PRO Nationals 2009

[bos9]

Holy Buckets,
25 straight years of the Pro Nationals on Beautiful Lake DePue. The Men's Club and the U.S. Title Series working together putting on the best darn Race in the Country. Fuel will be delivered on Tuesday. It is $180.00 a drum plus a $20 deposit. The drivers party is on Wednesday night. The banquet is at the Peru Eagles again. I'm hoping to have a shuttle van to get us from the pits to the banquet and back. Once again we are putting the 5th wheels in between the beer stand and the bathrooms. IF SOMETHING IS IN THE WAY WE WILL MOVE IT..... Park down by the water and put it in a neat order. Talk with me before leaving Constantine Sunday night. If you need anything shipped for that week you can use my address. Call or email me to let me know if you have something coming so we can look for it. 815-447-2090 or bos9@comcast.net
For people bringing their dogs, please dont walk them in the park or let them run loose. KEEP them in the pits. If you have a four wheeler or scooter dont ride it in the park, if ou need to go down by the clock to get times, ride it on the street where the vendros are parked. They are NOT to be drive up to Casey's or the Giants Den. Speaking of the Den, Angie will be open for her famous breakfast during the week and on the weekend she will have a buffett. Stop in and tell Angie I sent you.
For people needing a shuttle to DePue or back to the airport, there is a service that runs out of DePue now. It is called Sedan Shuttle Service Owner is Jack Spanos. He can be reached at 815-878-5808. Call him and tell him that Paulie had put his name out.He is a 24/7 service. Reserve a ride before you forget.....
As always, the towns people are buzzing with racing fever. Spots have already been spray painted in the park. The Men's Club and the Village are looking forward to seeing everyone. Have a safe trip to Constantie and then to the BEST **** RACE COURSE AND RACE TOWN in the Country. See you in a few days....
Big Pal....


Casey's is also running a few specials. .......
Pepsi 12 packs 2/$6 ore $4.79 each
Longhorn $.30 off (ESPECIALLY FOR YOU NIC)
Doritos 14 oz. All Varieties $3.49 each
Red Bull 12 oz 2 for $6
2 lg single topping pizza for $19.99
2 med single topping pizza for $17.99
Vitamin Water 32 oz. 2 for $4.00
Gatorade 32 oz all Varieties 2/$3.50


Please stop in and support them while you are here.

[Nilsen Racing]

Thank you

Thanks Paulie to you, the DePue Men's Club, and everyone else involved for all that you do putting on the PRO Nationals. See you Monday or Tuesday.

Nilsen Racing

[PETEG]

Since I am somewhat familiar with putting on a race, I say kudos to the Men's Club for their 25 years of GREAT programs. See you guys in about 10days

[depuefan]

There is no doubt that the Village of DePue is very excited for next week. This event means so much to the town. Many families plan to come home for the nationals and spend the week meeting up with old friends and watching some great racing. Many of us have great friendships with many of the racers and of course we cant wait to cheer on our home town boys! See you next week and good luck to all those to going to Constantine this weekend!

[diamondprohydro]

We are in Des Moines, Iowa on our way. Can't wait to see our friends and of course, the race we would drive across the country year after year to go to. Thanks for all you do!

[Al Peffley]

Settled In and Getting Ready

The Depue beach spots are filling up since Sunday night, and the weather is cooler than in past years. It's been a decade since we've raced at Depue. Lots of Asian carp are jumping in the lake and there are some downed branches in the brownish water from the last storm, but the lake level is down from earlier this month. We are settled in to register tomorrow and test on Wednesday. Parking the trailer was painless. Thanks for the Sunday staging assistance and friendly help getting us settled into the pits! Should be a great 25th year of PRO Nats racing if the weather cooperates all weekend.

Al

[epugh66]

My parents should be camped beneath a big tree by Monday or Tuesday, stop and say hello. They should be the only ones in a VW Bus.

[Brew56]

Eric,

Good to hear your parents are well. My Dad and yours have many things in common (wood) and used to share many stories together. Tell him Jack Brewster said hello when he returns.

Thanks,
Jerry

[Al Peffley]

Second Day of Testing Done

Day two of testing is completed at Lake Depue. The mass quantities of jumping Asian Carp is incredible! We had one capsule boat that came back in with a live carp inside the rear cowling when the hydro stopped abruptly in the back stretch after sticking number one piston. I had one carp jump at my helmet while being towed in yesterday.

Today it rained after testing was over, and the daytime temperatures are 20 degrees cooler for this part of the US in late July. Scheduled racing starts tomorrow. The motor "gremlins" were very busy today, causing all types of failures on the PRO boat racing community's hardware. The fireflies are really cool to watch in the corn fields at night. Our first attempt at video taping a couple of testing runs failed; we will try again on Sunday (a remote on-off camera switch would be nice...)

Al

[Al Peffley]

Day One of Racing at Depue

Diane Murray stuffed her PRO laydown hydro in early testing and destroyed the boat; she is OK but has some serious pain from a nasty left hand cut and some bruises; her helmet did not have strap rings or straps and was thrown from her head like a football. She jumped two wakes, stuffed the entire frontal area of the boat; it looked like she broke through the side of the cokpit and then landed on the entire right deck surfaces back to the transom before being finally tossed into the water on the opposite side from her floating helmet. We were really worried because we could not see her head from the shore, just the floating debris and her floating helmet until she bobbed to the surface and raised one arm up.

BJ Tetro blew over his 'Betta 175ccH in the first pin of corner 1 during the first heat today; his helmet restraint straps broke on water impact and he also lost his helmet as he was thrown from the boat (one of the rivets for the strap rings that Simpson installed also failed.) BJ is sore, but OK, and his Betta boat took the 180-degree flip beating with pretty minimal damage after ending upside down in the first corner. Ralph D. placed second in 175ccH for the national title -- he beat all of the remaining competitors, including Buddy Tennell, by quite a margin in the last two heats -- the big grin on his face after the last heat was priceless.

500ccH racing was very exciting with Hall dominating the field in the final heat and McKean and Thirlby chasing Doug and a solid-blue capsule boat with V-350 number (Jake Walk, I thought, won the first heat). Derek's new capsule 500ccH hydro, equipped with Brian's new VRP motor, looked good; however, after changing the complete ignition system from PVL to MSD they were plagued with a stuck piston on the same cylinder yesterday in testing and today in the first heat of racing.

Neilson and Zak both ran well in the service classes. Region 10 drivers dominated the service hydro and runabout classes.

The guy that won the first two heats of 175ccR had his motor quit in the third heat for a DNF. Amy Nydahl lost control in turn one and was ejected from her 125cc runabout, but came back again to run and finish in the 175cc hydro class.

Quite a few people went swimming today due to bizarre circumstances, and we had a number of stuck motors and broken pipes during both morning testing and afternoon racing. We had some minor wind gusts, but basically a cool (high 70's/ low 80's temperature), mostly sunny, and not very humid day here. The Black Diamond Rescue divers did an excellent job today, responding quickly to the outcomes of each accident.

There are 19 250ccH entries this year. We race on Sunday...

Al

[David Weaver]

Corrections

Buddy Tennell is National Champ in 175 hydro and 125 Runabout. Ralph Donald ran great, but a poor finish in heat 1 left him second overall. Amy went out of her 125 runabout. Jake Walk is V-350 and put in a heck of an effort with Yamato powered boat.

[HRTV]

Pair of racers grab 4 of 5 power boat titles handed out on DePue’s first day

<a href=http://shar.es/z2vf>Jumping off to fast starts - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com</a><br /><br />Posted using <a href="http://sharethis.com">ShareThis</a>

[Al Peffley]

An Apology is in Order

Sorry Buddy, I did not purposely mean to mis-report your 175ccR national title win. I thought Ralph came in second in the first heat; I was incorrect. Congratulations to both you and Ralph for winning and placing, respectively, in a great 175ccR race.

Al

[HRTV]

Doubling down at Lake DePue - bcrnews.com

<img alt="" src="http://www.bcrnews.com/articles/2009/08/01/r_1hxic0xoscaqudr3fmueaw/1-depue-kh-1.jpg" class="aligncenter" width="400" height="158" />
David Jones of Oxford, Conn., has the nose of his boat going up, but was able to maintain control in Friday’s DePue races. (BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus)

<a href="http://www.bcrnews.com/articles/2009/08/01/r_1hxic0xoscaqudr3fmueaw/index.xml">Full article Link </a>

[Composite Specialties]

350cc Hydro Finals

From the pits:

First heat of 350cc Hydro:
1st David Mitchell, MJR/GRM
2nd Jeff Kuglar VRP
3rd Chris Hellsten, Mostis/GRM

Second heat of 350cc Hydro:
1st Chris Hellsten, Mostis/GRM
2nd David Mitchell, MJR/GRM
3rd Jeff Kuglar VRP

Final heat of 350cc Hydro:
1st Chris Hellsten, Mostis/GRM
2nd Jeff Kuglar VRP
3rd David Mitchell, MJR/GRM

Overall for the National Championship of 350cc Hydro:
1st Chris Hellsten, Mostis/GRM
2nd David Mitchell, MJR/GRM
3rd Jeff Kuglar VRP