2002 TRI-CITIES RACE REVISITED - MISS E-LAM PLUS WINS COLUMBIA CUP By Fred Farley - APBA/HYDRO-PROP Unlimited Historian Nate Brown and MISS E-LAM PLUS (U-16) sprinted to a hard-fought victory in the Columbia Cup at the Tri-Cities, Washington, on July 28, 2002. This marked the fourth victory in seven races for MISS E-LAM PLUS on the Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Series tour, since the bright orange U-16 made its competition debut at the 2001 Tri-Cities race. Brown averaged 146.721 for the final 12.5 miles, compared to 135.970 for second-place Mark Tate and MISS TRENDWEST (U-2). Then came Steve David in OH BOY! OBERTO (U-6), Mike Hanson in JACK-SON'S SPORTS BAR (U-9), and Jimmy King in LLUMAR WINDOW FILM (U-8). Co-favorite Dave Villwock and MISS BUDWEISER (U-1) staged a brilliant side-by-side duel with MISS E-LAM PLUS for several laps of the Columbia Cup Final Heat but was penalized for a buoy foul and had to run an extra lap. Thirteen Unlimited hulls and eleven Unlimited Light hydroplanes set up shop in the Columbia Park pit area on the Kennewick side of the Columbia River. These included back-up hulls for the MISS BUDWEISER and MISS EMCOR (U-10) teams. Fred Leland's U-100 and Ed Cooper's U-3 teams both appeared with replacement hulls at the Tri-Cities. Leland showed up with his 1996 hull, while Cooper unveiled his brand new turbo-Allison-powered craft, which bears a striking resemblance to the MISS BUDWEISER (T-6) hull. Brown and MISS E-LAM PLUS posted the fastest speed during the time trial period at 162.666 miles per hour on the 2.5-mile oval. Then came Villwock and MISS BUDWEISER (T-5) at 158.895, Hanson and JACK-SON'S SPORTS BAR at 156.393, Tate and MISS TRENDWEST at 155.803, Greg Hopp and AMERICAN DREAM (U-100) at 154.051, Mike Weber and MISS EMCOR at 153.518, King and LLUMAR WINDOW FILM at 152.178, David and OH BOY! OBERTO at 150.235, defending Columbia Cup champion Terry Troxell and MISS FAIRWEATHER MASONRY (U-99) at 147.766, and Ken Muscatel and SILVER DOLLAR CASINO (U-25) at 143.104. The MISS BUDWEISER (T-6) tested at the Tri-Cities but did not record an official time trial lap. The T-6 did, however, participate in the "Dash-For-Cash" Shoot-Out Heat on Friday evening. On Sunday morning, Mitch Evans pulled an amazing 141.037 out of the new VACATIONVILLE.COM (U-3) but had to withdraw from the race on account of a cracked propeller strut. Victory in the Unlimited Light race went to the BUDWEISER/POCKET MECHANIC (UL-72). With Pat Haworth subbing for regular pilot and co-owner Phil Bononcini, the UL-72 outran second-place Dave Bender in GOLDEN NUGGET CASINO (UL-38) and third-place Vince Zaudaro in BABCOCK SERVICES (UL-929). Failing to finish in the Final Heat were Kelly Stocklin in O'BRIEN'S ROOSTERTAIL (UL-40) and Jerry Hopp in FREDDIE'S CLUB (UL-15). This was Haworth's first major appearance on the Unlimited Light Racing Series tour but likely not his last. Four boats came out for the Shoot-Out Heat, which proved to be a real crowd-pleaser. MISS BUDWEISER (T-6) and JACK-SON'S SPORTS BAR see-sawed down the first backstretch, followed by OH BOY! OBERTO and MISS FAIRWEATHER MASONRY. JACKSON'S stayed within BUDWEISER's roostertail all three laps. After two and a quarter laps, the BUDWEISER and the JACK-SON'S were dead even. At the finish line, it was MISS BUDWEISER the winner by three boat lengths, 145.602 miles per hour to 145.258. OBERTO too third, while FAIRWEATHER MASONRY blew an engine while challenging OBERTO on lap-one. The field for Heat 1-A on Sunday, in the order of lane assignments, matched U-16, U-9, U-100, U-8, and U-99. Heat 1-B had U-1, U-2, U-10, U-6, and U-25. Heat 1-A was a barn-burner with JACK-SON'S SPORTS BAR and MISS E-LAM PLUS swapping the lead during laps two and three. JACK-SON'S beat E-LAM by a boat length--144.784 to 144.517. AMERICAN PRIDE ran a steady third and beat LLUMAR WINDOW FILM by a roostertail length. MISS FAIRWEATHER MASONRY was a distant fifth. The order of finish was: U-9, U-16, U-100, U-8, and U-99. Heat 1-B saw OH BOY! OBERTO first across the starting line, but MISS BUDWEISER (T-5) led from the first turn onward. BUDWEISER, TRENDWEST, and OBERTO were two roostertails apart after lap-one. MISS TRENDWEST pulled even with MISS BUDWEISER at the start of lap-three. At the finish, it was BUDWEISER the winner by two boat lengths. Despite the fine showing by MISS TRENDWEST, driver Tate was penalized a lap for bearing out by Director of Competition Rick Sandstrom and dropped to fifth position. The order of finish was: U-1, U-6, U-25, U-10, and U-2. U-25 was denied points for a fuel violation. Winning average: 139.659. Heat 2-A matched U-99, U-8, U-25, U-6, and U-9. Heat 2-B had U-2, U-10, U-100, U-16, and U-1. The start of Heat 2-A was closely bunched with LLUMAR WINDOW FILM and OH BOY! OBERTO first across. LLUMAR, OBERTO, and JACK-SON'S SPORTS BAR ran two roostertails apart for the first two laps. LLUMAR pulled to a decisive lead on lap-three and took the victory, followed by OBERTO and JACK-SON'S. MISS FAIRWEATHER MASONRY, which had run so well on the Eastern circuit, appeared to be down on power but still took fourth-place ahead of SILVER DOLLAR CASINO. The order of finish was: U-8, U-6, U-9, U-99, and U-25. U-25 was again denied points for a fuel violation. Winning average: 143.033. MISS EMCOR and MISS TRENDWEST battled down the first backstretch in Heat 2-B with MISS E-LAM PLUS close behind. E-LAM took over the lead at the end of lap-two on the outside. MISS BUDWEISER, after starting in lane-five, moved to the inside lane on lap-two but still couldn't catch up. TRENDWEST ran a steady third ahead of a fast-closing MISS BUD, while AMERICAN PRIDE trailed. The order of finish was: U-16, U-10, U-2, U-1, and U-100. Winning average: 147.403. Heat 3-A matched U-100, U-8, U-6, U-1, and U-16. Heat 3-B had U-99, U-2, U-10, U-9, and U-25. A blanket start in Heat 3-A saw LLUMAR WINDOW FILM first across. LLUMAR, OH BOY! OBERTO, and MISS BUDWEISER were one and a half roostertails apart after lap-one. BUDWEISER, although penalized for bearing out, took over the physical "lead" on lap-two. E-LAM moved into "second" on lap-two and stayed within a roostertail length of the errant MISS BUDWEISER to the finish for a legal first-place. LLUMAR WINDOW FILM received a one-minute penalty for bearing out. The order of finish was: U-16, U-6, U-100, U-8, and U-1. Winning average: 141.968. MISS TRENDWEST led out of the first turn of Heat 3-B, followed closely by JACK-SON'S SPORTS BAR. JACK-SON'S stayed close to TRENDWEST for two laps and then pulled slightly ahead on the third backstretch. TRENDWEST caught up with JACK-SON'S in the final turn and went on to win by half a roostertail length. MISS FAIRWEATHER MASONRY and SILVER DOLLAR CASINO trailed, while MISS EMCOR became airborne and nearly capsized in the first turn and failed to finish. The order of finish was: U-2, U-9, U-99, and U-25. Winning average: 145.027. No Provional Heat was run at the Tri-Cities on account of U-10, U-99, and U-100 all having withdrawn from the race. After three sets of preliminary heats of three laps each, MISS E-LAM PLUS led the way into the five-lap winner-take-all Final Heat with 110 accumulated points. Then came JACK-SON'S SPORTS BAR with 93, OH BOY! OBERTO with 90, MISS TRENDWEST with 74, LLUMAR WINDOW FILM with 74, and MISS BUDWEISER with 70. SILVER DOLLAR CASINO with 17 points was designated as the trailer boat. Unlike the preliminary heats, the Final had no assigned starting lanes. HYDRO-PROP Chairman Gary Garbrecht gave the go-ahead for an old-fashioned "slice-and-dice" race. The seven finalists made their way out for the warm-up period but then had to be called back on account of an inflatable raft that was discovered floating out on the race course. The boats were refueled and sent back out for the re-scheduled Final Heat. At the one-minute gun, Dave Villwock and MISS BUDWEISER had secured the inside lane with Nate Brown and MISS E-LAM PLUS in lane-two. At this point, many observers expected a repeat of the Final Heat at Detroit two weeks earlier. That's when the BUDWEISER likewise achieved the inside lane and then sprinted on to victory. But that didn't happen at the Tri-Cities. The BUD and the E-LAM emerged from the pack out of the first turn and proceeded to wage the battle of all battles with the Columbia Cup at stake. Villwock and Brown dueled side-by-side for three dynamic laps with neither driver holding an advantage. MISS E-LAM PLUS reeled off laps of 150, 149, and 152; MISS BUDWEISER did 149, 152, and 152. Lap-three saw a spectacular job of driving by Villwock when the BUD recovered after nearly blowing over. Unfortunately for Villwock, the boat came down inside the race course, missing three buoys. That was the end of the BUDWEISER's battle for the lead as the U-1 was assessed a one-lap penalty. Notified by radio of Villwock's infraction, Brown backed off to a more conservative pace to insure the victory. MISS E-LAM PLUS took the checkered flag, followed by MISS TRENDWEST, OH BOY! OBERTO, JACKSON'S SPORTS BAR, LLUMAR WINDOW FILM, and MISS BUDWEISER. But the day's action wasn't over yet. Just as Brown crossed the finish line, Ken Muscatel, trailing the field, blew over on the backstretch and crashed near the Pasco side of the river. Muscatel escaped injury but his boat literally broke in two--behind the cockpit and ahead of the engine well. Once again, the F-16 safety canopy, which has save so many lives since its introduction in 1986, worked perfectly. (AUTHOR'S NOTE: Muscatel's U-25 race team borrowed a replacement hull from Fred Leland for the August 4 General Motors Cup on Seattle's Lake Washington.) The 2002 Columbia Cup marked the second Tri-Cities victory for the Ellstrom family, owners of MISS E-LAM PLUS. The Ballard, Washington-based team won the 2000 Columbia Cup with Mark Evans as driver. Winning the 2002 Tri-Cities race had special significance for Nate Brown. The year before, Nate had done exceptionally well in the preliminary Columbia Cup heats but had nullified a victory by making a bad start in the Final Heat. Brown vindicated himself by winning his next two races in 2001 (Seattle and San Diego). Earlier in 2002, Nate and the E-LAM team captured the Governor's Cup on the Ohio River at Madison, Indiana. With four down and two races remaining on the 2002 Unlimited calender, MISS BUDWEISER led with 554 National Points, followed by JACK-SON'S SPORTS BAR with 496, MISS E-LAM PLUS with 487, MISS TRENDWEST with 438, MISS FAIRWEATHER MASONRY with 432, OH BOY! OBERTO with 407, MISS EMCOR with 320, AMERICAN PRIDE with 206, SILVER DOLLAR CASINO with 177, LLUMAR WINDOW FILM with 174, and VACATIONVILLE.COM with 166. - Reprinted from THUNDERBOAT MAGAZINE with permission from the author.