First Ever WCOR Race!

[Al Peffley]

West Coast Outboard Racing (WCOR) and AOF will be sponsoring a "Race Against Drugs" Special Event at Woodland, Washington, on June 22, 2008 (a Sunday.) The race will feature five (5) classes of hydroplanes (Novice, CSH, OSY 400, C-Mod, and "Open" classes.) We will run a "modified" (drawing numbers for beach position) LeMans Start (like UIM.) The open class will be composed of only pro and mod hydros (good practice for UIM in Florida this fall.) The race wil be conducted on a 3/4-mile closed-course, not approved for records. Medalions for 1st through 3rd place in each class will be awarded after the race.

The Woodland Planters Days Festival Committee is co-sponsoring the event. There will be lots of food, fun, and family entertainment there besides some interesting boat racing. Let's give them a real taste of the best outboard hydro racing teams on the West Coast. Come on out and plan on having some fun with us in June! The site is at Horseshoe Lake, which is right next to the I-5 freeway between Portland, OR and Longview, WA. Should be an interesting event for all.

Al Peffley
R-25

[Al Peffley]

WCOR Race Planning Update

Hi Northwest Boat Racers,

The AOF/WCOR Planters Days race in Woodland, WA is still scheduled for June 22nd. We could use some experienced help in conducting the race. We need a Referee and a Risk Manager. Email me if you are not racing anymore and would be willing to help us out for the afternoon on Sunday. The race will be a "low-stress" event...

Al Peffley
team_excalibur@hotmail.com

[Al Peffley]

Can You Support this Race?

We are still going ahead with the racing special event in June. The Cowlitz-Wahkaikum Meth Action Team is planning to have an information booth at the event. There will be a racer's drawing for a camper's barbeque.

Northwest Racers - Please come out to Woodland, Washington, and join us to Race Against Drugs on Sunday, June 22nd at 9:00 am (for the Driver's Meeting and race day startup.) The pit area is first class! This special event is sponsored by AOF, WCOR, and local businesses in Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon. Join us for some racing fun and to support a good cause in the fight against drugs.

Please send me an email message to my address below to receive the Official Woodland Regatta Information Sheet (I will email it, or snail-mail it to you on request).

Al Peffley
team_excalibur@hotmail.com

[Al Peffley]

More Info on Woodland

The AOF sanction application for this race has been mailed to HQ for the insurance cert. The District 1 Cowlitz EMS unit truck will be there with two EMTs, as well as the Woodland EMT river rescue boat with crew. Thank you to all of those of you who have volunteered to help out. I changed the CSH race to CSR since we are already running OSY 400 (C-Lights), and we have a bigger group of CSR runabout drivers locally now.

I am especially looking forward to real pipes on those C-Mods (I'll bring mine)! Pro or Mod hydros, you will be guaranteed three (or more) heats on Sunday. If a class can't get going in its alotted time (and there will be ample time to run the five featured classes; we might split the open class into Pro and D-mod if enough boats show up), then we will start running the next class.

Come out and have some real fun at Horseshoe Lake where the water is always calm (EXTREMELY LOW CHANCE OF BLOW-OFF), and the race site is right next to the freeway with excellent hot pits, a good group of grateful spectators from the festival, lots of family things to do, and a beautiful park!
See ya there...

Al Peffley
Planter's Days Race Against Drugs, Race Director
(360) 423-4668

[Al Peffley]

Race Information Update

Hello Racers!

The special event insurance purchased through the AOF Home Office (thanks Rod & Russ) is confirmed with the City of Woodland. We now have a diver requested for some exciting tunnel boat racing added to the venue. We will run 45SS/SST 45 as a separate class if enough racers in that class show up on Sunday to race. Tunnel Boat Racers - please RSVP, so we can confirm we need the diver. Thank you again to all of you who have volunteered to help at this race.

See Ya There,
Al Peffley
Race Director

[JBM]

WCOR race

Al, Is there any pre regestering for the race? How about a roll call?
John

[Al Peffley]

Roll Call Please

Sorry, no pre-registration process has been set up. Those racers that plan on attending the Woodland Race Against Drugs should show up at 8:00 am at the pits for registration. The race is designed to promote the Meth Action and Substance Abuse Teams' missions and to raise money for AJ Patnode. We also plan to have some fun. I will be there with my C-Mod hydro (the Pro boat motor needs some "fixin").

AJ is a local Woodland boy with a severe disease that causes his muscles to contract to his bones -- this condition has left him totally immobile. AJ must be cared for by his family 24/7, so we are also raising some money through this race for AJ.

Please come out and support these two good causes with us.

Al Peffley

[Jason Diamond]

45sst

Diamond Racing will be there with both of our 45's.

[Al Peffley]

Two Divers

We now have two divers who have volunteered to support this race.

Al

[Al Peffley]

Woodland Race Results

First - A big THANK YOU to the City of Woodland, the Woodland Planters' Days Committee, Woodland Fire Department, Woodland Police Department, Cowlitz Dive Team, Cowlitz District #1 EMS ambulance crew, the Patnode Family (they helped set up the race course), JH Kelly Construction, Kelso Hardware & Marine, AOF Headquarters (Russ Bircher & Rod Black), Les Schwab of Longview, and the Cowlitz Meth Action Team for providing direct sponsorship and needed materials to conduct this special racing event in Woodland, WA. Races were conducted in Woodland 30 years ago, but this is the first race approved by the City since then.

The weather cleared up by 10:00 a.m. and was beautiful for the rest of the day. The all-volunteer AOF and local staff worked VERY hard to comply with the overall race safety objectives, race management and conduct tasks, and risk managment/insurance requirements in a busy festival operating environment.

It was somewhat disappointing that we only had drivers show up for two classes, 45SS and Modified Hydro, but the 300+ fans on the beach loved to watch our drivers run eight heats from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. The spectators had close-up viewing of the whole race course and even clapped after most heats. Many of the race spectators never left their seats in the stands and park viewing areas during the race support crews' lunch break!

The race was covered by three major local newspapers in Southwest Washington and four professional photographers. Boat racing in the northwest got some real good PR, thanks to those racers from Washington and Oregon who supported and committed to this special racing event.

The Cowlitz Meth Action Team had around 100 booth visitors, and we raised some money for A.J. Patnode's family to help take care of A.J. A.J. has a severe birth defect called "Arthogryposis" and can only move a few of his fingers on one hand to communicate via a special computer that was designed just for him; he cannot move his head or any of his disfigured appendages. For nine years A.J. has lived in this immobile condition (they only expected him originally to live 2 months!). He and his family an inspiration to us all!

Winners were Jason Diamond in 45SS class and John Maroney in Modified Hydro class. The pristine 3/4-mile course is similar in shape and width to the Newberg, Oregon race course. The clear water ranged from 18 feet deep at the shallow end to 28 feet deep at the other end. A great place to race small tunnel boats and Mod's!

Al Peffley