Perkins and Hopp each 3 for 3.

Greg and Jerry Hopp each secured a heat victory on Saturday at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler AZ while Kayleigh Perkins drove to two victories.  With three preliminary heats completed the UL-15 Graham Trucking - Happy Go Lucky and UL-72 Miss Boat Electric are tied with 1200 points.  Perkins, the defending Unlimited Lights Champion and Hopp Racing which won the 4 previous titles from 2003-2006 are starting the season as if it'll again be a two boat battle till October.

Other teams are trying hard to end that run of 8 years of either Hopp Racing or Impact Racing winning the Unlimited Lights championship.

Paul Becker and his UL-14 Miss Critical Logic has 3 solid second place finishes for a total of 900 points on the weekend.  If the standings hold through the 4th preliminary heat on Sunday morning it will mean that Perkins, Hopp & Becker will race for the Trafficade presents ULHRA Racing at Firebird title.  Three boats per heat is the maximum for either the Unlimited Lights (UL) or Thunderboats (G) on the tight 1 1/4 mile long Firebird Lake course.  The teams with the 4th, 5th & 6th place point totals after Sunday morning's preliminary heats will also compete in a separate Final to determine 4th, 5th & 6th place. 

For Wil Muncey, Marty Wolfe and Randy Hurst it was a day of victory and ultimate defeat.  For Muncey in the UL-00 Trafficade he picked up his first heat victory since joining the Unlimited Lights circuit at San Diego in 2005.  Muncey defeated Michael Flaherty and Bob Smets for the win in Heat 2B.  However in Heat 3A the high of a heat victory was followed by the low of mechanical failure that's knocked out the Muncey Racing team for the rest of this event.  Going into tomorrow's preliminary and Final heat Muncey would have been tied for 5th place in points with Michael Flaherty; total of 700 each.  Muncey has withdrawn from Sunday's competition. Unfortunately so has Randy Wolfe and Dennis Johnson's two other entries. the UL-93 Desperado and the G-93 Johnson-Wolfe Racing Special following drive train damage to each on Saturday.

On the Thunderboats (G) side of things, R.W. Dick Lynch in the Jet Chevrolet-Tempo G-13 picked up the victory in Heat section 2 following a spirited battle with  G-93 driver Marty Wolfe who's boat expired shortly after being passed by Lynch. .  Dustin Echolds scored a victrory in Heat section 3. Dave Warner in the G-329 Block Head Machine leads in points over Lynch in the G-13 by 100 going into the 4th heat on Sunday.

For the Lighter than LIGHTS, Bud Mckay and Mike Schroeder traded victories today.  McKay's win followed a mechanic failur aboard Schroeder's E-23 Tight Spot and victory went to the E-10 Geico Insurance of Lakewood WA.  In the 3rd heat the results were reversed, except that the driver of the E-10 was Steve Clark.....owner driver of the E-222 but in town to help McKay's team.

The 4th preliminary heat section will begin on Sunday around 12 noon Mountain Standard Time and the Final will be around 3:30pm. Sunday. 

John Lynch

P.R. Director and "Voice" of ULHRA Racing.