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2008 Gold Cup |
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We
arrived early at Woodland Creek Park in Lacey for the Classic Thunder 2008 Gold
Cup.The race was a sponsored by RC-Hydros.com and coordinated by Classic
Thunder. Qualifying began at 9:30. For the first time, we decided to run
qualifying in both divisions. The
weather was mild and pleasant. On top of
that, the water conditions were super! 21
Division 1 boats and 16 Division 2 boats were in the pits to compete in qualifying,
four preliminary heats, two consolation heats and two winner take all final
heats. Unfortunately we lost Brent Hall’s
Atlas Van Lines and Squire Shop to mechanical failures early in the day, which
left us with 14 boats in Division 2. Don’t
worry, he’ll be back. When
qualifying ended at 11:15, the top Division 1 qualifier was Mitch Dillard’s
Slo-Mo-Shun IV with a 3 lap elapsed time of 51:37. Dale Schroeder’s Waferers Club Lady was
second at 52:38 and Jeff Howard’s Scooter Too was third fastest at 52:72. Mitch received the fast qualifier trophy for
the second year in a row with the Mo. Division
2 top qualifier was Pete Schille’s U-95 with a time of 41:21. Mitch Dillard’s Vacationville.com was second
with 41:74 followed by Mark Beatty’s Beacon Plumbing at 44:16. Thanks to Mike Krone for organizing, timing
and logging the qualifying runs. The day’s
racing started off a little rough when Dave Sacry’s Notre Dame and the
Vacationville were damaged in their first heat.
The Dame swapped ends on the front stretch and in the path of the
Vacationville. The noise of the impact
was impressive and neither boat would finish the heat. However both were able to get back on the
water for the rest of the day. Other
than that accident, we had no other notable boat collisions to speak of in
either division. Good driving guys and
gal! A couple
of new boats came out for the Gold Cup.
Bob VandenAkker drove his beautiful 74 Lincoln Thrift impressively and
Jeff Campbell came out to drive Bob’s other Division 2 boat, a very fast 74 Miss
U.S. Jeff also raced his own extremely
fast hooktail 69 Pay’n Pak in Division 1 for the first time in CT. I don’t know what kind of motor he had in
that thing as he didn’t say, but it hauled the mail like nobody’s
business. His boats are always fast and
he knows how to get the most out of them.
His brother Mike was also at the lake taking photos and lending a hand
as a crew member. I would personally like
to thank Jeff for the replacement rudder blade. There’s no doubt it came in
handy and probably will again before the season is over. The
Division 2 Consolation heat saw six boats with a chance to advance to the Final
heat as the trailer. Mike Krone’s Design
360, Pete Schille’s U-95, Dale Schroeder’s Freddie’s Club, Tony Minalia’s
Holset/Miss Madison, Gene Melang’s Coors Dry and Dale Van Wyk’s Coopers Express
went out to do battle for the honor. Dale
got in at the last second as the alternate when Battery Dave’s Notre Dame was
unable to start the heat. When it was
all over, we had witnessed the closest heat of the day. U-95 and Freddie’s Club were deck to deck at
the finish with U-95 winning by maybe half a boat length, an excellent heat
that had all of our attention right to the finish. Design 360 was third, Holset/Madison fourth
and Coors Dry was fifth. After being on the ball and getting the boat quickly
to the water, the Coopers was unfortunately unable to finish. The
Division 1 Consolation saw Bob’s Nitrogen Too, Tim Becker’s 68 Bardahl, Dale
Van Wyk’s Slo-Mo-Shun V driven by Pete Schille, Steve Dumanis’s Thunderbolt,
Dale Van Wyk’s Miss Seattle and Bryan Deatherage’s Miss B&I go after the
trailer spot in the Final heat. Bob
VandenAkker’s Nitrogen Too would take the heat win and advance. Miss Seattle was second, Slo-Mo V third with
Miss B&I fourth. Thunderbolt and
Miss Bardahl were unable to finish. The 74 Miss
U.S. was top point getter from the Division 2 prelims with 1600, Beacon
Plumbing and Lincoln Thrift had 1500.
Mark Beatty’s Vans PX and the repaired Vacationville were the other two
who made the Final heat on points. The U-95
joined the group as the trailer boat. Division Two Final Heat: The boats
hit the line clean with the Vacationville getting through the first corner and
up the backstretch on the inside with the lead followed closely by Miss U.S.
and Lincoln Thrift, Vans PX, Beacon Plumbing and U-95. Miss U.S. and Vacationville were hooked up in
a good battle at the end of lap 2 with the U.S. right on Vacationville’s
hip. The Vans PX flipped over on lap 3
and U-95 soon followed with a blowover coming off of turn 2 on the front
stretch. Vacationville held off the challenging
Miss U.S. for the win. The U.S. finished
second. Lincoln Thrift held off a hard
charging Beacon Plumbing to capture third place. Beacon took fourth. Vans PX and U-95 did not finish. Congratulations
to Mitch Dillard’s Vacationville.com, winner of the 2008 Classic Thunder Gold
Cup in Division 2! This was a
fantastic day of tight racing and one heck of a lot of fun to watch. Division One Final Heat: The
Division 1 Final saw Slo-Mo IV 1600 points, Scooter Too 1400, Pay’n Pak 1225,
Mark Beatty’s Timex 1100 and Waferers Club Lady also with 1100 points make the field
with Nitrogen Too joining them from the trailer position. The Pak
and Waferers started their mill first through the first corner,but pushed a
little wide. The boats cruised up the
back stretch in the pre-race mill, jockeying for position. Somehow lane one was still left open. That was quickly rectified by the otherwise lagging
Slo-Mo IV. Mitch nailed his best start of
the day, hit the line at full speed right at the gun and on the inside followed
by the Waferers Club and Pay’n Pak, Scooter Too, Timex and Nitrogen Too. Pay’n Pak overtook the Waferers on lap one
and set sights on the Slo-Mo. On lap 3
Nitrogen Too unexpectedly pulled to the infield and did not continue. Waferers Club hit a buoy and had to run an
extra lap, putting Scooter Too into third followed by Timex. The Pak was relentless in its effort to chase
down the Slo-Mo, but the Grand Old Lady
would prevail and maintain her perfect day of racing and become the 2008 Classic
Thunder Gold Cup champion in Division 1.
A victory for Slo-Mo IV completed a Gold Cup sweep for the Commish! A strong second place finish went to the Pay’n
Pak, followed by Scooter Too in third, Miss Timex fourth and Waferers Club in
fifth. The 2008
Gold Cup was a great race. This is some
of the best racing we’ve seen and it was a lot of fun to participate in. I’m sure it was fun to watch too. Thanks to all of the competitors and to Andy Kunz of RC-Hydros.com for
providing the speed controller and two PiStix that we gave away in a drawing
after the race. Thanks also to everyone
who helped set up and tear down stuff.
Spectators and racers were well entertained by the close racing we saw
all day long. We’ll be back at it again
this coming weekend at Angle Lake in
Seatac, WA for the June 29th
Mapes Mile High Race hosted by the City
of Seatac during their annual International
Festival. There will be plenty going
on there, so bring the family along. Tranquility Home Care is the event
sponsor and Brent Hall will be
coordinating the race. We’ll be giving away
prizes to some lucky kids in a drawing during the day and having a good time
racing. The Mapes marks the beginning of
the second half of what is shaping up to be another exciting and fun season of
Classic Thunder 1/10th Scale Electric Racing. I’m looking forward to seeing you there. Sincerely, Mitch
Dillard Classic
Thunder Commissioner
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