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Following the season opener in Madison, Indiana, the H1 fleet sets its sights westward on Tri Cities Washington, otherwise known as HydroTown USA, for the 51st running of the Columbia Cup. Adding intrigue and importance to this year’s HAPO Columbia Cup is an extra set of heats awarded to the race site by virtue of an additional financial commitment to the sport and teams. The extra set of heats offer fantasy players more opportunity to score big this weekend on the Columbia River!
The fleet will swell from eight to ten boats with the additions of the U-3 Griggs Ace Hardware, the U-16 Ellstrom’s Oh Boy! Oberto, and the rebuilt U-18 Bucket List Racing entry. Out is the U-27 Dalton Industries after their catastrophic blowover accident at the season opener. Other boat teams set to compete include the U-1 Homestreet Bank, U-5 Graham Trucking, U-7 Graham Trucking II, U-9 Les Schwab Tires, U-11 Peters & May, U-21 Payne West Insurance, and U-99.9 Carstar powered KISW Miss Rock.
HydroDan’s Three 2 Think About:
Jean in the Jerky Boat: Rewind to the 2015 Gold Cup in Tri Cities when Jean Theoret had the Ellstrom U-96 hull all but in the winner’s circle save for a pre-race mistake in which the boat entered a portion of the race course that is off-limits (referred to as a DMZ) and was subsequently disqualified. Jean returns to the scene of the crime seeking vindication driving the renumbered Ellstrom hull (U-16) for new team sponsor, Oh Boy! Oberto. The U-16 has a chance in this one if Jean can stay clean and position himself well for favorable starting lanes.
Piston Power: The Evansville, Indiana based team joins the fray with its popular Allison V-12 powered entry after skipping the opener just down the road in Madison. With fresh engines and a second-year local sponsor to please, expect the the U-3 Griggs Ace Hardware to run hard all weekend. Should driver Jimmy King keep the candle lit on the 3, the team is bound to make some noise this weekend both in decibels and results.
Pass me another Bud: The only team on the circuit with the luxury of possessing a top notch back up boat is Mr. Porter’s Graham Trucking Team. When the primary former Bud T-6 hull was still undergoing repairs during the running of the Madison Regatta, the T-5 was promoted to primary duty. That left an older hull to fill the gap as the U-7 entry. The team has passed JMK another Bud, that is to say the repaired and refreshed T-6 hull, as The U-5 Graham Trucking. The swap will relegate the T-5 for duty as the U-7 Graham Trucking II. Depending upon how the equipment is divvied up this weekend, both ex-Bud boats have a shot at racking up major points this weekend.
Posted on: Jul 29 2016 05:55 AM UTC
Edited on: Jul 29 2016 11:00 AM UTC
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