2012 Unlimiteds in Review
Unlimiteds in Review 2012
from Brian Anderson
The H1 Unlimited hydroplane series kicked off its longest, at least in terms days, season for 2012 in the small town of Madison, Indiana. A town made famous for a feature movie a few years back starring Jim Caviezel and of course, its annual regatta. This year again, Lucas Oil would sponsor the event. But the real season began months earlier as preparation began for the six race but 7 month long grind.
As usual, most of the pre-season news revolved around sponsors, hulls, and persons. The biggest splash was made by the newly re-formed USA racing partners headed by Matt Gregory. Matt, son of the late Kim Gregory jumped back into the sport feet first by landing Degree Men as a sponsor and put the U-10 back together which has last seen action when Dave Bryant drove and crashed the boat at Seattle a couple of years back. Scott Liddycoat, 2011 rookie of the year driving the U-7 Valken.com fame was hired to drive making this team an instant contender.
With Degree jumping to the new U-88 team this left Billy Schumachers’ U-37 team without a sponsor so Beacon Plumbing was signed and the boat was painted in a beautiful scheme with many shades of blue with bubbles giving it that J. Michael Kelly would continue driving for this team.
Over at Performance Precision Marine of Decatur, Indiana the load would be lightened as it was announced that the Valken would be no more and the U-57 was sold to group headed by Mark Evans, who would run the boat. This left only the U-5 which would again be sponsored by Graham Trucking and stay with its multi-colored paint job. Jeff Bernard stepped down as driver and Jimmy Shane was hired.
Defending champion Dave Villwock would return in Erik Ellstrom’s Spirit of Qatar with a new predominately maroon paint scheme and be ready for the first race as would his chief rival Steve David in Madison, Indiana’s U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto. The Madison team is a throwback as it is the only community owned hydroplane left on the circuit from a history that included other towns trying to duplicate their efforts.
A group effort in its own right “Our Gang Racing” out of Preston, WA. headed by Nate Brown would field its entry, the U-17 RedDOT, a fast boat that would be driven by Nate’s nephew Kip Brown. Also planning on attending the opening race of the would be the U-11 Miss Peters & May, owned by the Unlimiteds Racing Group headed by Scott Raney and driven by J.W. Meyers. The teams paint scheme returned to the bright yellow(chartreuse?) and blue with the number on the rear wing sporting a combination stars & stripes and Union Jack scheme.
Rounding out the teams prepping for the opener would be the U-22 owned and driven by Mike Webster of Reading, PA. The hull, a former Miss Madison would arrive with a brand new red, white and blue paint job. The late Fred Leland’s team would also be there with Greg Hopp doing the driving. Cal Phipps would be in Dave Bartush’s U-13 Spirit of Detroit.
Rules for the opening race would stay about the same as the bulk of the 2011 races. The starting procedure would once again call for no boat being beyond the exit buoy of the back stretch before the one minute gun after the run “at speed” past the officials tower. And , as always jumping the gun at the true start was a no-no. The gallons permitted flow would be the same for all boats at all races.
The first race of the year always favors the better prepared teams and this season was no exception. Dave Villwock led all qualifiers in his Spirit of Qatar at 148.837 with Steve David and Jimmy Shane close behind. The course would be the same 1⅔ mile shortened course on the Ohio River that was used in 2011. The Madison race featured many heats due to the short course and the tight river. In the end Dave Villwock stayed dominant, taking firsts and a second in his three prelims before winning the final heat giving him another victory in Madison. Hometown favorite Steve David in Oh Boy! Oberto was second with Scott Liddycoat in the Degree men taking third. The season was off to a good start as the favorites rose to the top early.
The Gold Cup in Detroit, the sport’s most prestigious event was up next with the same 12 entrants. For the most part the rough Detroit River behaved as 8 of the 12 boats posted speeds of 150 mph or greater with Dave Villwock again leading the way at 162.904 just edging Steve David. It was obvious these would be the two boats to beat this season. The prelims of this race will be remembered mostly for Mike Webster’s blow over crash in heat 1-C which took the boat out for the season. Mike suffered no injuries. The final stacked up as a battle between the two fastest. Both Villwock and Steve David wanted this race bad for their owners, crews, sponsors and the like. Both the U-1 and the U-6 hit the line with Villwock in lane 2 taking a slight advantage in the Belle Isle bridge turn. He kept Steve David tight in lane one and when Oberto slid out just slightly he got wet and Villwock stretched his lead and never looked back. J. Michael Kelly in the Beacon Plumbing hung around for third and from all appearances Spirit of Qatar was going to run away and dominate the season.
Hot sunny weather greeted the fleet as they arrived in Tri-Cities, WA. for the annual running of the Columbia Cup on the Columbia river. The field added three more boats for the northwest races. These would be the U-21 HAPO/Albert Lee driven by Brian Perkins for Greg O’ Farrell’s Go Fast, Turn Left racing team, the U-13 Bucket List Racing which would be owned and driven by Kelly Stocklin of the famous Beaver Lake Yacht Club and a second boat for the Leland team to be driven by Ryan Mallow sporting a yellow paint job. The fleet lost two teams after the Gold Cup: the U-22 due to the accident and the U-13 Spirit of Detroit chose not to continue.
For the third straight race Spirit of Qatar dominated qualifying with 159.645 mph lap and easily took heat 1A on Saturday. However, when the final heat came around both Beacon Plumbing and Graham Trucking out dueled Villwock for the inside. Thinking he had it nailed Steve David jumped the score up buoy at the one minute gun by fractions and paid a very severe one lap penalty. That left the Jimmy Shane and J Michael Kelly to stage a real classic that came down to a sprint for the finish off the final turn. Jimmy Shane in Graham Trucking took his first victory by the smallest of margins. Dave Villwock finished in third. Going into the annual race in Seattle for the Albert Lee Cup it was still Villwock as the one to beat but now the field seemed to be opening up some.
Qualifying got underway for the Seattle event and it was clear Spirit of Qatar team wanted to be back on top. They promptly posted the fastest lap at 151.626 but the next eight contenders were within 10 mph. The season seemed to be tightening up just a bit.
In the final both Steve David and Jimmy Shane got inside of Villwock at the start and never looked back. Being in the inside lane Steve David controlled the heat and took the victory over the up and coming Graham Trucking of Shane. Sponsor Art Oberto had himself another hometown win. After four races in 5 weeks the sport took a few weeks off for the September race in sunny San Diego, CA.
The Spirit of Qatar team and driver Dave Villwock, team now without a victory in its last two races again came out fast, this time their qualifying mark of 162.118 was nearly 5 mph faster than its chief rival. The best Steve David could get out of the Oberto was 157.980. The course on San Diego’s saltwater Mission Bay has always produced lightning fast speeds and this year’s field of 11 was no different as six teams posted speeds of better than 150 mph. One notable driver change took place as Tommy Thompson took over for J.W. Meyers in the U-11 Peters & May. Ryan Mallow and the second Leland entry did not make the race. The prelims saw lots of great action but only Villwock, David and Shane posted wins and the fastest two were now being challenged by the U-5 of Shane. In the final the three ran close but Steve David had them, barely, edging out Shane with Villwock close behind. The top three boats all finished within 2 mph of each other!
But the race didn’t end there. In a post race inspection it was found that Steve David had committed a fuel violation and the victory was handed to Jimmy Shane and Graham Trucking. The Madison-Oberto team protested their penalty. The equipment used to analyze the fuel flow were subsequently tested. After what seemed like an incredibly long period (weeks) the penalty against Oberto was rescinded and the original victory stood. What happened on the water and witnessed by fans was the actual result. And now it was time to pack up and head to the middle east.
Before the boats arrived in Doha, Qatar for the now annual Oryx Cup-UIM World Championship race one of the teams made a detour. The U-11 Miss Peters & May would head to Coniston, England for a straightaway trial. The event being the Coniston Records Week. Ultimately, the boat posted a speed of 176.110 over the kilo and was without a doubt the fastest craft on the water for the event.
The race in Doha had the national championship up for grabs as Steve David had managed to pull ahead of Dave Villwock in season points and could wrap up the title or lose it depending on the outcome of the Oryx Cup.
Going into the Oryx Cup several changes descended on the fleet. First, Degree men announced they were dropping sponsorship of the U-88 of owner Matt Gregory and due to some damage suffered in San Diego the boat would not be making it overseas. Then the U-21 of driver Brian Perkins would switch numbers to U-88 to finish out the season for them. Brian’s boat would be sponsored by the Snoqualmie Casino of Washington state for the event. If that were not enough Leland Unlimited owner Stacey Briseno announced that it would part ways with long time driver Greg Hopp and put Ryan Mallow in the cockpit for the event.
The prelims were held on weekdays due to a prediction of upcoming inclimate weather. This time the victories were spread out amongst Zimmerman, twice; David, Perkins and Shane. Notably absent in this list was Dave Villwock who had a myriad of problems and watched the title slip away and was won again by Steve David and Oh Boy! Oberto. It was the team’s third in the last four years. Villwock’s appearance in 4B did the hull in, after taking a major hop while leading the boats engine mounts broke and the boat caught fire. It was disappointing end to the season where they were fastest qualifier at every event and left doubt as to whether they could even make the next event.
In the final Jimmy Shane out ran Steve David for his second career win and first Oryx Cup trophy. Finishing off their outstanding performance the all white U-9 of Jon Zimmerman took third.
The season ended with Steve David on top, followed by the strong performance of Jimmy Shane and then a bit farther down was Dave Villwock who had begun the season so strongly and still had, in terms of qualifying speeds, the fastest boat on the circuit. The surprise team of the season had to be the U-9, driven by Jon Zimmerman who stayed consistent and seemed to pick up speed as the year progressed and above all stayed out of trouble. They did quite well with what they had, which was no season sponsor but picked up the likes of Sound Propeller Services and Al Deeby Chrysler amongst others. In fourth was Degree men with Scott Liddycoat, which didn’t quite challenge for wins as expected and lost their sponsor with one race to go.
From a fan's point of view the season had a lot to offer. A strong start by the favorite Spirit of Qatar who then faded and was overtaken by his chief rival Oh Boy! Oberto. All the while an up and coming driver in Jimmy Shane broke through for not one but two victories with one of them featuring a thrilling final turn sprint to the flag. There was lots of terrific heat action with a good field for every event which in the past wasn’t always the case. And of course, there was the usual amount of controversy over rules, the starting procedures, leap frogging on the backstretch and a protest to settle a race, all of which doesn’t make the average race fan even raise an eyebrow anymore, it’s just a part of the whole show.
Crashes and blow over’s were kept to minimum which was good to see except Mike Webster probably wouldn’t agree with that as rebuilding the U-22 will occupy his off season, and the fans in England got to see a true honest to goodness American Unlimited Hydroplane run a fairly fast kilo trial. Newcomer Kelly Stocklin’s former G-Class boat with a smaller than usual T-53 made the west coast swing bringing a little something different to the water. It scored points in a couple of events and should be a welcome addition even if a bit underpowered. As usual the thing that seems to be missing most is more races which will be raised by two for 2013 with planned events in Sacramento, CA and Couer D’Alene, Idaho. But what happened to the two female drivers that took drives the year before? Both Bianca Bononcini and Kayleigh Perkins were nowhere to be seen in 2012 which could be seen as step backward. The sport is not there yet but seems to now be moving in the correct direction. Here’s to more races, competition, teams, sponsors, and fun in the sports future.
[Reprinted from Unlimited NewsJournal, April 2013]