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2009 Mapes Mile High |
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Sunday,
June 14th saw our club return to Coulon Park in Renton for the 2009
Mapes Mile High Regatta. The race was
sponsored by Remote Control Hobbies of Woodinville and D.A.Graphics. Race Coordinator was Mitch Dillard. We would like to thank all our two sponsors
for their generous contributions and continued support of our club. The race went off without a hitch and saw
some of the best racing of the year. We
were blessed with some of the best water we’ve ever seen at Coulon and
comfortable weather conditions as well.
14 Division 1 competitors and 19 Division 2 combatants graced the pit
area. The day started on time and
actually finished earlier than usual, imagine that. Here are the brief highlights of the event. Division
2 Prelims: Pete
Schille’s Miller American started the show with a win in Heat 1A over Dale Van
Wyk’s Spirit of Detroit who came from the trailer spot to make things
interesting. John Flood’s Atlas Van
Lines was third. Dale Schroeder was to
get his first experience with his recently purchased Beacon Plumbing boat but
was unable to start. Brent Hall’s 80
Squire Shop smoked a speed controller before the mill and was also unable to
start. Heat 1B
saw Steve Dumanis get the win with his Twin-Hemi Pak followed by Gene Melang’s
Red Man and Clint Crain’s Renault. Mike
Schultz’s Coors Dry and Mike Krone’s Design 360 were unable to finish. 1C went
to Brent Hall’s Turbine Pak followed by a recently repaired Vacationville.com
driven hard by Jon Zimmerman from the trailer.
Third was Tony Minalia’s Frosted Flakes.
Jeff Howard’s Ahern Rentals continued to be snake bitten, swapping ends
in turn 1and being unable to continue. Mitch
Dillard’s Freei continued its winning ways with a win in Heat 1D over a fast
Notre Dame driven by Dave Sacry, Mike Schultz’s Griffon Bud and Mark Beatty’s
beautiful Oh Boy! Oberto. Heat 2A
saw the Notre Dame make a great first corner on the inside of the Turbine Pak
to take the lead and never look back.
The Pak took second. The Frosted
Flakes flipped in lap 3 and the Renault DNS. 2B saw
the Hemi-Pak get another win followed very closely by a charging Spirit of
Detroit coming from the back. Coors Dry
made a good start, but went dead lap 3. The 80 Squire also made a good start,
but spun out early in the heat. 2C had
the Miller lead the field for the first lap with the Freei on his hip. The Miller spun in lap 2 and was passed by
the Freei and Griffon Bud. Freei would
take the win followed by the Miller. The
Bud would cut a buoy and finish fourth, behind the Atlas. Design
360 bounced back from earlier problems to win Heat 2D over the Oberto and Red
Man. The Vacationville had a bad start
and later spun trying to pass the Red Man.
Heat 3A
was a good battle with the Freei holding off the Spirit of Detroit for 5 laps
to take the win. The Turbine Pak lost
its rudder and would not finish. Pete
drove Brent’s 80 Squire to third. 3B was a
hard fought win for Notre Dame over the Griffon Bud. Hemi-Pak finished third. Design
360 wins again in Heat 3C over Frosted Flakes.
Atlas took a one lap penalty for a buoy and finished third. Renault
stuffed its nose and DNF. Heat 3D
went to the Miller over the Oberto. Red
Man broke early and DNF. The
Division 2 Consolation Heat was a duel between the Bud and the Oberto. The Bud would miss a buoy and Oberto would go
on to the win. The Turbine Pak
cartwheeled in a turn, but would soldier on to take second. Design 360 finished third, Atlas fourth and
Bud fifth. Red Man DNF. Division
2 Final Heat: The
final started out a little rough for the Notre Dame and Hemi-Pak who managed to
get tangled up during the mill. Neither
would be a factor in this one.
Unfortunately, the Oberto threw a prop before it ever had a chance to
get started. The Freei would hit a good
start and set sail out in the lead. The
Miller and Spirit of Detroit gave chase and battled valiantly with each other. In the end they were not able to reel in the
Freei, who would go on to the win. The
Miller held off the Spirit of Detroit to take second. Spirit of Detroit finished a strong
third. Congratulations to Mitch
Dillard’s Freei, winner of the Mapes Mile High Regatta in Division 2! The Freei team has had a great first half of
the season with four wins. Division
1 Prelims: Slo-Mo-Shun
IV driven by Mitch Dillard started Division 1 action off with a win in Heat 1A
over Mike Schultz’s Exide. The three
other boats in the heat didn’t finish.
Tim Becker’s Hawaii Kai III, SteveDumanis’s Miss Wahoo and Dale
Schroeder’s Miss Michelob would all take DNF’s in the book. 1B was
won by Dave Sacry’s Thriftway Too after Mark Beatty’s Gale’s Roostertail blew
over coming out of the final corner with victory in site and couldn’t finish. John Flood’s 66 Miss US was second followed
by Gene Melang’s Red Man. Dan Clark’s
Tahoe Miss also did not finish. Heat 1C
saw Pete Schille’s Barney Armstrong’s Machine win over Brent Hall’s Bobtail
Miss US. A close battle saw Dan Clark’s
Miss Spokane nip Clint Crain’s Timex at the line to take third. Heat 2A
went to Slo-Mo by a wide margin.
Thriftway Too and Spokane collided in the mill and Red Man couldn’t
start. Thriftway Too and Spokane got
things rolling eventually, taking second and third respectively. 66 Miss US flipped and DNF. Gale’s
Roostertail redeemed itself with a win in Heat 2B over the Bobtail US and
Wahoo. Hawaii Kai flipped and DNF. 2C was a
great heat that saw Michelob and Barney Armstrong’s Machine run deck to deck
for the entire heat. In the end it was
the Michelob taking the win. Barney
Armstrong was second followed by Exide and Timex. Michelob
scored again in Heat 3A when the Gale’s Roostertail rolled while battling for
the lead. Bobtail US was second and Red
Man third. 66 Miss
US had to withdraw due to mechanical problems. Hawaii Kai tangled with Timex at the start and
would later flip. Timex bounced back to
take the win in 3B over Thriftway Too. In Heat 3C
Slo-Mo chased down Barney Armstrong’s Machine for the win. Wahoo went dead in front of the Exide at the
start. The
Division 1 Consolation Heat saw kind of a mess.
Somehow the Gale’s Roostertail and Michelob got into each other in the
mill, leaving the Roostertail unable to continue. The Wahoo would flip in the backstretch and
eventually get run over by the Timex, who was having radio issues. Michelob would win followed by Red Man in
second. There were no other finishers. Division
1 Final Heat: The final
heat was a barn burner that saw Slo-Mo IV breathing all over the Barney
Armstrong’s Machine from start to finish.
Superb driving by Pete Schille made the difference. Mitch was relentless, but could not force a
mistake. Barney Armstrong held off the
Slo-Mo to take its second victory in a row.
Slo-Mo took second. Bobtail Miss
US was third. Michelob came from the
trailer spot to take fourth. Thriftway
Too was fifth. Exide did not
finish. Congratulations to Pete Schille’s
Barney Armstrong’s Machine, winner of the Mapes Mile High Regatta in Division
1! We would
like to thank Dave Vaillancourt of D.A. Graphics and David Kelly of Remote
Controll Hobbies Woodinville for their sponsorship of this event. Together, they contributed some really neat
prizes. Clint Crain want home with a 1/5th
scale Formula One race car that we gave away.
Steve Dumanis and Jeff Howard both won much needed CA and accelerator for
future builds and repairs. Our top three
finishers also took home prize packages along with their awards thanks to our
sponsors. We would also like to thank
past CT champion Tim Knowles for coming out and adding up the points for us as
well as taking notes so this recap could be written. Now it’s
on to the BIG ONE! Next up is the 2009
CT Gold Cup in Lacey on June 28th. You
don’t want to miss this one. It’ll be
fast and furious. The course will be big
and the action even bigger, including pre-race qualifying for season
points. We’re looking forward to seeing
you there. Sincerely, Mitch
Dillard Classic
Thunder Commissioner/Fan
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