Western Divisionals a HUGE Success

[AOFoffice]

The boats came from everywhere for the July 1-2 Western Divisionals (S-M-P-I) in Newport, WA/Oldtown, ID. Racing started early and ended late each day to accomodate the large number of entries. Many new champions were crowned and once the finishes are received in the office, -or if someone wants to chime in with them-we will get them posted.
Thank you Stateline for a safe race and to all who supported this great race.
AOF Office

[Jerkizoid]

With out a doubt a fun race and great people in and around this event, but the nastiest water conditions we have ever raced in. May be others may want to sugar coat it but how many flips or near crashes did we have? Not stirring up things without reason, safety is always my first concern, but lets be truthful. Anyone dare do that?

[AOFoffice]

Thanks Robin for the update.
I recieved 6 phone calls during and after the race and then a bunch of emails. Each and every email talked about the great race and all of the FUN that was had. No one mentioned bad water conditions.
The FUN must have outweighed the water conditions, and in the end, that is usually what we remember anyway.
It sounds like we are lucky no one was hurt and that there were no serious accidents.
I have been to that race course and know the current can be an item. We were there in July once and the snow was still melting off the mountains which made for very cold water. I believe that factor kept the racing safe as no one wanted to go for a swim in that water. The georgeous scenary made up for it though. Adding in all of the factors including weather, I guess there isn't that perfect race course anywhere.
Office

[pro350hydro]

Sorry all for the late reply. I am trying to rest up after this last weekend. It was a great weekend overall. We had a great turnout, great racing, and HOT weather. Connie is right, it was a great success. Many new winners, a couple drivers got wet (I think they were just trying to cool off), a rookie parked a boat on the beach, and everyone had a blast.


MrsJerk, Not quite sure what you meant about the nastiest water conditions you've ever raced in. I have raced in worse water @ Banks Lake. You now the same turn your husband wrecked in and he has said that place is not safe to race anymore. But, I never heard him complain this weekend. Remember, you are on a river which is constanly moving. Call this sugar coating if you like, but it's was not bad water. If we can run pro outboards @ newport, than you can run your boats.

Thanks to all who showed up and helped make this last weekend such a great success.

Mike Sattler
AOF VP of Comp

[Jerkizoid]

MrsJerk, Not quite sure what you meant about the nastiest water conditions you've ever raced in. I have raced in worse water @ Banks Lake. You now the same turn your husband wrecked in and he has said that place is not safe to race anymore.



Mike Sattler
AOF VP of Comp[/QUOTE]


Dear Mike, I just cant let you misquote Boyd! He said, "any turn like Banks #3, that has only FIVE feet of water is very dangerous especially when thrown out head first". He was very lucky he didnt break his neck.
Banks can be fixed by moving that turn in to deeper water and away from those rocks Kevin hit! Some of your racers seemed to me to have been very lucky last weekend.

[holeshot racing II]

Western Divisionals

This event was a huge success, we had five to ten boats in most classes. The weather was hot, and the racing was great. I would like to thank all for there help both on and off the course. The water conditions were no different than any other race site. Sometimes the wind comes up and the water gets alittle rough. We had a couple of people get wet(myself included)and safety was our top prority. We had some new faces in the winners circle this weekend and that was great too. Overall great fun both on and off the course. Again thank you too all!!!!

Terry Fiorelli

[Kevin Martin]

i too agree, great race!!!

great weather, fun people, the water to me seemed fine, and actually i thought everyone got through it fine, when robin refers to alot of our guys being lucky to get through it ok, really i think that comes down to experience on moving bodies of water. we have all raced here for years, on water just like this, experience in those conditions is a must. thank you robin for your concern, i assure you your concerns are noted. i think from the beach it looked far worse than actually being in the boat, i know it did to me. thanks for a job well done once again by all the volunteers for this event, really seemed to me to go off well. from the aof safety directors point of view, i thought the racing conditions, and the work of the rescue boats was well within reason, and well organized. kevin martin