Joe Ross
Joe Ross high and dry.
"I've always wanted to try racing, so now I've done it and
I'm never doing it again!"
Joe Ross at awards ceremony.
Lot's of water! Places where there were rocks last year had become
just slicks. Rocks that you avoided last year because they were way
out,
had turned into sneakers just barely under the water.
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The Pine Brothers did great! Only one minor mishap, they spun the "Kwik Kiwi"
out and killed the motor. Lorrie said that the turbos keep spinning
for a bit and
pull mixture through the carb, flooding the motor out, so there was
a bit of trouble
getting it re-started. They went home with a third place trophy even
with
all that. Good job, guys!
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Donnie Smith and Phyllis Kuther are the new US Champions! Donnie's
boat,
357 Magnum, is a radical departure from most of the Unlimited boats
in that
the big block Chevy motor is a blower motor. As in 8-71 type blower,
usually
found on drag cars! Donnie's background is drag racing and he has found
a
way to make the blower live for the required runs up and back. It even
has a
parachute mounted on the back. There is a sound reason for that, by
the way,
because jets boats completely lose their steering if you lose the motor.
AND
it takes awhile for them to slow down from 100+ mph. A chute should
do a
great job in an emergency, wouldn't you think? Donnie and Phyllis have
been
working towards this win for a few years now and am very pleased to
see them
get there. They did it their own darn way!
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Tim Harding (you know Tim, right?) #333 Burning Desire has set a new
course
record on the Rogue. 19 minutes and 10 seconds to get from Foster Bar
to
Gold Beach. That is flat flyin! Tim and his navigator took first in
Unlimited class
on the Rogue. Tim has to be one heck of a driver and I'm sure his navigator
is doing
his share, as his boat uses a motor that is sucking in it's own air
instead of being force
fed. It's a fuel injected big block. No blowers and no turbos.
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Justin Boice has to be the most die-hard racer I ever saw. He has been
chasing the US
Championship for a long time. He's very fast and smooth and has set
several records on
both the Klamath and the Rogue, but those darn gremlins seem to get
him every time.
This year was plagued with motor problems. The left bank was belching
smoke on
Saturday and Justin only got a upriver a little ways. He didn't come
back to race on Sunday.
Tough luck Justin...
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A-class was very, very closely contested. I am sorting that out so
when I put it
up here that it is accurate. Lots of drama !
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B-class appeared to be an endurance race this year. Breakdowns, belchs
and hiccups.
I'll be going into detail on this class too!
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C-class. Ah yes. This is easy, Randy Sundberg ran away from me and
my borrowed
boat in his borrowed boat! Well I WAS close anyway (20 seconds a leg).
I don't
mind being beat by Randy cause he's a damn good driver.
Joe Ross who has been boating for quite awhile and watching races for
an equally
long time decided to give it a try. Joe got all the nastys right out
of the way in a rush.
He hit a rock on the down leg of the first day, the motor quit. Joe
and crew evacuated the boat!
Joe kicked the boats nose up river a bit as they departed and that
caused the boat to turn a bit.
It went up in the rocks but missed a true fender-bender by about a
foot. Mark Cromie saw the
whole thing and told Joe he must the be the luckiest guy racing. They
re-launched the boat
with the help of some spectators and finished the down leg. One good
outcome was that
the boat gained a few MPH due to the unscheduled remodel of the piece
in front of the intake!
Day two was equal to day one as they ran out of gas only about a mile
from the finish line. Joe,
I think you did a great job for being partially horn-swaggled into
racing your boat in the first
place. You and and your navigator showed great persevearance and I
wish you'd reconsider!
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I'll be posting all the official times as I get them.
more coming, please check back....