News from May 17-18, 2008 Race @ Lake Minden.....

 

Thanks to Julian Rucki for the report on the races this weekend @ Lake Minden...........

Hey you all;

The scene was challenging at Lake Minden just above Sacramento 6 cracker teams showed up to race this course. P-9,P-13,P-28,P-75,P-100 and P-200, yes I said P-200. With the stage set for heat 1 saturday, P-13 and P-100 had new drivers/riders and were instructed to run behind the group. In the P-9 it was Schatz/Schatz; P-13 Gasper/Hager; P-28 Jim Ricku/Mike Biglow; P-75 Rouse/Croft; P-100 Lombardo/Abner and P-200 Mann/Marshal. In the 1st turn P-9,P-28,P-200 were there, P-9 skidaddled away. The show to every ones surprise, well at least for me, was dad at 71 yrs old was giving the P-200 a strong run for the money and actually was holding a boat length advantage on the outside of P-200 for 3 laps, then Jim hit a bad spot in turn 1 and couldn't bring her around the the P-200 was able to escape. The finish was P-9,P-200,P-28,P-75,P-100 and P-13 heat 2 had Rich Rucki driving the P-28. P-13 didn't make the call, a wrong header bolt selection had headers loose and rattling, and a pretty frustrated and overheated Mitch was near done for the weekend, it was 101degrees each day. Well get back to Mitch later. Heat 2 had theP-9 as the front runner, P-28 was there for a while, but Rich hasn't driven boat in a few years and he was over steering it and held on for 3rd. The surprise was Tony Lombardo getting antsy and racing hard with the P-9 and pulled in a 2nd, but got the disqualified from ref, for he was not cleared to run in the front, finish was P-9, P-100, P-28, P-75; P-200 DNF and P-13 DNS. After 28 heats of racing we called it a day at 2:30pm. Fine food was going in all camps, we hadn't seen Mitch and word was he was done for weekend, he had been slaving for 10 months rebuilding the former P-12 from top to bottom and he never got a chance to water test. So expierienced racers know to expect set backs. As the outside temp cooled down the P-28 team all converged on the P-13. Removed headers, cleaned the surfaces, got some shorter header bolts from P-9 and a dab of high heat silicone and headers were back on boat and rock solid. A call was made to Mitch while he was sulking at his cabin, and we asked him what all needed to be done to boat outside of the headers and he replied we still have to check jets and plugs. He was told headers were done and get his mopey head out of his you no what and come back over to the pits. He was stunned and in shock that we had done that. He was happy and grinning and rejuvenated. The jetting was checked, adjustments were made she was fired up and deemed ready to go racing. Mitch could not believe what had happened and wanted to know how he could possibly make it up to us. A suggestion was made that rich drive P-13 1st heat on Sunday with Mitch in the passenger seat and give the boat a good shake down. There was no hesitation in his response and he said hell yes. The line was now P-13 Rich Rucki/Gasper; P-28 Biglow/Biglow; P-200 Marshall/Mann; P-9/P-100 same players. P-75 chose to scratch based on debris found in oil filter. Played it safe, its cheaper to repair something that hasn't been broken, made sense to us, so now heat 1 Sunday. well I'm here to tell you what a surprise when the P-13 sneak right into the middle of the P-9 and P-28 and when they cleared the 1st turn it was the P-13 and they never looked back, it was a strong flag to flag run and there is a new fast boat in town, The finish was P-13, P-9, P-200, P-28, P-100 heat 2 had P-13 Gasper/Hager; P-28 Rich/Jack the rest of the field the same. Richard was a little more familiar in the P-28. The P-28 went into turn 1 and were together for say a lap and then the big ponies of the P-9 took off. It was a follow the leader pretty much from there, the finish was P-9, P-28, P-100, P-13and P-200 DNF. It was a great weekend of racing at Lake Minden and racing again was done at 2:30pm next up Oroville/ ps please excuse any typo's, I'm pretty tired.

 

 

 

“Thank you......”