Hopp wins: Perkins’ points lead shrinks
 
Story.  The Columbia River was as much of the story as the racing at the Graham Trucking Cup at Desert Thunder II in Richland WA.  Swollen by the rapidly melting Cascade Mountain modern day record winter snowfall in Washington State made conducting the race a weekend long challenge. The ULHRA Safety and Rescue Team was kept busy replacing course buoys dislodged by the powerful current. 
 
In the end, with 13 Unlimited Light hydroplane teams entered, Greg Hopp ran the outside line successfully in defending his title at Richland from one year ago.  For the UL-15 Pump Tech of Moses Lake presents Graham Trucking G.T – Happy Go Lucky team it was a perfect weekend.  4 heats started and 4 heat victories for 1600 points.  Kayleigh Perkins in the UL-72 Miss Boat Electric finished third behind Paul Becker in the UL-14 Miss Critical Logic but maintained her competition points lead over Hopp. However that lead was trimmed from 400 points to 175.  Ms. Perkins won both of her heats on Saturday but was defeated by Hopp in both Sunday heats.  One interesting string has continued.  Through two races and nine heats Paul Becker and the UL-14 has finished second in all of them.
 
Hopp with a supercharged entry was required to start outside of Becker & Perkins’ naturally aspirated engines.  Taking the outside route, just as he did in 2007, Hopp made an excellent start and took the lead coming out of turn #1.  Becker gave chase while Perkins and Brown battled for third.  The boats on the inside found going through the turns tougher than usual while Hopp’s bright yellow hydroplane was able to maintain better boat speed through the corners.
 
Fourth Place went to UL rookie driver Kip Brown in the UL-8 Sterling’s Famous Steaks & Seafood. Brown has extensive racing experience in the runabout ranks of Super Stock and Pro Stock.  Brown won two preliminaries including his first ever Unlimited Lights heat, and also earned the Wyatt’s Watch Best Start Award.  Becker’s team was presented the Mechanix Gloves “Grace Under Pressure Award”.
 
Fifth place went to Kayleigh Perkins’ older brother Brian in the UL-40 King & Bunny’s Appliances.  It was determined as a safety measure by ULHRA officials to run 4 wide heat starts on this Columbia River course configuration and the UL-40 was the trailer boat in the Final, starting 5 seconds after the front line.
 
Sixth place, by points, went to Wil Muncey in the UL-00 Trafficade Work Zone Services – Muncey Racing entry. 
 
For the Thunderboat North American Challenge Cup Series, Dustin Echols and the G-17 Schucks Auto Supply showed they are a force in 2008.  Despite not earning points in Phoenix, Echols outdistanced Dick Lynch in the G-13 Jet Chevrolet.com – Tempo on Saturday to win by 4 mph.  On Sunday in the first preliminary Lynch’s engine “laid down” as the driver explained afterward, believed to be caused by an electrical problem.  Corrective measures were unsuccessful so Echols was declared the winner with Lynch second.  The G-329 Block Head Machine presents My Town Motors owned by David Warren and driven by substitute Ryan Mallow this weekend found the difficult course led to some right side hull damage; nothing that can’t be properly repaired and that was the team’s decision.  They withdrew rather than taking a chance on a temporary fix. The next Thunderboat event, along with the Unlimited Lights is in mid July giving all of the teams ample time to make repairs and improvements. 
 
ULHRA’s next race will be the brand new Pepsi Racing Cup at Chamberlain-Oacoma where Interstate 90 crosses the Missouri River in South Dakota.  That will be the first race in what the teams have dubbed “The Gauntlet”.  Chamberlain-Oacoma begins 5 races in 5 weeks for the Unlimited Light Hydroplane Racing Association.  The South Dakota event will be on July 12th & 13th followed by another brand new event, the Anderson Broadcasting Radio Waves Regatta at Polson MT on Flathead Lake.  Then on July 25th, 26th and 27th the Unlimited Lights return to the Columbia River in southeast Washington State for the Graham Trucking Thunder Cup at the Tri City Water Follies.  On August 1st through 3rd it’s the Graham Trucking Cup at Seafair in Seattle, followed by Silverdale Thunder at Silverdale WA August 9th & 10th.
 
John Lynch
P.R. Director and “Voice” of ULHRA Racing
 

The Graham Trucking Cup at Desert Thunder II

UL Final

Place

Boat

Driver

Sponsor

Speed

Points

1

UL 15

Gregg Hopp

Graham Trucking GT- Happy Go Lucky

111.951

400

2

UL 14

Paul Becker

Miss Critical Logic

109.056

300

3

UL 72

Kayleigh Perkins

Miss Boat Electric

106.78

225

4

UL 8

Kip Brown

Sterling's Famous Steaks & Seafood

102.285

169

5

UL 40

Brian Perkins

King & Bunny's Appliances

100.339

127

4 Cylinder Final

Place

Boat

Driver

Sponsor

Speed

Points

1

Y 28

Joseph Perkins

Perkins Glass

85.107

400

2

S 81

Jesse Robertson

Meyers' Auto Tech Inc

82.862

300

3

Y/S 36

Austin Eacret

The Trainer

72.375

225

 

S 6

Keven Eacret

Miss Boat Electric

0

 

A.C.C.S. Heat 2

Place

Boat

Driver

Sponsor

Speed

Points

1

G 17

Dustin Echols

Schucks Auto Supply presents Miss Ted's Red Apple

105.34

400

 

G 13

Dick Lynch

Tempo - Jet Chevelot

dnf

 

4 Cyl Heat 3

Place

Boat

Driver

Sponsor

Speed

Points

1

Y 28

Joseph Perkins

Perkins Glass

81.048

400

2

S 10

Joe Gutierrez

Cojote

76.284

300

3

Y 82

Bianca Bononcini

Perkins Glass

74.602

225

4

S 81

Jesse Robertson

Meyers' Auto Tech Inc

63.429

169

5

Y/S 36

Austin Eacret

The Trainer

57.083

127

 

S 6

Keven Eacret

Miss Boat Electric

0

 

 

 

S36 & Y81 Jumped the Gun 1 minute

 

 

 

8 Cylinder Heat 3

Place

Boat

Driver

Sponsor

Speed

Points

1

E 10

Bud McKay

GEICO presents Namron Racing Team

66.494

400

 

A 1

Rob Hall

Marine Dream

ntt

0

 

 

 

No points just testing

 

 

UL Heat 3B

Place

Boat

Driver

Sponsor

Speed

Points

1

UL 15

Gregg Hopp

Graham Trucking GT- Happy Go Lucky

108.846

400

2

UL 72

Kayleigh Perkins

Miss Boat Electric

105.901

300

3

UL 40

Brian Perkins

King & Bunny's Appliances

97.504

225

4

UL 00

Wil Muncey

Trafficade Racing Team

87.14

169

 

UL 39

Joe Souza

Rouly Heat Exchangers Present Pressure's ON

0

 

 

 

 

UL 00 & UL 40 Jumped the Gun 1 Minute

 

 

UL Heat 3 A

Place

Boat

Driver

Sponsor

Speed

Points

1

UL 8

Kip Brown

Sterling's Famous Steaks & Seafood

93.039

400

2

UL 14

Paul Becker

Miss Critical Logic

89.651

300

3

UL 11

Michael Flaherty

Executif Racing LLC

78.135

225

4

UL 20

Robert (Bob) Smets

SMETCO

74.365

169

 

UL 13

J Craig Fletcher

Celtic Racing Team

DNF