Waterford, Michigan

Quake on the Lake

July 20-21, 2013

J and Fae Report

Hey racer dudes, remember that 70's song, It's a Family Affair. Well, that's Waterford in 2013. Race Director Mary Anne Wilson was the ringleader of two dynamic families that made this event explode. The Wilsons and the Shaws are people who love racing and it shows. Their footprints were everywhere making sure this top notch venue would host a great event. Dale Hampshire, the Marine Prop Riders and Region Six officials (see Billy Noonan) have always produced a super show here going back to Racer Bob Dabrowski's beginnings. A record course and cool setting always packs in a superb field and this year was no exception. Throw in John Tomey's strong announcing and you have a real boat race.

Here are the J and Fae boat totals: (T-4) (Y-8) (S-12) (A-7) (E-13) (NM-4) (GNH-7) (GP-6) (Vintage-13) total-74

T boats are the Shaw gang this year. The family field’s three hulls to keep this starter class going like the Shane’s used to do. We need this class for the youngsters to learn. The fourth boat was (Y-35) TM Special driven by Bobby Kennedy. Bobby (T-35) and John Shaw (T-1) Trophy Hunter had some great battles with John (T-1) edging Bobby (T-35) each time. That's two fine drivers going at it. Richard Shaw (T-81) Ridiculous Expectations and 14 year old Ciara McClure (T-125) My Mistake swapped thirds. All in all the T's put on a good show.

Y boats are the killer bees. That whine and aroma says pure boat racing. Now, who is going to catch that yaller boat? Sean Bowsher (Y-52) Roostertails Racing, Keith McMullen (Y-80) Outlaw and Marty Hammersmith (Y-4) Nauti Buoy are mega fast but ole Dan Kanfoush (Y-1) Fast Eddie 2 keeps rollin along. (98+ at Yelm is obscene) Dan (Y-1) took four firsts with Sean (Y-52) (3 and 2), Keith (Y-80) (2) and Marty (Y-4) (4 and 3) filling out the podium. Jeff Maurer (Y-16) Da Bomb showed some speed as well. People love the Y boats and y not?

S boats came in with six solid favorites in a stellar field that will rival any race this year. They were Mike Monahan (S-9) Rewinder, JP Squires (S-83) Mega Bucks, Bobby Kennedy (S-88) Playin Again, Kent Henderson (CS-519) Bank On It, Joe Longo (S-146) L'il Lectron and Bobby King (S-242) Catalyst. JP (S-83) and Kent (CS-519) flipped first and seconds out running this superb field with some excellent maneuvering. Mike (S-9) and Bobby (S-242) took thirds. The action was Nationals like with dawg eat dawg action for the pin and first turn paranoia. Each time the back stretch sorted things out with JP (S-83 )and Kent (CS-519) having a little extra oomph. All in all the action was cool.

Vintage boats put on a nice show of nostalgia as this ever growing class gets better each year. Here are the ones we saw: (GP-17) Midnight Miss, (F-777)

Barracuda, (F-100) Miss Bonnie, (JS-77) Zippy Pickle, (F-222) Opeechee, (E-280) Catapult, (Y-1) Southpaw, (T-2) L'il Hilwinds, (USIC) TM Special, (T-59) Scraps, (CE-52) White Lightning, (S-149) Mike and (H-202) Heavy Duty.

A boats had a nice field. Of course the Richards/English Armada was on hand. Debbie Welte's (A-23) Geezerboat was back from Walled Lake engine gremlins. Throw in Bobby Kennedy (A-47) Blitzkreig, Tom Bergman (A-8) Insanity and Kevin Kreitzer in the ever improving (A-64) Blue Devil and you have some speed. Tommy Thompson (A-52) Fat Chance 2 looked great, as usual, taking Saturday's final. Come Sunday and Joe Sovie in the aforementioned (A-23) exploded for a great win. Joe (A-23) pushed that Esslinger to the limit and it was flyin. Andrew Tate (A-25) Fat Chance took two seconds. Bobby Kennedy (A-47) and Alexis Weber (A-7) Fat Chance Again took thirds. This class should be fun going forward.

E boats had a deep, fast group of quicksters. Favorites included Joe Less (E-600) Centsless 12, Cal Phipps in Wheeler Bakers (E-54), Todd Liddycoat (E-97) Team Extreme, Andy Keogh (E-13) Lady Luck, Tommy Thompson (E-75) Investigator and Joe Sovie (E-61) Crazy Cajun. There was speed everywhere in this class but Joe Less (E-600) has the most. He is running like a National Mod and took an impressive win on Saturday. On Sunday Tommy Thompson (E-75) asserted himself to take charge in turn one and blast away to victory. Cal (E-54) and Todd (E-97) took seconds while Joe (E-61) and Colby Denman (E-37) Hire Voltage garnered thirds. Competition was fierce as usual among the kamikazes.

NM boats had four vessels in town. That's a big field these days as there is quality but little quantity in this fast but expensive class. Don Birshneck (NM-27) God n Country and Tony Black (NM-100) Sum Toy are fast while Thom Heins (NM-30) Big Bird and Dan Kanfoush (NM-357) Old Crow are flat out nasty. Dan (NM-357) chased the speed record in winning Saturday with Thom (NM-30) and Tony (NM-100) completing the podium. Come Sunday and Cal Phipps jumped into the (NM-30). Dan (NM-357) took off flyin again hunting a record and another win and then..... what the heck was that? A yaller blur came by and ran away as a surely smiling Super Cal took the checkers. Tony (NM-100) took third. Both the (NM-357) and the (NM-30) showed elite speed the weekend.

 GNH boats are a Region Six treasure. We enjoy a plethora of the "Groundpounders". (thanks Bob Blazer) This week we had seven on hand and ready to rumble. Having said that, the question was, could anybody catch Cal Phipps (GNH-41) Dalton Industries/Too Hot? Steve Kuhr (GNH-317) Irishman came the closest with his perfect starts and new skid fin. Alas, Super Cal still grounded the field into sawdust as usual. My friends, there may be better shoes than Cal, but we haven't seen them. After Cal (GNH-41) and Steve (GNH-317) Joe Kreitzer (GNH-515) One Way and Jeff Sankuer  (GNH-6) Showtime took thirds. Yes, the ground was pounded.

GP boats got a major boost when Huey Newport and Bert Henderson (GP-777) Steeler decided to come on down to try and up the 5 mile/5lap competition record. Hootie Wolfe (GP-93) Renegade, Joe Sovie (GP-79) Bad Influence, Mario Miraldo (GP-59) Baby Doll, Jerry Hopp (GP-15) Happy Go Lucky and John Grigg (GP-52) Wannabe joined in to put six fire breathing dragons on the course. Speed and noise babeee. Bert (GP-777) dominated every heat and yes, they upped the record to 112.768 mph. Impressive! Mike Monahan (GP-93) jumped in Hootie's boat to take two strong seconds with Jerry Hopp (GP-15) and Joe (GP-79) taking thirds. These guys made a big impression on the fans as they do everywhere.

Well gang, that's the way we saw it. (meaning that we have seen no official results to double check so we apologize for any mistakes) Waterford is always a fine regatta and this event came at a perfect time to restore confidence that APBA racing will be booming again soon. We've got the boats, we just need to get em up and running like this weekend. Finally J and Fae were long time teachers so we love the Rainbow Connection and we wish nothing but good times for the kids in need. No event has a better purpose than that. Yes folks, Waterford rocked!   See ya at Celina   J and Fae