Deck2Deck.us: Fantasy Unlimited Hydroplane Racing

The U-1 Oh Boy Oberto wins the Madison Regatta in controversial fashion on an injury marred day on the Ohio River.

In heat 3A the U-21, while cutting through the infield to pick up a missed buoy, struck a rescue sled. Three rescue sled operators are reported injured; one seriously. H1 reports that an investigation is underway.

After a long delay following the incident, it was decided the third stanza of heats would be canceled and the final heat would be run based on accumulated points.

During the final heat the U-96 Spirit of Qatar, driven by Dave Villwock, hooked his boat in turn two of lap 4. David in the Oberto, with nowhere to go, struck Villwock, who was leading until hooking his boat, and poised to break Bill Muncey’s all-time win record of 62.

After much deliberation the Governors Cup trophy was awarded to the U-1 and Steven David, however, prior precedence indicates the boats that cause the stoppage of the race should both be disqualified. The U-17, Driven by Kip Brown, and in third position at the time, should have been declared the winner. The U-17 put forth a tremendous effort finishing with 1170 points; only 110 behind the Oberto.

The banged up fleet now heads on to Detroit for the 102nd running of the Gold Cup.

Just wondering why we have negative points?

First and formost, it wasn’t Berto’s fault. He had no place to go, pretty much forcing him to hit Qutar. I’m glad that no one else was hurt though. Why the negative points and how long before the decision comes as to whether or not Red Dot will be awarded the win? Hopefully Berto will remain the winner.

Thank you
Mark from Tri-Cities

Negative points were caused by a bug on the site (my fault). It should be fixed and correct now, let me know if you find otherwise.

I’m guessing the people who had the 17 this week will be looking good later in the season!

Craig, I think you are correct. I am kicking myself too because I originally had the 5, switched to the 17 after qualifying results, only to talk myself out of the switch and go back to the 5. I blew it!

Although the Oberto out-pointed the field I feel like this race was not the best use of that boat. Just my gut feeling.

This may, in fact, have been the race to choose the oberto. It appears they’ll be leasing the U-9 hull from Jones Racing for the remainder of the season due to extensive damage on the U-1. We’ll have to see what magic Mike Hanson can work into the replacement boat.

This is just beautiful, I think it’s to early to tell it only takes one mistake just like racing. Is the Gold Cup going to be run in 3 sections or just two with 6 boats each, makes a big difference my pick…

Yotes: I predict primary Oberto will come back with Steve David and have a big day in either Seattle, SD. Texas or Doha that will trump this result.

Great question TRHF. I do not think they have announced the heat set up yet.

At first, Oberto seemed like the “too obvious” choice for Madison; better maybe to save it for later since it’s always a strong finisher. Then with the U-17’s performance it seemed like it might have been the perfect weekend to take that boat. By the time the final was decided, it seemed back to square one, with the “too obvious” choice actually being the right one… consider that the U-1’s in bad shape and even once repaired and Steve is healed up, it might still take some time to get back to normal.

It certainly wasn’t the right time to pick the U-5, as I did.