Down to the wire

National Finals cap stellar season

By Jim DeFord

Photos by Jim DeFord

ST. JOHN, Washington (August 29, 2012) — The teams were once again presented with a long 37-turn rotation on this very tight, twisty course. The tightest course in the USSBA Racing Series. Three drivers would run without a DNF: Ackerman and Jensen in the SuperMod class and Paul Gahr in the A-400 class.

In qualifying Dennis Hughes once again out-qualified Eric Werner in the SuperMod class. Eric usually works his way up to his fast laps, but in doing so have been giving away valuable championship points in the qualifying rounds. Hughes and Haskey have out-qualified Eric and Jana 304 points to 296 points respectively placing the Overkill team 38 points ahead of Jolly Rogers going into the National Finals where all points are doubled.

Dillon Cummings was about 1.5 seconds back of Werner with local favorite Scott Ackerman—who has only run one other race this season—about another 1.5 seconds back with Scott and Cari Jensen in one of the Canadian Fat Buddy boats about 1.8 sends off Ackerman’s pace rounding out the top five. >>MORE

PORT ANGELES, Washington (August 15, 2012) — The anticipation and excitement leading up to the first race of the season at Extreme Sports Park (ESP) was intense. Our entire organization had been abuzz even before the last race at Tangent on July 28. And, of course, the ESP planners and organizers have been busy since the end of the race in September 2011 as they prepared for their two races for the 2012 season for the USSBA Racing Series.

Arriving at the track about 6:45 the air was as crisp and still as it could be. The campers were just rising as a few people mingled about in this most beautiful morning. We were greeted by a gorgeous sunrise across the track that would soon fill with thousands of race fans as the teams would take to the track with their thousands of horsepower.

Many of the teams had spent the last two weeks, in between working at their 9-5 jobs, in repairing damage from the last race in Tangent. Pumps were blown, blades cracked, engines exploded and race budgets gone into the red. >>MORE

TANGENT, Oregon (July 31, 2012) — The weather was 80° and mostly sunny in a stark contrast to the race held here at the Field of Dreams in Tangent, Oregon in June. An estimated throng of 2,500 race-hungry fans enjoyed a full day of motorsports entertainment with tight racing, exciting crashes and unmatched speed in the USSBA Racing Series.

Race #3 had all these classes running a tight points championship so it seemed most appropriate to hold the middle race of the season at the fastest track on the schedule. It was a recipe for a heated battle and it certainly turn out that way.

Last race the boats race three qualifiers due to the rain. This race would be a full race schedule of three qualifiers and three elimination runs. Many would not make it. One would have to pull out for good.

Compared to other forms of motorsports, Sprint Boat racing is fairly inexpensive, but it can get expensive. It depends on how fast you want to go and how reliable you want your equipment to be. As it turns out this weekend ended up being a very expensive weekend for several.

Two completely blown motors with holes in the engine blocks, one half blown motor, one blown pump and one shredded pump blade that caused havoc for one boat. Several dents from crashes and rollovers throughout the day will show you why these boats need rollover bars.

TANGENT, Oregon (July 6, 2012) — The weather was iffy right up until the time of the race when we were being told rain showers, this evening and the showers started about 30 minutes later. As the rain continued, the vast majority of the fans stayed planted in their seats with even more arriving while it was raining!

We have to give props to the USSBA fans in this area. Thank you for your dedication! Okay now, enough of the weather and now to the racing!

The racers were presented with a 32-turn fast and technical course. They ran full speed at the green flan around ¾ of the course and then dove to the inside for several winding in and out sessions on the inner part of the course and then flying the opposite way out and around the top of the track to slice right through the center to the finish line. Note that Q4 was cancelled due to the delays caused by the rain.
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