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During the meeting, Robby Galletta of REV-2 a company that cleans up polluted lakes and streams was there and I asked him to take a few minutes to speak as Robby sponsors the Top Hydro on the last day of the nationals. Robby brought the crowd of drivers to a place many of us have never been to before, as he announced he and Debra Eldrege Galletta and his company REV-2 were donating 21,500.00 to be spread across the open classes, with 10,000.00 reserved for top hydro on Sunday, with 11 Top Hydros ready to do battle for 6,000.00 going to the Top Hydro driver. WOOOOOOOEEEEEE>>>>>>Thanks Robby.
The day dawned cold and rainy as the meeting began, and turned colder as the morning went on with a steady light rain. The fans had already begun to gather along the fence for the days racing as we did start tesing at about 10:15. Before the session ende, Kyle Deptula in Duke Johnson's CRH Antique Div. went over in the first turn right at the end of testing.
Opening exercises took place with the National Anthem, a prayer, and opening remarks by the President of the Village Eric Bryant, and the President of the Depue Men’s Club, Steve Solario. Our thanks to both, who have been long time supporters of the Pro Category of racing and especially to the U.S. Title Series. Eric was out at the mouth of the River exit from the lake yesterday, putting the finishing touches on a temporary dam to keep the water level at a very good spot for the weekend.
We started off with a bit of a change in the schedule as the wind was blowing pretty good and we hit the water with OSY 400 and then CRH first heats. We ran them and then decided to pull the plug for a bit, turned out to be about 2-1/2 hours to let the front go through. All of the classes were finished today once we were able to get back to racing.
In OSY-400, Braxton Miller and Todd Anderson traded heat wins in the first and second heats, setting up what would be a fight to the finish for the 3rd heat, never happened as Todd was not able to run the 3rd heat and Braxton was to only have to finish to get the 1st 2014 National Title for the USTS Nationals. Young Brandon Mills put on a great drive to finish in the second spot, and fought a gallant battle with Braxton for the 3rd and final heat, as Braxton caught up with Brandon at the 500 foot bouy to take the overall.
Miller
Mills
Anderson
In CRH first heat, we had one, count em, one legal boat, Kyle Deptula, you remember the guy that flipped in the testing incident???? His crew, lead by Walt and Duke Johnson worked their magic and brought that ole bird back to life and Kyle won that heat. In the second and final heat Kyle just needed to finish, as JJ Walls coming down the front straightway decided it was a great spot in front of the huge crowd to blow it over. You must search out the pictures from the News Tribune cameraman, as he captured it from beginning to end, with JJ prone to the water face down and he hit. He looked like Superman as he pushed away from the hydro to get out of the boats way. JJ was okay and returned to racing later on today.
Kyle only had to finish the second heat as I said and well finish he did as he took the title over Carl Williams and Jack Campbell who finished 3rd.
Deptula
Williams
Campbell
In the K-Pro division, can you say Jackson Hall 3 times, that is how many times I called him the winner of the 3 heats of K-Pro today. Brianna Payn, the 2013 Champ just could not catch Jackson as he put 3 great heats together with Parker Thirlby doing an outstanding job, and Brianna working hard for a 3rd overall.
Hall
Thirlby
Payn
In 125R, call it heartbreak by and joy by 2. JJ Walls picked up a win in the first heat when Travis Ellison, leading in the first heat, had a breakdown in his steering and the boat took a sharp turn to the left, spun and came back across the straightway, but stayed upright and Travis in the boat, how I will never know. Travis was very frustrated by that turn of events and was animated in the boat immediately after it happened. Tim Small also frustrated driving the Ed Provini entrant had the engine load up on him in the different heats, but Tim driving the super fast entry worked his way to the podium. Jackson Hall driving both in the K-Pro and the 125R, in this flight, decided to do a face first roll over in the first turn, but was able to get back in the K-Pro and win as you see above. As for heartbreak and joy, JJ Walls who won the first heat, then finished second to Travis in the second, saw his win all go away as he came to a halt in the chute as the engine died and Travis went on to collect another heat win and the title over all. Interesting thing here is Uncle Chris, brother Kevin, and Mom Kristi all won championships at the APBA Nationals and Travis not wanting to left out, won at the USTS Nationals.
Ellison
Walls
Small
The big 700R’s lead of the second half of our program and Andrew Thirlby gave the other drivers a clinic on how to run and break records. The USTS has GPS co ordinates on every course we run and Andrew beat the old record by 12.5 seconds in the second heat, as Dad Mike was pushing him for the top spot in that heat. Andrew won the first two heats, but Derek Gessler was not going to let him get to the perfect 1200 points as he took the third heat, as a great start and speed kept Derek out front.
In CSR, JJ Walls added another trophy to the case as he finished with 2 heat wins over Duke Johnson and Karl Williams. It was a real emotional day for and old friend in Duke as his nephew Kyle wins in the CRH for him driving Duke’s equipment and then Duke finishes 2nd for what he called the best weekend of racing ever for him at Depue, and he has been coming here since 1962. Duke thanked anyone and everyone for a great start to the weekend.
Walls
Johnson
Williams.
In the 500H which also paid 1000.00 to win 8 hydro’s started the first heat, with David Hooten taking an immediate lead in the first heat, only to have a catastrophic failure in the bottom corner and end his day. Doug Hall the defending champ had the engine go south and Sean McKean unable to start the heat opened the door to Tom Adkins who finished out front of Ike Yoder and Mark Gryskiewicz and Ike Yoder. Doug came back in the second heat as well as Sean McKean and Rick Saver driving that beautiful black Pugh took home the heat. Adkins finished second in this heat with Yoder in 3rd. As final came up, Mark, Ike and Tom finished out the day with Adkins taking a very popular win in the 500H. Tom and I were visiting at the PA booth during our down time from the wind and rain and he told me that for 20 years his goal was to have me interview him as a champion at Depue. I hinted to the crowd that Tom and I had shared a few things and said I would tell them after the last heat, and when Tom crossed the finish line, I mentioned what Tom had said and we indeed had that interview that he said was his goal. He laughed and said that no one could understand a Georgian who lived now in Northern Florida, but we all shared in his joy, Congrats Tom.
Adkins
Yoder
Gryskiewicz
Thanks to Robby Galletta for being so generous to our drivers with his donations, along with our Barge Personnel, who keep this thing going, Todd Brinkman our President and leader on the beach, our turn judges and of course The Depue Men’s club, the very best sponsors in the world.
We will see you tomorrow at the lake or on the social media and Hydroracer.net with the results from Saturday. Good night and I am headed for a collapse on the bed.
Ray
The day dawned cold and rainy as the meeting began, and turned colder as the morning went on with a steady light rain. The fans had already begun to gather along the fence for the days racing as we did start tesing at about 10:15. Before the session ende, Kyle Deptula in Duke Johnson's CRH Antique Div. went over in the first turn right at the end of testing.
Opening exercises took place with the National Anthem, a prayer, and opening remarks by the President of the Village Eric Bryant, and the President of the Depue Men’s Club, Steve Solario. Our thanks to both, who have been long time supporters of the Pro Category of racing and especially to the U.S. Title Series. Eric was out at the mouth of the River exit from the lake yesterday, putting the finishing touches on a temporary dam to keep the water level at a very good spot for the weekend.
We started off with a bit of a change in the schedule as the wind was blowing pretty good and we hit the water with OSY 400 and then CRH first heats. We ran them and then decided to pull the plug for a bit, turned out to be about 2-1/2 hours to let the front go through. All of the classes were finished today once we were able to get back to racing.
In OSY-400, Braxton Miller and Todd Anderson traded heat wins in the first and second heats, setting up what would be a fight to the finish for the 3rd heat, never happened as Todd was not able to run the 3rd heat and Braxton was to only have to finish to get the 1st 2014 National Title for the USTS Nationals. Young Brandon Mills put on a great drive to finish in the second spot, and fought a gallant battle with Braxton for the 3rd and final heat, as Braxton caught up with Brandon at the 500 foot bouy to take the overall.
Miller
Mills
Anderson
In CRH first heat, we had one, count em, one legal boat, Kyle Deptula, you remember the guy that flipped in the testing incident???? His crew, lead by Walt and Duke Johnson worked their magic and brought that ole bird back to life and Kyle won that heat. In the second and final heat Kyle just needed to finish, as JJ Walls coming down the front straightway decided it was a great spot in front of the huge crowd to blow it over. You must search out the pictures from the News Tribune cameraman, as he captured it from beginning to end, with JJ prone to the water face down and he hit. He looked like Superman as he pushed away from the hydro to get out of the boats way. JJ was okay and returned to racing later on today.
Kyle only had to finish the second heat as I said and well finish he did as he took the title over Carl Williams and Jack Campbell who finished 3rd.
Deptula
Williams
Campbell
In the K-Pro division, can you say Jackson Hall 3 times, that is how many times I called him the winner of the 3 heats of K-Pro today. Brianna Payn, the 2013 Champ just could not catch Jackson as he put 3 great heats together with Parker Thirlby doing an outstanding job, and Brianna working hard for a 3rd overall.
Hall
Thirlby
Payn
In 125R, call it heartbreak by and joy by 2. JJ Walls picked up a win in the first heat when Travis Ellison, leading in the first heat, had a breakdown in his steering and the boat took a sharp turn to the left, spun and came back across the straightway, but stayed upright and Travis in the boat, how I will never know. Travis was very frustrated by that turn of events and was animated in the boat immediately after it happened. Tim Small also frustrated driving the Ed Provini entrant had the engine load up on him in the different heats, but Tim driving the super fast entry worked his way to the podium. Jackson Hall driving both in the K-Pro and the 125R, in this flight, decided to do a face first roll over in the first turn, but was able to get back in the K-Pro and win as you see above. As for heartbreak and joy, JJ Walls who won the first heat, then finished second to Travis in the second, saw his win all go away as he came to a halt in the chute as the engine died and Travis went on to collect another heat win and the title over all. Interesting thing here is Uncle Chris, brother Kevin, and Mom Kristi all won championships at the APBA Nationals and Travis not wanting to left out, won at the USTS Nationals.
Ellison
Walls
Small
The big 700R’s lead of the second half of our program and Andrew Thirlby gave the other drivers a clinic on how to run and break records. The USTS has GPS co ordinates on every course we run and Andrew beat the old record by 12.5 seconds in the second heat, as Dad Mike was pushing him for the top spot in that heat. Andrew won the first two heats, but Derek Gessler was not going to let him get to the perfect 1200 points as he took the third heat, as a great start and speed kept Derek out front.
- Thirlby
In CSR, JJ Walls added another trophy to the case as he finished with 2 heat wins over Duke Johnson and Karl Williams. It was a real emotional day for and old friend in Duke as his nephew Kyle wins in the CRH for him driving Duke’s equipment and then Duke finishes 2nd for what he called the best weekend of racing ever for him at Depue, and he has been coming here since 1962. Duke thanked anyone and everyone for a great start to the weekend.
Walls
Johnson
Williams.
In the 500H which also paid 1000.00 to win 8 hydro’s started the first heat, with David Hooten taking an immediate lead in the first heat, only to have a catastrophic failure in the bottom corner and end his day. Doug Hall the defending champ had the engine go south and Sean McKean unable to start the heat opened the door to Tom Adkins who finished out front of Ike Yoder and Mark Gryskiewicz and Ike Yoder. Doug came back in the second heat as well as Sean McKean and Rick Saver driving that beautiful black Pugh took home the heat. Adkins finished second in this heat with Yoder in 3rd. As final came up, Mark, Ike and Tom finished out the day with Adkins taking a very popular win in the 500H. Tom and I were visiting at the PA booth during our down time from the wind and rain and he told me that for 20 years his goal was to have me interview him as a champion at Depue. I hinted to the crowd that Tom and I had shared a few things and said I would tell them after the last heat, and when Tom crossed the finish line, I mentioned what Tom had said and we indeed had that interview that he said was his goal. He laughed and said that no one could understand a Georgian who lived now in Northern Florida, but we all shared in his joy, Congrats Tom.
Adkins
Yoder
Gryskiewicz
Thanks to Robby Galletta for being so generous to our drivers with his donations, along with our Barge Personnel, who keep this thing going, Todd Brinkman our President and leader on the beach, our turn judges and of course The Depue Men’s club, the very best sponsors in the world.
We will see you tomorrow at the lake or on the social media and Hydroracer.net with the results from Saturday. Good night and I am headed for a collapse on the bed.
Ray
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