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A great weekend of weather, a great venue, a great sponsor in the Depue Men’s Club, and great racing from the 160 competitors at the US Title Series Pro National’s. provided an exciting weekend for all. The crowd grew each day, with the largest crowd I’ve ever seen at Depue started us off. I can’t say enough about The Depue Men’s Club and its leader Steve Solario as they do it right year after year, improving as they go, and welcoming the fans and the Title Series drivers and families as old friends. Also our thanks to the Mayor Eric Bryant who every year presents a unified effort by the city and the Men’s Club to make it happen year after year. The Men’s Club needs volunteers from the local area my friends and anyone wanting to volunteer, just check in with the folks, and they will welcome you with open arms.
Apologize for this late, but dealing with a Motor Home that needed a whole set of tires and making sure my dear bride was comfortable after breaking her back in an accident we had a few weeks ago, I’m up late typing away.
I’ll start with K-Pro
Brady Brinkman the 2017 National champ was ready to defend and do battle with other drivers, 4 new to the USTS or rookies. The 4, Chase Mckean, Joe Perez, Hudson Gryskiewicz, and Ashten Caferelli all did a great job, with Ashten proving that he had the speed to challenge and take the title for 2018. Ashten finished out front winning two heats with Brady following and taking the other heat to finish strong. Cooper Thompson did a great job and finished on the podium and was first amongst the restrictor plate drivers.
Ashten
Brady
Cooper
Next up 125H as count’em 15 of them hit the water in the first heat.
Pete Kelly can only wonder what if, as he took the lead in the first heat and finished first only to learn he had jumped the gun, winning another heat and finishing 2nd in a heat to the winner David Tenny, who won two heats and finishing 2nd to Pete in the other. David and Pete clearly had speed on the field and David though starting back a bit in each heat had the speed to get to the front. Young lady Mackenzie Hellsten, improving every heat she runs, put together a great national’s and finished on the podium.
David
Pete
Brianna
125R up next
Brad Dygert was unable to run the Springfield round of the USTS as he got between two dogs fighting and took 16 stitches in his hand, but he took his frustrations out on the field of 125R’s and unseated Jackson Hall as the 2017 champ finished in the 2nd spot this year. Brad took two heats and a second while Jackson took the 3rd heat win to go with two 2nd place finishes. Brianna Payn took the other podium spot driving a steady run for that medal.
Brad
Jackson
Next up the 15 175H
As I said, I’m sure that Brad was clearly frustrated by not being able to race at Springfield and was ready to do battle at Depue and the Title Series National’s. He doubled up with a win here overcoming a tremendous challenge put forth by Brandon Mills who had speed and was willing to use all of it. In fact Brandon was working on Brad in a heat to overtake him, but Brad doing a great job of using a back marker as a pick, forced Brandon to go around on the outside of that back marker and it opened the lead further and went on to win the heat. Brad took two heats with Brandon one and swapping 2nd place finishes. Michael Akerstrom, enjoying his first run with the USTS took the podium finish with a solid third place finish.
Brad
Brandon
Mike
Next up 250H
Wow, Wow, Wow, what a series of heats this one was. Three heats, three different winners. Eric Schmidt, Pete Kelly, and Zach Larose all took heat wins in one of the most competitive classes we have in USTS. Eric had a win and two seconds, Pete a win and 2nd and 3rd, while Zach had a win and 3rd and 4th for a wild and wooly 250H class. Eric was super fast in all heats, while Zach looking for speed in the 2nd heat changed props, but said he knew as soon as he pulled the pipes he was out of wheel far to soon. 3rd heat he found the right one and was never headed for the win. What a shame to not see the Nydahl’s on the water, as both Amy and Kurt suffered rare mechanical failures.
Eric
Pete
Zach
Next up 250R
Jason Sailer also missed the Springfield round as Brad Dygert had, but never lost the speed he showed winning up at Pleasant Prairie and it was shown at Depue with his first National Championship of his career for this 4th generation driver from the Eldredge family. The tradiional bath for winning a first nationals was averted as Jason jumped out of his runabout into the water on his own. Mike Krier finished out front in one heat and took the 2nd position while Paul Bosnich III took home the 3rd spot on the podium
Jason
Mike
Paul
Next up 350H
Wow, what craziness in this one. The top two finisher’s in this one were only able to finish two heats, but was enough to take home the podium finishes. Eric Schmidt won 2 heats while he trashed the lower unit in the 2nd heat. Trying to get ready for the 3rd heat, MSR head Mike Schmidt, took the unit they were going to use for 250H the next day and put it under the 350 powerhead. He struggled to know what prop, but Craig Dewald looking up at the array of props, pointed to a six blade and said try that one. Well let me tell you, he did not run out of prop and took his second win for the title and second one of the weekend. Zach won a heat and finished 2nd in the other he was able to finish while his Uncle Marc put enough points on the board to give the Larose team 2 podium finishes.
Eric
Zach
Marc
350R up now
A 1,2,3 finish was what it took to unseat the 2017 champ JJ Walls of the B&B Brinkman Electric entry, as Brian Payn returned to the 350R championship once again with that finish. Paul Bosnich and JJ finished with a tie while each winning a heat and finishing 2nd in the other heat they finished. Paulie broke a crank in one heat while JJ sheared a pin, with Paul taking the 2nd place on time.
Brian
Paul
JJ
Apologize for this late, but dealing with a Motor Home that needed a whole set of tires and making sure my dear bride was comfortable after breaking her back in an accident we had a few weeks ago, I’m up late typing away.
I’ll start with K-Pro
Brady Brinkman the 2017 National champ was ready to defend and do battle with other drivers, 4 new to the USTS or rookies. The 4, Chase Mckean, Joe Perez, Hudson Gryskiewicz, and Ashten Caferelli all did a great job, with Ashten proving that he had the speed to challenge and take the title for 2018. Ashten finished out front winning two heats with Brady following and taking the other heat to finish strong. Cooper Thompson did a great job and finished on the podium and was first amongst the restrictor plate drivers.
Ashten
Brady
Cooper
Next up 125H as count’em 15 of them hit the water in the first heat.
Pete Kelly can only wonder what if, as he took the lead in the first heat and finished first only to learn he had jumped the gun, winning another heat and finishing 2nd in a heat to the winner David Tenny, who won two heats and finishing 2nd to Pete in the other. David and Pete clearly had speed on the field and David though starting back a bit in each heat had the speed to get to the front. Young lady Mackenzie Hellsten, improving every heat she runs, put together a great national’s and finished on the podium.
David
Pete
Brianna
125R up next
Brad Dygert was unable to run the Springfield round of the USTS as he got between two dogs fighting and took 16 stitches in his hand, but he took his frustrations out on the field of 125R’s and unseated Jackson Hall as the 2017 champ finished in the 2nd spot this year. Brad took two heats and a second while Jackson took the 3rd heat win to go with two 2nd place finishes. Brianna Payn took the other podium spot driving a steady run for that medal.
Brad
Jackson
Next up the 15 175H
As I said, I’m sure that Brad was clearly frustrated by not being able to race at Springfield and was ready to do battle at Depue and the Title Series National’s. He doubled up with a win here overcoming a tremendous challenge put forth by Brandon Mills who had speed and was willing to use all of it. In fact Brandon was working on Brad in a heat to overtake him, but Brad doing a great job of using a back marker as a pick, forced Brandon to go around on the outside of that back marker and it opened the lead further and went on to win the heat. Brad took two heats with Brandon one and swapping 2nd place finishes. Michael Akerstrom, enjoying his first run with the USTS took the podium finish with a solid third place finish.
Brad
Brandon
Mike
Next up 250H
Wow, Wow, Wow, what a series of heats this one was. Three heats, three different winners. Eric Schmidt, Pete Kelly, and Zach Larose all took heat wins in one of the most competitive classes we have in USTS. Eric had a win and two seconds, Pete a win and 2nd and 3rd, while Zach had a win and 3rd and 4th for a wild and wooly 250H class. Eric was super fast in all heats, while Zach looking for speed in the 2nd heat changed props, but said he knew as soon as he pulled the pipes he was out of wheel far to soon. 3rd heat he found the right one and was never headed for the win. What a shame to not see the Nydahl’s on the water, as both Amy and Kurt suffered rare mechanical failures.
Eric
Pete
Zach
Next up 250R
Jason Sailer also missed the Springfield round as Brad Dygert had, but never lost the speed he showed winning up at Pleasant Prairie and it was shown at Depue with his first National Championship of his career for this 4th generation driver from the Eldredge family. The tradiional bath for winning a first nationals was averted as Jason jumped out of his runabout into the water on his own. Mike Krier finished out front in one heat and took the 2nd position while Paul Bosnich III took home the 3rd spot on the podium
Jason
Mike
Paul
Next up 350H
Wow, what craziness in this one. The top two finisher’s in this one were only able to finish two heats, but was enough to take home the podium finishes. Eric Schmidt won 2 heats while he trashed the lower unit in the 2nd heat. Trying to get ready for the 3rd heat, MSR head Mike Schmidt, took the unit they were going to use for 250H the next day and put it under the 350 powerhead. He struggled to know what prop, but Craig Dewald looking up at the array of props, pointed to a six blade and said try that one. Well let me tell you, he did not run out of prop and took his second win for the title and second one of the weekend. Zach won a heat and finished 2nd in the other he was able to finish while his Uncle Marc put enough points on the board to give the Larose team 2 podium finishes.
Eric
Zach
Marc
350R up now
A 1,2,3 finish was what it took to unseat the 2017 champ JJ Walls of the B&B Brinkman Electric entry, as Brian Payn returned to the 350R championship once again with that finish. Paul Bosnich and JJ finished with a tie while each winning a heat and finishing 2nd in the other heat they finished. Paulie broke a crank in one heat while JJ sheared a pin, with Paul taking the 2nd place on time.
Brian
Paul
JJ
