Count Down to Speed Week

[David Weaver]

IN about 5 days, the annual USTS Speed Week begins with a full weekend of action at Constantine followed by the PRO Nationals in DePue the next weekend. Both races will be full of excitement, sportsmanship and tough competition. Testing begins around 10 AM at Constantine on Friday.

You must register prior to testing!!!!

Also remember the World 175cc Championships are being held at DePue. This class will make have its inagural season with APBA in 2006. Of ourse, this will also be the last Nationa Championship season for RB Hydro, which will be retired folliwng the 2005 season.

Hope that many people will show-up and support our races!

[David Weaver]

Constantine - Fiday, Saturday

Good first day of racing followed Friday's day of testing.

From memory here are the winners and numbers of boats:

350H - Mark Stahl (9)
250R - Mike Krier (12)
125H - Curt Hellsten (15)
500H - Sean McKean (7)
500R - Mike Thirlby (7)
KPRO - Erin Barth (4) Leads after 2 of 4 heats

Great racing all day. Final heat of 125 with ten boats was a great race with 8 boats hitting the first turn at the same time.

More later.

[epugh66]

thanks for the update Dave. Any more news?

[YankeeRacing]

Until David gets on here and gives his eloquent renditon of the weekend that we all wait for, I will chime in and give a short version. Races were great. 97 entries, approx. Hot weather on Saturday, but a breeze. Sunday was hot with some gusty winds, but nothing to be alarmed about. No one hurt and some fast close racing. I can't tell you who won what as I either wasn't paying attention to the action (grin) or I am just getting old and can't remember. I do know that David is probably getting glasses as we speak as he did jump the gun in one heat.
USTS does a super job as well as Joe at the VFW in Constantine. Can't wait until David gets on here to give us some results.
A good indication that DePue will be one that you won't want to miss, even as a spectator.
It was nice seeing old friends like Val Collins (Boat Kitten) and all of the rest from around the country. The Payn family also feels priviledged to have Jordan Swain now running our CSH-OSY rig. Look for some big things out of Jordan. Not only is he a great Indiana Football Star, he will be the next super CSH driver as well. Who knows, maybe he will "graduate" into a 125 before long too!
Connie

[888race]

I have to tell you

David if you don't jump the gun every now and then then you are not tying hard enough . I am proud of you , now put it together in depue good luck

[David Weaver]

More on Constantine

Sunday was terribly hot with a heat index well over 100!! So much for a trip to Michigan to get away from the heat.

Denny Henderson beat Chris Hellsten on time in 250 hydro. After 4 heats, the 16 entries were reduced to 12 for the final heat. Yes, I did in fact jump the gun!! Only chance at the podium was to win the last heat, but I got to the start line a little early. Chris and Denny had an incredible battle in the last heat which Chris managed to win. But Denny had the better overall elapsed time over three heats. I am not sure who took third. I know Brad Barth stole the start in second heat and took an impressive victory. But in the process, he damaged his lower unit. This took him out of contention unfortunately. Rough water made this some tough racing and it is amzing that everyone could compete hard and finish upright. With probably another 6-8 250's expected at the nationals, look for an incredible show!!

350 runabouts put on great show also with 14 boats again requiring split heats to set a 12 boat final. I believe that Mike Thirlby squeezed out the win by a few points over Paul Fuschlin and Mike Krier. If I recall correctly, there were 4 different heat winners in 5 heats. This is a fantastic class and their nationals will be an incredible duel!!

1100 hydro's, all jumped the gun in the first heat. Brandon Thirlby stole the start in heat 2 and never was pressed as he took the win. Remember that Sunday at the Nationals, these guys will be racing for $2,000!!!! Think they will push the starts again?

Tim Small swept the 125 class, taking first in runabout and hydro. Jerry Davids has his 125 runabout running very well, but took a wild ride in the final heat, as he was pitched-out on the front stretch. No harm to either Jerry or the boat.

BJ Tetro won OSY400 over a small field of boats. These guys and gals really floated their rigs running straight into the wind. Only great concentration and skill kept their boats from flipping over.

I believe that Erin Barth might have won KPRO's, but I lost track on Sunday. Kyle Anderson rolled his boat over in the turn, but was not injured.

So now we are at DePue!! There are a lot of boats here as of Monday and I expect that pits will be packed by Wednesday. This shold be one hell of a racing week. The DePue mens club is tireless and we appreciate their efforts!!

DW

[David Weaver]

More on Constantine

Sunday was unbelieveably HOT!!! So much for cooling off for a few days before DePue. Leaving the pits Sunday night, it was still 99 degrees. Felt like 110 degrees during racing. The engines were affected greatly by ythe higher temps. By my count, there about 98 entries, before scratches. A good field of boats.

Brain Payne had no luck in 125 runabout. Tim Small and Jerry Davids had great races until Jerry blew his boat over on the front stretch. The boat landed upright and Jerry walked into his pits. Tim gave Jerry the scenic route and I heard that Jerry claimed that Tim turned a 1 mile course into a 1 2/3 mile course!! Tim took a well deserved win. Jerry still took second overall followed by Buddy Tennell and Kristi, the President.

250 hydro was a real battle with 16 boats entered. Denny Henderson beat out Chris Hellsten on time in a classic match-up that would renew at DePue the following week. Rob Erbel ran very well for a 3rd place finish with his Mac. Brad Barth had 2 great heats including a heat win, but blew his lower unit after heat 2. Switching gear ratio's really hurt his chances in the final, but he took 4th overall.

All 1100 hydro's jumped the gun in the first heat, leading to a winner take all final. Brandon Thirlby showed them around the second heat for the overall win. Mark gryz came in second with David Hooten finishing 3rd.

350 runabout was a great duel amongst several boats capable of winning. I believe that there were 3 drivers taking a heat win over the 4 heats. Barry Anderson got a good win heat 1A. Mike Thirlby got the overall win with Paul Fucshlin taking 2nd. Mike krier overcome a poor first heat to finish 3rd and Barry claimed a respectable 4th.

William tetro won OSY400 over Dianne Murray and Tom Doss.

Erin Barth is finishing-up her KPRO career and took a nice win over two days. Brother Ryan chased her hard and ended-up second with Brennen Burkland placing thrid.

Once again, another wonderful event in Constantine. A super dinner on Saturday night featuring the pork barbecue prepared by Tom kirts. Thanks to Tom and Danny for all their help. Good crowds again this year. We appreciate all the efoorts of Joe, the VFW and the boy scouts who were raising money for troops returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Looking forward to returning again next year.

Saturday's Top 3

125H - Tim Small, Ralph Donald, Curt Hellsten
350H - Mark Stahl (nice dunking!!), Mark Hall, David Weaver
250R - Mike Krier, Chris Hellsten, Brandon Thirlby
500H - Sean McKean, Doug Hall, Brandon Thirlby
500R - Mike Thirlby, Paul Fucshlin and Nick Noethe