Sheesh Boyd, a little demanding for a Monday morning after a great weekend of racing!
So without further adieu....
The 2007 race season began with a "bang" as approx. 100 boats were on hand for the milestone in the annals of boat racing. The historic event started off with a Parade through Parker ending back at the Bluewater Resort & Casino where the "Show & Shine" took place. The Potluck was the next facet of the event with over 150 racers, families and crew's partaking in some of the tastiest Thanksgiving with ALL and I mean ALL the Trimmin's. A special Thank You to our BGJ and Crew or shall I call him "Emeril" as he proceeded to deep fry to perfection 10 great Turkeys (injected with his special sauce- no comments from the peanut gallery on this one).
A HUGE Thank You should also be extolled to Kara Poe who organized the Parade, Show and Shine, and the Awards Banquet Saturday Night- all parts made the event a tremendous success!
The Racing got underway on Friday and moved right along with some side by side racing heats in the K Class (Guthrie and Scarlata), Cracker Box, GN, Pro Stock and Super Stock as well as both Nostalgia classes. With two incidents breifly stopping the race action (a stock outboard hydroplane and Scott Houghton and Brandon Brodecki in the Cracker Box Class- all parties were unhurt and boats were fixed and run on Sunday). The overcast skies cleared and by 2:00 p.m. the Sun was shining and the racing getting even better.
Saturday started by picking up the last 8 heats that were postponed on Friday starting precisely at 8:05 a.m. and then rolling into Saturday's schedule. The weather was near perfect 75 degrees with light variable winds that didn't get over 5 mph that is until late in the day. The action continued with some great notable races:
In the Crackerboxes once again it was the team Steve Tustison and Jeff Hansen in the P-74 coming from dead last again, weaving their way through traffic and mostly out of the water to within a 1/4 straightaway of Matt Bookey in the P-44 in Friday's Final and then taking the checkered again on Saturday.
The GN race showed that Grich/Marrone in the 305 Plan B have it going on and dialed in but Cucci, who failed to light at the start battled back the entire 20 lap main event to catch "The Nightmare" Greg Gluck in GN113 and look to take on the 305! It was great to see the 711 of Arlene Bohenna with driver Skip Tuttle on the water along with recent step of Bill Martin in GN6!
Scarlata & Kinnamon dominated the K class in the "Traffic Cone" all weekend with "guru" "burping" the throttle to the exhuberant fans on their feet up and down the beach! John Guthrie Jr. provided some great competition along with Chris Kenner driving for Pat Breazeale in the 66 and Larry Dalhoff in the 17. So the high points chase is underway and Scarlata is looking for a repeat, well see how the season progresses!
The Super Stock Class had "Fast Lane Fitzgerald" in the all Yellow Capsule Super driving for Jeff Brocheuser in the former "Money Monster" boat. He was "hooked up" and never looked back dominating the field but it should be noted that Rob Devine in SS-6 and Dan Bertone in "BroadMinded" (who by the way took 1st and 2nd at the "show and shine" with both of his boats)continue to show major improvement in driving!
The Pro Stocks had 11 as the start of the weekend with Dale Hernandez Jr. coming out from the frozen St. Paul, Minnesota driving the PS 690 and finishing 2nd overall but Chris Kenner driving the newly painted all black "Loud and Proud" PS681 took the overall all title for the weekend. Mike Lee returned with a vengeance after a 1 year hiatus and finished a respectable 3 overall. Motor problems plagued Jeff Wooton and "The Rocket" PS 346. It should also be noted that Brad Allerton driving Grumpy II for dad Bud Allerton continues to make strides in both driving and set up along with Heith Heibert PS18 who unfortunately fell into a hole and turned it over before the start of the Pro-Stock final on Saturday.
The Nostalgia Flats continue to have great numbers and with just a few "break outs" the team of Dave Laws and Nick Granger driving the P24 Cracker Jack of Greg Falconer took the top spot for the weekend with Skip Ewing in the 140 in 2nd and newcomer Jason Stacy in the 303 of brother Lee taking the 3rd position.
Nostalgia Endurance had a new champion for the weekend with Mike Johnson driving Bill Martin's #6 to victory with "Father Nostalgia" himself Jim Best in the GN141 claiming 2nd and the 48 of John Lane in 3rd.
Congratulations to all teams that participated in the 60th Annual Thanksgiving Regatta and with some minor delays and incidents were able to finish a great weekend of racing. Thanks also go out to the fans that came out to support this great event!
Here are the overall results:
Postion Driver/Owner Boat # Hometown
KRR
1st Tony Scarlata/Craig Kinnamon K5 Big Sky Mont.
2nd Chris Kenner/Pat Breazeale K66 Glendale, AZ
3rd Larry Dalhoff K17 Big River, CA
Pro Stock
1st Chris Kenner/Jeff Brocheuser PS681 "Loud & Proud" Chico, CA
2nd Dale Hernandez Jr. PS 690 St. Paul, MN
3rd Mike Lee PS 89 "Flat Crazy", Bullhead City, AZ
Super Stock
1st Paul Fitzgerald/Jeff Brocheuser SS68 "Loud & Proud", Chico, CA
2nd Chris Kenner/Mike Beard, SS63 Herriman, UT
3rd Dan Bertone SS 29 "Broad Minded" Azuza, CA
Grand National
1st Paul Grichar/Ben Marrone GN305 "Plan B", Arcadia, CA
2nd Joey Cucci/Ted Kolby GN23 "The Bodysnatcher" Playa Del Rey, CA
3rd Greg Gluck GN113 "The Nightmare, Sebring, FL
Cracker Box
1st Steve Tustison/Jeff Hansen/Fritsche P74 "Hot Wire" Vancouver, WA
2nd Mike Leach/Peter Ditto/Jim Smith/Ed Solis "Miss Suncoast" P 9, Chino Hills, CA
3rd Matt Bookey/Brett Marshall/Tom Patterson P44 "The Sparkler" Boulder City, NV
Nostalgia Flat
1st Dave Laws/Nick Granger/Greg Falconer P-24 "Cracker Jack" La Palma, CA
2nd Skip Ewing 140, Phelan, CA
3rd Jason Stacy 303, Lakewood, CA
Nostalgia Endurance
1st Mike Johnson/Bill Martin 6 Glendora, CA
2nd Jim Best 141 Pinion Hills, CA
3rd John Lane/John Roth 48 Bellflower, CA
We'll see you all at Lake Ming in March 2007! Now it's time for a well deserved break!
Ross Wallach, Race Director/President SCSC