2005 MAPES MILE HIGH REGATTA

On June 26^th Classic Thunder held its 2005 Mapes Mile High Regatta.  The event was hosted by the City of Seatac’s International Festival again this year and was sponsored by Jeff Howard with help from the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum.  Thanks to all of them for their contributions.  The weather remained mild all day and the water was bumpy but manageable with a slight breeze mixing things up.  The festival atmosphere was a nice backdrop for good racing and things were really mellow all day long.   

Division 2 racing saw Pete Schille’s Llumar Window Film come home with its second win in a row followed again by Jeff Howard’s Elam.  The final heat saw the Llumar hit the line first and never gave up the lead.  The Elam and Chris Cootsona’s Circus Circus battled back and forth in the early laps before the Elam took over second for good.  The Circus cut a buoy and relinquished third place to a charging Weisfields driven by Dave Sacry. Circus ended up finishing fourth.  A brand new Cellular One made an impressive debut with a promising fifth place finish after cutting a buoy in an early lap.  The new boat has real potential and looks great.  Owner and driver Mike Schultz did a fabulous job making it look nice on the water.  Dale Van Wyk was unable to get his Atlas Van Lines to the starting line.  Congratulations to Pete Schille’s Llumar Window Film, winner of the 2005 Classic Thunder Mapes Mile High Regatta in Division 2! 

Dale Van Wyk got his first 2005 win by besting the competition in Division 1 driving his Miss Seattle.    It was only a matter of time before it was bound to happen.  This combination of boat and driver are just too good to keep out of the winner’s circle.  Chris Cootsona’s very quick Hurricane VI took over second place at the beginning of lap 2 when Pete Schille blew over his Blue Chip.  Chris held on for second place ahead of a persistent Miss Budweiser driven by Jeff Howard from the trailer position.  Bill McGraw struggled all day with intermittent radio problems, but managed to salvage a fourth placed finish with the Pride of Pay’n Pak.  Dave Sacry was not as fortunate and was unable to finish with the Short Circuit.  This was another clean day of racing with no collisions and good driving.  Congratulations to Dale Van Wyk’s Miss Seattle, winner of the 2005 Classic Thunder Mapes Mile High Regatta in Division 1! 

Next race on the schedule is the Diamond Cup on July 10^th at Coulon Park in Renton.  This is race#6 and marks the beginning of the second half of the 2005 season.  So far the season has been very competitive and we look forward to more of the same in the next five races.  We’ve seen some new boats hit the scene and some new members begin work on race boats for the future.  I’m impressed with the amount of original scratch built hulls that out there and enjoy talking about the different things guys are doing in their construction and setup.  Your innovation is refreshing and it’s nice to see such a variety of hulls representing six decades of unlimited racing history.  That part of this hobby is a lot of fun and brings an extra dimension to Classic Thunder racing.  Thanks for adding to the excitement.  We look forward to seeing you all for some more racing on July 10^th.

Sincerely,

Mitch Dillard

Classic Thunder Commissioner