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The opening of the first day of the USTS National at beautiful Lake Depue und the sponsorship of The Depue’s Men’s Club was held under great conditions with cooler weather and a great crowd for a Friday. Must have been a few “sick” people yesterday with the size of the crowd.
Jon Wienandt was the only driver in testing to hit the water as going down the straight away headed into the first turn, he hit a roller, dropped into a hole and looked down as the bottom peeled off. Fortunately Jon took a few bumps and bruises, but was not transported. Later in the racing, Lyndsay McGrath in 125R was thrown from the boat, but again no injuries occurred.
Our first class up was C Racing Hydro with Jack Campbell running off and hiding in the first two heats, while Jay Walls Sr, the defending Champion found himself with a 2nd and 3rd place finishes behind Campbell. As we entered the 3rd heat, Campbell, ever the competitor only had to finish to lock up the championship. However entering the first turn Jack’s boat hopped left and the evidence of hitting the buoy was draped across the deck of his hydro. That of course opened the door and Jay Walls was not bashful and went through at full speed to take the overall win.
Walls
Campbell
Deptuala
Next up were the K-Pro youngsters as 8 of them hit the water with Brianna Payn and Mckenzie Hellsten former champions trying to win another with Rex Bayer in the mix as Rex had won two previous races this year vying for his first.
Brianna promptly put her stamp on the first two heats with wins, while McKenzie running second. In the third heat, it was Brianna again, but this time Brady Brinkman who was in the third race of his career gave a good accounting of the Brinkman name and legacy as he finished second to Brianna. While that, helped Brady, Mackenzie had put enough points together to finish second.
Brianna
MacKenzie
Brady
In the big 700R, Austin Van Over entered the Nationals having won ever heat contested in 2016 and was the odds on favorite for a great Nationals. Unfortunately, as those of us who have been around boat racing for any number of years, nothing is certain and that certainly proved to be the case once again. Austin jumped the gun in the first heat, and opened the door for Derek Gesler and he was up to the task. Derek finished out front and took the next heat with Andrew Thirlby finishing the 3rd heat out front. Austin suffered an engine failure while leading the heat and capped an ugly, but we all know boat racing stories, of this happening. RC Hawie of Lake Hamilton, Fl put three very good heats together for a second overall.
Derek
RC
Andrew
Next up was OSY400 as Dr. Rick Miller from Oklahoma, said thank you very much and put a perfect race set up together up on the board. In the second heat, he hung back of course at the start, but worked his way through the field to take the 2nd heat win in a row. Tara Cook, a young lady from Utica Ms was chasing Rick along with Candia, NH Bob Cronin to no avail
Rick
Tara
Bob
In 125R we were giving Tim Small the business as he ended up picking o the youngsters to take the win in the Ed Provini entry. But it was not easy, as Tim conked out before the start of the first heat and Brianna Payn, trying to double up took the first heat and Jackson Hall doing a great job took the 300 points for second. Parker Thirlby driving a steady race gathered up enough points for the 3rd spot. Overall. Tim was able to fix his issue and came back to win both heats to take the win over Brianna by 50 points.
Tim
Brianna
Parker
In the CSR class, a first time ever winner came out and put 1200 points on the board and took two baths afterward in the boat racing tradition as Duke Johnson went looking for win number one and did so with excitement. Talking to him later, Duke was so humble and so appreciative of the effort Jay Walls Sr. had given to help him, and was excited about doing it at Depue. Justin Gibson missed the first heat, but together enough points in the second and third heats to take 3rd overall.
Duke
Jay
Justin
The last class of the day was the big 500H class with 8 capsules hitting the water. Dan Kirts, long time winner of championships at Depue, took the first heat in his 2 cylinder GRM and excited the crowd to think that this gentleman could have another title in the offing. Doug Hall though wanted a piece of that action as well and was knocking on the door with a win in the third heat, but Danny indeed had enough points to take home number ((^*%* title at Depue. Tim Borway in the yellow Buttercup, using a Yamato that Robby Galleta gave him to use, finished all three heats to take the third spot overall.
Bizarre is all I can say as with Doug winning the third heat crossed the line just ahead of Danny for the win, and when the two headed for the pit area, Doug slowed to enter the pits and Danny trying to go around him, struck Dougs boat squarely from behind and shove the capsule portion of his boat into the pipes of Doug and the two boats were stuck together so tightly that they had to take the drivers from the boats and pull the boats into shore to have a number of different crew members pull them apart.
With that, we start the second day of the USTS Nationals, cloudy skies, but fans are already hitting the shoreline, so hopefully a great day of racing will be had.
Again my thanks to the Depue Men’s Club, Slick, you are the best, and of course the USTS barge crew with sue Sailer and Todd ready to go.
Ray
Jon Wienandt was the only driver in testing to hit the water as going down the straight away headed into the first turn, he hit a roller, dropped into a hole and looked down as the bottom peeled off. Fortunately Jon took a few bumps and bruises, but was not transported. Later in the racing, Lyndsay McGrath in 125R was thrown from the boat, but again no injuries occurred.
Our first class up was C Racing Hydro with Jack Campbell running off and hiding in the first two heats, while Jay Walls Sr, the defending Champion found himself with a 2nd and 3rd place finishes behind Campbell. As we entered the 3rd heat, Campbell, ever the competitor only had to finish to lock up the championship. However entering the first turn Jack’s boat hopped left and the evidence of hitting the buoy was draped across the deck of his hydro. That of course opened the door and Jay Walls was not bashful and went through at full speed to take the overall win.
Walls
Campbell
Deptuala
Next up were the K-Pro youngsters as 8 of them hit the water with Brianna Payn and Mckenzie Hellsten former champions trying to win another with Rex Bayer in the mix as Rex had won two previous races this year vying for his first.
Brianna promptly put her stamp on the first two heats with wins, while McKenzie running second. In the third heat, it was Brianna again, but this time Brady Brinkman who was in the third race of his career gave a good accounting of the Brinkman name and legacy as he finished second to Brianna. While that, helped Brady, Mackenzie had put enough points together to finish second.
Brianna
MacKenzie
Brady
In the big 700R, Austin Van Over entered the Nationals having won ever heat contested in 2016 and was the odds on favorite for a great Nationals. Unfortunately, as those of us who have been around boat racing for any number of years, nothing is certain and that certainly proved to be the case once again. Austin jumped the gun in the first heat, and opened the door for Derek Gesler and he was up to the task. Derek finished out front and took the next heat with Andrew Thirlby finishing the 3rd heat out front. Austin suffered an engine failure while leading the heat and capped an ugly, but we all know boat racing stories, of this happening. RC Hawie of Lake Hamilton, Fl put three very good heats together for a second overall.
Derek
RC
Andrew
Next up was OSY400 as Dr. Rick Miller from Oklahoma, said thank you very much and put a perfect race set up together up on the board. In the second heat, he hung back of course at the start, but worked his way through the field to take the 2nd heat win in a row. Tara Cook, a young lady from Utica Ms was chasing Rick along with Candia, NH Bob Cronin to no avail
Rick
Tara
Bob
In 125R we were giving Tim Small the business as he ended up picking o the youngsters to take the win in the Ed Provini entry. But it was not easy, as Tim conked out before the start of the first heat and Brianna Payn, trying to double up took the first heat and Jackson Hall doing a great job took the 300 points for second. Parker Thirlby driving a steady race gathered up enough points for the 3rd spot. Overall. Tim was able to fix his issue and came back to win both heats to take the win over Brianna by 50 points.
Tim
Brianna
Parker
In the CSR class, a first time ever winner came out and put 1200 points on the board and took two baths afterward in the boat racing tradition as Duke Johnson went looking for win number one and did so with excitement. Talking to him later, Duke was so humble and so appreciative of the effort Jay Walls Sr. had given to help him, and was excited about doing it at Depue. Justin Gibson missed the first heat, but together enough points in the second and third heats to take 3rd overall.
Duke
Jay
Justin
The last class of the day was the big 500H class with 8 capsules hitting the water. Dan Kirts, long time winner of championships at Depue, took the first heat in his 2 cylinder GRM and excited the crowd to think that this gentleman could have another title in the offing. Doug Hall though wanted a piece of that action as well and was knocking on the door with a win in the third heat, but Danny indeed had enough points to take home number ((^*%* title at Depue. Tim Borway in the yellow Buttercup, using a Yamato that Robby Galleta gave him to use, finished all three heats to take the third spot overall.
Bizarre is all I can say as with Doug winning the third heat crossed the line just ahead of Danny for the win, and when the two headed for the pit area, Doug slowed to enter the pits and Danny trying to go around him, struck Dougs boat squarely from behind and shove the capsule portion of his boat into the pipes of Doug and the two boats were stuck together so tightly that they had to take the drivers from the boats and pull the boats into shore to have a number of different crew members pull them apart.
With that, we start the second day of the USTS Nationals, cloudy skies, but fans are already hitting the shoreline, so hopefully a great day of racing will be had.
Again my thanks to the Depue Men’s Club, Slick, you are the best, and of course the USTS barge crew with sue Sailer and Todd ready to go.
Ray
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