 Activ Water 1,562 3,078
Ken Muscatel U-25 Superior Racing 1,312 3,328
Mike Webster U-22 Matrix System Automotive Finishes 803 3,837
Nate Brown U-17 West Pasco Family Dental 525 4,115
Kip Brown U-17 West Pasco Family Dental 356 4284
Jean Theoret U-37 Bellos Pizza 50 4,590
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Shark Attack!
Near-perfect weekend powers Oberto to repeat win at Columbia Cup, points leads
Mark Campbell
Sports Editor
KENNEWICK,
Wash. - A near-perfect weekend of racing on the Columbia River not only
allowed Steve David and the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison to repeat
as Columbia Cup champions but also leapfrog over Dave Villwock and the
U-16 Miss Elam Plus into the season points lead.
David, of
Lighthouse Pointe, Fla., won all three of his preliminary heats - two
head-to-head against the Elam -and then ran off and left the field in
the Columbia Cup final to win his second consecutive race at
Tri-Cities, Wash., and turn a 287-point deficit to Villwock and the
Elam into a 599-point lead at the midway point of the 2009 American
Boat Racing Association season.
"That's pretty cool. Wow! We are
so thankful for (taking the points lead) and if we can just keep it
up," David said in a phone interview on Sunday night. "I think this is
the first time Madison has ever been a repeat race winner and we might
just be a repeat national champion, too."
"I just had a terrific
boat to work with and that made my job much easier," David said. "We
had two missions after Detroit. One was win a race - now hopefully more
than that - and to retain the national championship. We won the race
part and now it's that national championship that we're shooting for."
The
only hiccup the alpha Shark had all weekend was when ABRA officials
reviewed race video and took away 150 of David's 400 points for winning
Heat 1A about an hour after the race was contested on Saturday. But
since Villwock and the Elam had been relegated to a 95-point sixth
place in the same heat after being assessed a one-lap penalty for a
similar infraction, the setback did little to stop the Shark's feeding
frenzy come Sunday.
"We surely didn't come in thinking we
couldn't beat them. I know a lot of teams thought he was going to win
everything but that's never been our opinion," David said of Villwock
and the Miss Elam. "Our opinion has been that if we've got everything
together, we're going to make him have to do it. It's kind of like the
old Pay 'N Pak-Atlas, Budweiser-Atlas, Bud-Smokin' Joe's rivalries. The
Bud was always a hair quicker, but that other team was always there and
I think that's kind of the rivalry we've got going now."
David
gobbled up another 400-point first place finish in Sunday's Heat 2A by
out-running Kip Brown and the U-17 West Pasco Family Dental from Lane
Five - a race that was halted after two laps when U-7 Graham Trucking
driver J. Michael Kelly blew that boat over just after crossing the
start/finish line while beginning the third and final lap.
Kelly,
who was racing hard with Brown for second place at the time of the
crash, escaped serious injury in the one-and-a-half revolution blowover
and popped out of the upside down boat within seconds of its landing.
However, Kelly and the Graham Trucking were done for the weekend.
David
then posted the fastest competition lap of the weekend, a blistering
154.336 mph run in rough final lap water to win Heat 3A and hold off a
hard-charging Villwock in Lane Four as the Oberto averaged 152.753 mph
in Lane One to Villwock's 152.064 on the outside.
The two
head-to-head wins over Villwock, combined with a disqualification of
the Elam in Heat 2B when the boat failed a post-race inspection for an
N2 fuel flow violation, put the Oberto in the driver's seat for the
final with the Elam relegated to a back row start with just 395 points.
Elam
team owner Erick Ellstrom said the U-16 crew, which labored long into
the night on Friday to repair damage caused by a short in the cockpit
that left the boat's wiring a "melted muck," just had too much to
overcome. The fried wiring combined with the penalties proved to be
more than the perennial favorites could overcome.
"You have to have a lot of things go right to have a good weekend, and we just had a lot of things go bad," Ellstrom said.
After
finishing a close second to Villwock at the 2009 season opener at
Madison and again a week later at the 100th running of the APBA Gold
Cup in Detroit, knowing Villwock would start the winner-take-all final
on the back row was just one less thing David had to worry about while
bringing the Oberto home to repeat as Columbia Cup champion.
" I
wasn't really (concerned) because it was so rough here that he would
have probably tried to blow it over if he had tried to catch us," David
said of Villwock and the Elam. "But congratulations to Dave. He came
from seventh to fourth. Dave is a phenomenal driver, we know Elam is a
terrific competitor. I mean, we believe in them. We're running their
propellers."
With Villwock starting five seconds behind the
front-runners and churning through the rough water left by a six-boat
front row, David turned his attention to U-5 FormulaBoats.com driver
Jeff Bernard, U-37 Hoss Mortgage Investors driver J.W. Myers and U-17
driver Kip Brown.
"You never knew about the U-5, U-37 and U-17,"
David said. "I mean the (U-)17 ran a 160 mph qualification lap. So I
could never take it easy because you could never know when those guys
were going to pull the rabbit out of the proverbial hat."
David
actually trailed both Bernard and Myers at the start but overtook both
on the backstretch while ripping off a heat-fastest 150.991 mph lap to
open the five-lap finale. The Oberto went on to average 145.431 mph in
the final as Bernard held off Myers by averaging 142.946 mph in the U-5
to the U-37's 142.570.
"It was a heck of a race. He pushed me
the whole way," David later said of Bernard. "He's an outstanding
driver. This the future of the sport. I'm kind of the AARP driver and
this is the future kid."
"My team has given me one hell of a
boat to run in rough water," Bernard said. "But when we got back there
in the rough stuff you could hardly keep it on the water. We nailed the
start. If we'd been in Lane Two ... even at that I pulled them all the
way up the backstretch and then me and J-Dub just fell off the pace.
But I can't believe how great we did in the final heat."
Villwock
and the Elam passed three front row boats en route to the fourth place
finish to soften the points hit inflicted by David and the Oberto. But
it proved to be a punishing run for the orange U-16.
According
to ABRA Chairman Sam Cole, the Elam took a big bounce late in the final
heat and opened a sizable crack in the boat's left sponson that will
have to be repaired prior to next weekend's Chevrolet Cup at Seafair
across Washington state in Seattle.
There were other boats
damaged far worse with the U-7 heading to the former Miss Budweiser
shop in Seattle for repairs from the blowever, the Evansville,
Ind.-based U-3 Grandview on the Lake headed to Mitch Evans' boat shop
in Chelan, Wash., for repairs to the hull in the area of the skid fin,
and the U-100 Jerrys Tavern lost a gearbox while failing to finish Heat
3B.
David said the Oberto also sustained some minor damage to
the recovery area of the right sponson and the boat is also headed to
the former Bud shop for repairs.
"The U-7 has extensive damage,
Villwock's boat has extensive damage to the left sponson. The other
teams are surely going to be thrashing," David said. "Our guys will be
working late, but I don't think it's going to be a thrash. I think
we're in really good shape for next weekend. We're going to have some
great gear setups. Lake Washington is usually rough and our boat does
really, really well in rough water."
Theoret drives U-37
Although
still recovering from injuries he sustained in a flip on July 4 in the
season opening Madison Regatta, U-37 driver Jean Theoret, of Maple
Grove, Quebec, climbed back into the cockpit Saturday for the first
time since that accident.
Theoret's accident in Madison left the
boat upside down in the Ohio River. It was not until he was trying to
exit the cockpit that he realized the hose to the onboard oxygen system
had broken. Theoret ingested water into his lungs and was rendered
unconscious.
Rescue workers pulled the lifeless Theoret from the
bottom escape hatch and immediately began performing cardio-pulmonary
resuscitation all the way back to the dock and then to nearby King's
Daughters' Hospital in Madison. Theoret had to be revived three times
on the way to the hospital just three and one-half blocks from the race
site.
The veteran driver, who has been involved in other
blowovers in the past but none as serious, spent four nights and five
days in a Louisville hospital recovering his ability to breathe and
receiving antibiotics to ward off potential infections related to
ingesting the river water.
Although Theoret is still to weak to
race, he did turn some laps in the U-37 on Saturday morning during
testing for the Columbia Cup.
The first person to greet Theoret on the dock was Myers, his backup driver who piloted the boat the rest of the weekend.
"You
definitely have some questions in your heart and soul," said Theoret on
getting back in the boat, "But once you're out there everything's fine."
Theoret,
who rejoined the team the next weekend in Detroit after being released
from the hospital, said he is gradually getting stronger and working to
improve his breathing, cardio, strength and stamina.
When asked when he might move back into the cockpit for good, Theoret said, "maybe next week," at Seattle.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, July 27, 2009
Article comment by:
bob hudson jr
your
caption under pic on stage makes it sound like mr. oberto is BOAT owner
instead of SPONSOR of our boat, i guess it hit me wrong even when "MISS
MADISON" should be displayed along with city seal. thanks for your
excellent coverage.
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