Black Friday Sale!

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for Friday November 26^th, as Newton Marine will be having its second annual Black Friday Sale! Do not miss out on savings of 30% off all stock (excluding laser kits) at www.newtonmarine.com. Newton Marine will also give out a complimentary “Hydro Classic’s” coloring book with every order made on Black Friday.

Each person that places an order with Newton Marine on Black Friday will get their name placed in a raffle for a free complete set of plans! The winner will be announced on Saturday the 27^th of November at my blog, newtonmarine.blogspot.com.

You will not have to camp out in front of any mall to get these savings, only your own computer. Simply make your purchase at www.newtonmarine.com anytime on November 26^th and enter in the promotional code of “blkfriday10” and 30% will automatically be taken off your bill. All orders will be required to pay via paypal, no mail in orders please. This is only a one-day offer valid for November 27^th and will expire at the stroke of midnight. All sales do not go towards shipping. Any questions about the sale please email David Newton at newtonmarine@gmail.com.

Happy Holidays!
David Newton

Newton Marine

*Please note that the sale does not apply towards the laser kits.

Laser Kits now available on NewtonMarine.com!

Newton Marine is proud to announce that with a joined effort with Mike Luszcz we now are selling 1/8th scale kits directly on our website! Currently laser kits are available for plans 101 and 146. We hope to expand the catalogue to provide more kits to all of our loyal customers and avid scale model boaters.

The current pricing for the laser 1/8th kits is $180 (including a $10 domestic shipping fee) or for the kit and full set of plans $235, which is a $20 saving! Currently we are not able to ship the kits internationally. Sorry! Hopefully we will be equipped soon for such orders.

It is Mike's and our own goal to provide help and give back to the hobby that we both so love and enjoy. Please leave any feedback on here that you have to share!

San Diego back on H1 tour?

According to several resources San Diego might be back on the H1 tour this year, less than a month away. An official announcement should be released by the end of the week. KNDU has an article regarding the possibility of the return to the bay: click here to read their article.

2010 Winter Spectacular - 6-7-8 Aug.2010

I would like to thank Ian Baas for a race update from Australia, as they held their Winter Spectacular last weekend, with their own Roger Newton Memorial Trophy. Below is his race recap:

"Appently Al Ansell's camera broke before he was able to take any pictures at this years Winter Spctacular . However Craig Murphy - murph on International Waters has taken a lot of pictures and put them on the AMPBA Webite and in the General Boating Forum section on International Waters . Al Ansell is the latest winner of the Silver Cup - 3 years in a row and Graham Mason won the Roger Newton Memorial Trophy for Concourse in 1 / 8 Scale . He won the same trophy 2 years ago with the same boat - U 101.5 Miss Exide . From looking at the pictures and talking to Uncle Brian McKellar I believe the competiturs were -
Al Ansell - Miss Bud
Dave Bevern - Miss Bud
Brian Mckellar - Miss US ~1970
Craig Knight - ~ Gilmore Special ~1972
Steve Tomvald - Bardhal Green Dragon
Graham Mason - Miss Exide U - 101.5
Doug Wright - The Squire Shop ~1986
Dave Bevern had a bearing failure in his motor before the final and was not able to repair in time leaving the other 6 to battle it out"

2010 RCU Roger Newton Memorial Videos

Final Heat:


1st Connie:


2nd Connie:

Videos of RCU's Columbia Cup

Final Heat:


First Connie:


Second Connie:

RCU celebrates 37 straight years at the Columbia Cup!

The next race on the rc racing calendar is RCU's Columbia Cup, which has been run now for 37 years in a row! Water Follies has put a nice mention on their website for the race.

No U-3 in Tri-Cities and Seattle

It is official now that Ed Cooper will not take his U-3 Piston Powered team out west this year for Tri-Cities and Seattle. He will continue his boycott of the H1 organization on "interpretations" of the rule-book. There is a good article on KNDU's website detailing Cooper's decision.

Sam Cole gave a very short statement regarding Cooper's decision, which does not give any light for him working to get Ed back on the race circuit. "Ed's team, brings an element to the sport that no one else can," Cole said. "I respect his decision and look forward to the day that his team returns. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later."

Ed has released a poll on his website, www.go3racing.com, on how you would rate Sam Cole's performance with ABRA or H1 in the past few years. It is on the right hand column. From the looks of it, Sam is failing miserably. I have made my vote...

Vintage Final Heat Video

Here is a video courtesy of Ron Daum of the final heat of the Vintage class at last weeks Bernie Little Memorial. Congrats again to Mark Hansen.

2010 ERCU Bernie Little Memorial

On Saturday, July 10, I journeyed out to Bellevue Washington for the 2010 Bernie Little Memorial race for ERCU. The small pond we race on makes it a very tight course for very exciting racing! The race was again put on by Jeff and Mike Campbell, two brothers that worked for Bernie on his hydroplane race team at Hydroplanes, Inc. Once again they put on a great race!

All day long spectators witnessed fast racing on the small course which equaled for a challenging day for all racers. This was definitely a course that proved to be a challenge for the racers as some people found it hard not to get drawn up to the score up buoy too early and carry too much speed into the corners.

For the race I dusted off my late father's model of the 1968 "Checkerboard" Miss Bardahl. With old equipment in the boat I did not have high expectations for the weekend. The batteries and speed controller (I am ashamed to say I still have a Chinese speedo in there) have been run in the boat since 2007. This is very old equipment considering how fast electric technology grows from year to year.

The modern final was nothing else but full of speed. Mike Gossler showed his superiority in performance by taking an early lead and not looking back. The Hansen's followed closely, but could not prevail in the modern class.

The Vintage final proved to be more of a challenge to finish than was shown in the Modern Final. After a poor start I found myself (which I only have myself to blame) I was in 4th place before I could hit the first corner. Mark Hansen got into the lead right at the start and did not look back. Ryan Opfer driving Kerry Kjos' Miss Thriftway and Mike Campbell racing the Hawaii Kai III for Kaiser (Ben Keller) gave a great run for the lead, but found themselves upside down after only a few laps. Just about that time the field whittled itself down to 3 boats, including Mark, myself and rookie Chad Bradshaw. It then turned into a parade as we finished in that order.

The final order of finish:

2010 Results

Vintage Final

1. Mark Hansen, 1972 Van's PX

2. David Newton, 1968 Miss Bardahl

3. Chad Bradshaw, 1960 Thriftway Too

DNF Ryan Opfer, 1960 Miss Thriftway

DNF Jason Hartley, 1972 Miss Timex

DNF Gary Simmons, 1960 Miss Everett

DQ Mike Campbell, 1957 Hawaii Ka'i III

Modern Final

1. Mike Gossler, 1978 Miss Circus Circus

2. Mark Hansen, 1972 Notre Dame

3. Gary Hansen, 1974 Miss Cott's Beverages

4. Mike McIntosh, 1994 Miss Budweiser (T-3)

5. Rick Lentz, 1974 U-95

6. Nelson Holmberg, 2009 Formula Boats

DNS Henry Marvin, 1993 Kelloggs Frosted Flakes

Congratulations to Mike Gossler and Mark Hansen for their wins respectivley in the Modern and Vintage class and a big thanks to Jeff and Mike Campbell for hosting an excellent race!

Gold Cup 2010

Don't forget to follow today's racing live at Tampa Digital's website. They will cover the entire day of heat racing live today. The line up for the first set of heats are as follows:

SECTION--Lanes (1,2,3.4)

1A-- 100, 13, 21, 25

1B-- 96, 37, 7, 17

1C-- 1, 5, 22

Looks like they will not allow fighting for lanes in the race...

Cooper's withdraw from Madison

Ed Cooper decided to withdraw his boat and team from the Madison Regatta on Friday of the race due to an interpretation of a testing and qualifying in the H1 rule book. Ed has released a statement on his website, www.go3racing.com, regarding his withdraw from the Madison Regatta:

"The Go3 Race Team withdrew from competition at the Madison Race because the leadership of H1 refuses to follow the written rules of the organization. There is a reason why rules are written and precedents under the rules are followed. One reason for this is that the leadership of an organization cannot change the rules with a "new interpretation". For me the actions of the leadership of H1 are no longer tolerable."

Ed Cooper, Jr.
Owner, Go3 Racing Team

From the sounds of it, the U-3 racing team will not be at Detroit or any other races this year. This brings the boat count down to 11 boats. H1 has not released any written statement regarding Cooper's actions. Looks like the organization is dropping the ball again...

Congrats to Oberto!

Oh Boy! Oberto won the season opener at Madison Indiana. They were able to break there loosing string at their hometown race, which they have not won since 2001. Since that time, they have become a frontrunner, and a favorite at every race. They are now in lead of the points race, which they have been able to claim for the past two years. To view recaps of the race, please view the Tri-Cities KNDU news website. The Madison Courier also has a great article on the team bringing a race victory for the home crowd: click here for article.

Don't forget that Tampa Digital video taped the entire race, click here to view the page of all the heat racing.

Chris Denslow was also on hand to take some spectacular photos. Make sure to view his website and see all of the racing action.

Congrats again to Oberto, and on to the Gold Cup next weeknd!

Lucas Oil Indiana Governor's Cup this weekend!

A field of 13 boats is set for an upcoming race this weekend in Madison Indiana. This will be the first stop in the H1 5 race season.

To follow the race you can listen to a live broadcast of testing/qualifying/racing on the H1 website. Tampa Digital will also be on hand to do live video broadcasting. They will have live streaming video on Saturday 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, and Sunday 1:00pm to 5:00pm. Click here to tune into the live video stream.

Videos of President's Cup

I finally got the videos up of the last race. Here they are:

Final Heat:

1st Connie:

2nd Connie:

Here are the final results of the race:

Final

1st Kirk Maupin 71 Atlas Van Lines
2nd John Hruby 75 spirit of Dayton Walther
3rd Rich Matken 07 Boeing 787
4th Dave Brandt 95 Pico American Dream DNF
5th Ryan Hickam 86 Coors Light DNF
6th Mac Connelly 82 Atlas Van Lines DNF
7th Brenda Brandt 78 Squire Shop DNF

1st con

1st Rich Matken 07 Boeing
2nd Steve Roman 86 The boat
3re Dustin Hicks 94 O Boy Oberto DN F
4th Jim Brittain Miss 7-11 DNF
5th Steve Schmitz 85 Squire Shop DNF
6th Bill Brandt 72 Notre Dame DNF

2nd con

1st Dustin Hicks 94 O Boy Oberto
2nd Joey Caines 70 Lil Buzzard
3rd Randy Gosseen 68 Miss Bardahl
4th Rich Backus 00 York International DNF
5th Harry Gatjens 86 Joe Ricci Spirit of America DNF
6th David Newton 86 Miss Budweiser DNF

2010 Roger Newton Memorial Race Announcement

Plans are finalizing for the 2010 Roger Newton Memorial. This year the race will be held on Sunday August 15th in Ellensburg, Wa. Racing will begin at 10:15 am. All day long prizes will be given out to race entries as we have over 30 hydro prizes, including:

-Hydro Art Prints

-1/8th scale plans

-Hydro Coloring books

-Hardware

-Photos

-Top prize will be a complete 1/8th scale fiberglass hull donated by RC Boatcompany

-and much much more!

One raffle ticket will be given per boat race entry. Additional tickets will cost $2 each or 3 for $5. Only race entries may purchase raffle tickets.

There will be 4 flights of 5 lap heats. The first 5 boats in points will make the final. The winners of the first and second connies will advance to become the trailer boat in the final, making yes two trailer boats! Free snacks and beverages will be provided. Come out and race in the memory of the Czar!

Don't miss out on Newton Marine's Blog Special!

As the month is over half over, I just wanted to remind all of the people who have followed my blog that they can save 25% on any product on www.newtonmarine.com. To collect on this offer, simply type "blogspecial" into the promotional code box on your order. There is just two weeks left on this offer, so make sure to not miss out. Thank you again to all who have and are followers of this blog!

Automotive Powered Hydroplane this year?

A recent interview with Jim Harvey may lead to us seeing an automotive powered hydroplane sometime this year. Jim has for the past year been working close with Fred Leland's camp in developing the automotive engine program. Jim claims that the main turbine program is ready to go, and that an auto powered hydroplane will be ready to go half way through the season. Hopefully we will see it out at the Columbia Cup!

Fred also recently visited a shop in Spokane to get some dyno time in on an engine. A local paper was there to give coverage: please click here for the article.

For years now we have heard of teams stepping forward to work on incorporating an automotive power-plant into the U class and none of them has followed through. For the sake of the sport, I hope that with Harvey's help, the Leland racing team will come out this year with one. Under the leadership of Sam Cole, the sport is in grave shape right now, and one of the only things that will be a positive boost for it would be an automotive hydroplane to bring in new fans and sponsors.

Watch the video below for more information on the auto hydroplane and what is going on in Fred's shop.

Close Race

The following is video footage of my 2nd heat of racing. I had a great battle with Jim Brittain (racing my old 711) for 2nd place. We we deck to deck almost all 5 laps, exchanging the lead several times. At the end I was barely able to get enough ahead to claim 2nd place, beating Jim. That was the most fun I have ever had racing for 2nd place!

Videos of 2010 Rose Cup Final and Connies

Final Heat:

1st Connie:

2nd Connie:

2010 Rose Cup

The 5th race in the 2010 RCU racing season has concluded with an on going 4 race streak as Kirk Maupin again won the final heat in fashion with his blistering fast Atlas Van Lines. Held in Ellensburg, the weather gave us a nice day of sun and heat, making it a nice one for all the racers.

This race marked the first race in RCU with my model of the 1986 "bubble" Miss Budweiser. I made many modifications to the boat since I tested it earlier in May. The changes I made showed improvement in the hull, but gave me more questions to answer before it will become a show stopper. My day turned out to be a mediocre one, as I was only able to manage a 3rd place finish in the 2nd connie. This was by far from a successful day of racing, but it was fun to get back out to the races and away from the office. As they say, I am back to the drawing board with hopefully a more improved boat in two weeks.

The final heat turned out to be a barn burner, as it was anyones race to win. Dave Brandt made

a great start to give Kirk a run for his money, but Kirk had a slight edge at the start and did not look back. A great battle took place for 3rd place between Bill Brandt, Paul Jackson and John Olsen, but the rough water got the best of Bill and John, giving Paul 3rd place from the trailer position.

Official race results:

7A: Final

7B: 1st Connie

7C: 2nd Connie (typo, Chet Lepinski and David Newton should be reversed)

As the tradition goes, the race winner has to pick up all of the bouys, I am sure he does not mind.

I will post videos of the final heat and connies shortly, but for more photographs please visit my smugmug website. The next race is in two weeks back in Ellensburg for the President's Cup.

Another Gallery for Test Session Pictures

Amateur photographer and hydroplane enthusiast Jim Clark was at hand to take many vivid shots of the U-21 and U-25 test session. For another look of the event, click here to enter his gallery.

Unlimited Hydroplane Test Run On Lake Washington

Two unlimited hydroplanes tested yesterday at Stan Sayres Pits; the U-21 Albert Lee and the U-25 Superior Racing. Model boaters will be very interested to see pictures of the new cowling that the U-25 tested, which looks like nothing at all (not to mention running without a horizontal wing). Chris Denslow drove 200 mile to be lakeside and take some amazing pictures of the test day, thanks Chris! Be sure to check out his smugmug website to see his full gallery of test day pictures. Only 1 month until the first race!

25% off all Newton Marine Purchases through June!

I would like to thank everyone one that has followed the Newton Marine blog with a 25% off special that will last through the end of June. Simply place the code "blogspecial" in the promotional code box that is in your cart, and you will receive 25% off your entire order. If you have any questions regarding the sale, please feel free to post on this blog or email me at newtonmarine@gmail.com. Once again thank you to everyone!

Video of New Zealand 1/8th scale Seafair Trophy Race

Many thanks to Merv (from the other side of the world) for providing videos of SUHA's last event, which was held for their 2010 Seafair Trophy race. For a link for videos of all the days racing, please click here. The following is video of their winner take all final. It looks like it was Merv's race to win, until he rolled his boat in the left corner. Always next time though!

2010 SUHA Seafair Trophy Race Final Heat:

Last stop: 2010 UNW Seafair Trophy Race

Another terrific weekend of racing has come to an end. This Saturday I made the hour trek up to Monore to race with the northwest's other 1/8th scale club, Unlimiteds Northwest. The club put on a great race with about 25 drivers that showed up. After last weekends crash with my 1993 Miss Budweiser, I decided to pull out my 1986 Miss Budweiser Griffon and see what she could do. This was actually the first time I got a good chance to do some testing with this model as in the previous two times I was unable due to extreme conditions and motor problems.

Needless to say I was able to get in some much needed testing. I tried several prop combinations and learned a lot about the hull. Some sponson work needs to be done along with a long list of ideas with it. Right now the boat is sitting upside down in the shop for some "updates". I hope to have it ready for the next event out that I can make in June, hopefully with a better and faster ride.

I unfortunately was unable to take any video of the final heats as the battery died on my camera. John Olson was there however with his new model of the 1975 Weisfields. He was able to get a video of one of his races:




Kirk Maupin again showed dominance as he won for a third time this year with his new 1975 Atlas Van Lines. Paul Jackson however did give Kirk a run for his money, but ended up blowing his boat over on the last lap.

All in all it was a good day. I would have posted sooner, but I had to go straight from the race to work that night.

The next race for Newton Marine looks to be RCU's Rose Cup on the 13th of June. In between now and then I hope to get some work done on the Bubble Bud, and upload more photos to my smugmug site, which I will post updates for on here.











Damage to Paul Jackson's 1976 Olympia Beer after a tangle in the corner.

Dean Chenoweth Memorial Videos:

Final Heat:


1st Connie:


2nd Connie:

2010 Dean Chenoweth in the books!

Twenty-nine boats graced the shores of Twin Lakes in Marysville Washington for the 2010 Dean Chenoweth Memorial. I again developed motor problems in the morning, as I attempted to test the "problem" motor without success. After many runs with poor performance, the backup motor made its way into the Miss Budweiser. This time I had enough time to make a few good runs, and with 15 minutes left in the morning test session, I was all tuned up and ready to run!

I again made the final by virtue of points along with; Kirk Maupin (duh), Bill Brandt, Paul Jackson, Steve Schmitz and John Hruby (winner of the first connie). I decided today to try the flying start that won me the first race, as I know my boat is heavy and can not troll down on tight race courses. Coming down for the line, the first 4 lanes were occupied, so I opted out for lane 5 and raced for the first corner. Going around the first corner I lost sight of my boat behind a few roostertails. As I looked for my boat to exit the corner and head full tilt down the back stretch I saw a boat facing the opposite direction, dead in the water at the apex of the left turn. Needless to say that was me. About half a second later John Hruby's Miss Circus Circus found my boat before he could see it. It was not John's fault as it happened in a blink of an eye.

The results were not pretty, luckily his boat had minor damage with mainly hardware breaks. My boat was not so lucky as the canopy and cowling will become good wall art with rudder and prop marks up and down the side of the hull. I think the pictures do enough justice.

Kirk Maupin had another great day however with his beautiful and lightening fast Atlas Van Lines. The finishing order of the race are as follows:

1) Kirk Maupin/1975 Atlas Van Lines

2) Steve Schmitz/1986 Squire Shop

3) Bill Brandt/1972 Notre Dame

4) Paul Jackson/1991 The Edge

5) John Hruby/1978 Miss Circus Circus (DNF)

6) David Newton/1993 Miss Budweiser (DNF)

Next race on Newton Marine's schedule will be to join UNW next Saturday at Monroe... unfortunately without the 1993 Miss Budweiser, as that model will need a good and long rest. Rachael again took video footage of the final heats, I will post them shortly on tonight.

Dean Chenoweth Memorial up next

Next on the RCU race season is the 2010 Dean Chenoweth Memorial race. The race will be held Sunday at Marysville's Twin Lakes, just off I-5 exit 206. The boat count is expected to maintain a high count, coming off a 35 boat race, two weeks ago. Last years defending champion Dave Brandt will be back to reclaim his title. For anyone in the area interested come out and watch, we will be racing from 10:30 am to around 3:30pm.

VIews into RCU past

Looking through some old photos John Logan was generous to share a number of pictures of his first year with RCU, back in 1982. Him and his brother Jerry, were 2 of 18 rookies that joined the club that year! We still are fortunate to have good numbers at our races today, but they are nothing of what they were back then. Thanks for sharing the photos John!

2010 ERCU Seafair Trophy Race Videos!!

1/10th Modern Final:


1/7th Modern Final:


1/7th Vintage Final:


I was unable to obtain video footage of the 1/10th scale Vintage final as I was racing in that heat.

2010 Seafair came early to some...

The 2010 Seafair race came early this year to many as ERCU kicked off their 3rd race of the season with their Seafair Trophy Race. ERCU is a scale rc hydroplane group located in the Pacific Northwest that holds races for 1/10th and 1/7th scale electric hydroplanes. The pits held 25-30 people which raced in the 4 different classes (both the 1/10th scales and 1/7th scales are split into a vintage shovel nose class and a modern pickle fork class). For more information on ERCU visit their website, http://www.e-rcu.org/. The weather held out to be one of the nicest days of the year so far as it was clear skys in the mid 70s with a slight breeze to from the west coming off the coast, perfect racing conditions.

Today I raced my late father's checkerboard Miss Bardahl along with Kerry Kjos' 1960 Miss Thriftway. I was fortunate enough to make the first connie with my Miss Bardahl and the final heat with Kerry's Thriftway. I made a great start in the connie with the Bardahl and lead wire to wire. As I already had a ride in the final heat with Kerry's Thriftway, I opted to drive the boat that was eligible to start on the front line and bench the Bardahl. (Sorry Mr. Manchester!)

The final heat for the vintage class turned out to be a fast and strange one. Coming around the left corner before the start a few boats tangled into each other leaving boat parts from lane 2 to lane 6, taking out 3 boats before the race had even began. Going down for the start Jeff Campbell with his outrigger Pay'n'Pak and I took off battling deck to deck and swapping leads for a good two and a half laps before Jeff got a little lead coming off the right turn and never looked back. My boat did not have such a good corner, took a little dive inside the course mistakenly missing a buoy which resulted in a lap penalty and 4th place overall.

I was able to take video of the final heats for both 1/7th scale classes and the modern 1/10th scale class. I will post them shortly and congratulations to Jeff Campbell, Bill Smiley, Gale Whitestein, and Craig Mullen for their wins today!

On a side note it is always good to see fellow boaters that have strayed away come back into the hobby. That being said welcome back Brad!

2010 Spring Training!

On May 7th Kennewick Washington held a spring training day for a few Unlimited and Unlimited Light teams including the new (new to the team) U-21 and U-25. The Albert Lee Appliance made several good runs including a top speed of 201 MPH at the end of the straightaway. H1 professional photographer was on hand to take some very good shots, click here to view them on his smugmug website. Ken Muscatel will be back on Saturday the 8th to make a few more runs, Chris will be back to take more photographs.

2010 Bill Muncey Memorial Photos

I have uploaded all of my photos to the Newton Marine Smugmug website. Check it out to see photos of all of the days events and as always make sure to check Chris Denslow's Smugmug website to see his professional photographs. For all official results of the race and for season high points please visit R/C Unlimiteds website.

Videos of 2010 Bill Muncey Memorial

Here are the videos of the Final Heat, First Connie and Second Connie. I would like to thank my fiance Rachael for filming again this weekend.

Final Heat


First Connie


Second Connie

Kirk Maupin Takes the Bill Muncey Memorial

The 2nd race in the 12 race season for RC Unlimiteds is in the books. A total of 35 boats entered the race to make it one of the larger turns out in a few years. The wind died down to 20-25 MPH during the day, which was welcomed compared to the 50 MPH gusts on test day that caused white caps to form.

In the morning test session, the main motor in my 1993 Miss Budweiser developed a problem of inconsistency and showed erratic behaviors. We ran several times without any improvement and decided with 10 minutes left in the testing session to change motors to one of our backups. Unfortunately the engine swap was not completed until 5 minutes before our first heat, so with a different motor and too rich of a tune, it took several heats to dial in the motor. Luckily with good draws and good finishes I was able to make it into the final heat with a fast line up of other boats. In the start of the race, I was able to grab lane 1, but going into the first corner the lanes narrowed and Kirk Maupin and I bumped sponsons leading to minor damage to both boats. Kirk and I ran side by side for 1 lap until Kirk showed his superior speed and took over the lead. From their he was able to extend his lead to easily take home the win, which was very fitting as he won with his brand new model of Bill Muncey's 1975 Atlas Van Lines. I was able to hold of Dave Brandt for 2nd place, as he made his way to the final heat as the 1st connie winner, making him start in the trailer position. The final heat was a fast one even due to the rough water and high winds. Surprisingly 6 boats finished under their own power.

Here are the final heat results for the 2010 Bill Muncey Memorial:

1) Kirk Maupin/1975 Atlas Van Lines

2) David Newton/1993 Miss Budweiser

3) Dave Brandt/1994 Tide

4) Rich Matkin/2009 Boeing

5) Brian Anderson/1985 Domino's Pizza

6) Greg Ross/1989 Risley's Express

7) Dustin Hicks/1993 Oh Boy! Oberto-DNF

Chris Denslow made another appearance to take professional photos of the event. You can view them at his smugmug website. (The photo to the right was taken by Chris)

My fiance was kind enough to take more photos and videos of the event, I will uploaded them and get them up on the blog hopefully by sometime tomorrow.

So far this year we have had a good turn out to the races with fast boats and great racing. This year has a lot of promise to have many different winners, with some first timers. Our next race will be in two weeks on May 16th at Twin Lakes in Marysville.

Saturday Testing blown out!

Well, we just got back to the hotel room and are relaxing as the winds outside in Ellensburg are howling at 50 plus MPH. About 20 people came out to test their models, and ended up with wind burns instead! We arrived today at 11 am and got very little done as the wind picked up and never let up. I brought over a model of the 1986 Miss Budweiser Griffon that I was eager to run and did two runs, which were at half throttle at best. Brian Lepinski took some video of one run:

Brian's facebook video

Winds are supposed to die down to 20-25 MPH tomorrow, hopefully we will be able to get in some good racing still. Unfortunatley I don't have much else to report as the wind kept all the boats at bay.

Next race the 2010 Bill Muncey Memorial!

This weekend marks the 2nd race of the year for RC Unlimiteds which will be held in Ellensburg Washington, the Bill Muncey Memorial. Last year's champion, Dave Brandt, will be back to defend his title. He will be back with his 1999 Pico along with his new and strong running 1993 Tide. Dustin Hicks transfered a strong end to his last season to be 2nd in points after the first race. John Olsen came out with a strong running boat, which poses to be a mighty threat this year for his first career victory. Kirk Maupin will be back with his his ever fast Esquire Products. Along with these drivers, there are at least several handfuls of drivers that are ready to step up to the winner spot this weekend. Coming off a 32 boat field for the season opener, the Bill Muncey Memorial is shaping up to be big race with a lot of fun and possibilities.

Albert Lee's new boat and Sponsorship

Here is a new photo of Greg's new boat purchased from the old U-21 team. It is ready for the season and will be heading over to the Tri-Cities for a test session in the near future. Albert Lee in addition to sponsoring the team will be the title sponsor for the 2010 Seafair race, in GM's absence!

2010 Griffith Cup Article

Many thanks to our New Zealand connection Merv for pointing out a very interesting article on the 2010 Griffith Cup. Some interesting notes worth mentioning is American hydroplane driver J Michael Kelly (which is actually misspelled as J Michael Price) and the GP hydro Annihilator that was built, based off the design of a remote control hydroplane. Merv Sowden confirms that this was a model from the late Troy McIntyre of the 1991 Winston Eagle Lobster boat. The article goes into depth on the events of the 2010 race, and the history of the 2nd longest running trophy in all of motorsports, the Griffith Cup.

Trivia Question #1

Before we give out the first trivia question for Newton Marine the Blog, lets lay down a few ground rules:

1) All answers need to be submitted via the comment portion of the trivia question, no emails, phone calls or letters will be excepted.

2) All answers must include your full name.

3) The first person to answer correctly wins the prize that is mentioned with the trivia question.

4) There will be a minimum of 1 trivia contest per month with some months having more than 1.

Trivia Question #1:

Scott Pierce had a lot of success racing hydroplanes and made a name for himself racing in the Unlimited class racing for many professional teams and owners. That being said, here is the first trivia question. What was Scott's first career win in the Unlimited class? Please name the event location, race title, year and the boat that he drove to win. The first person to answer this correctly by commenting to this post will win a Newton Marine "Hydro Classics" coloring book drawn by Roger J. Newton.

Good luck!

Duke's Restaurant saves Seafair

Looks like Duke's Chowderhouse stepped up and will give $40,000 to Seafair to keep the hydros as part of the event through fundraising. This should be enough to save the event for the hydros, but just reminds us on how small of a scale the events are being run today, compared to years ago. On another note, you can enter a raffle and win free dinner for life, might be worth the try. Here is a link to the Seattle PI article.

Seafair in Trouble

The Seattle Times came out with an article in yesterday's paper on the hydroplanes jeopardy with Seafair as GM pulled its 6 figure sponsorship. This appears to be a growing trend with all race sites. San Diego fell out of the racing schedule last year, Evansville is out this year with also possible Detroit. Now Seattle is in trouble, leaving only 2 confirmed sites in America: Tri-Cities and Madison. The hydroplanes are in much need of some leadership to not let it fall completely through the floor, which I do not think Sam Cole (Chairman of H1) is doing anything about. It seems each year the hydros get into deeper financial trouble and makes its way out, but how much longer can this go on and we still call it a sport? Link to Seattle Times Seafair article.

Uploaded videos of Atomic Cup Final, 1st and 2nd Connie

Final Heat

First Connie

Second Connie

Photos of 2010 Atomic Cup

I have uploaded all of my pictures for the event on my Newton Marine Photo website.

Chris Denslow has also uploaded his, there are many many pages of great photos of the race. Chet and Brian Lepinski put on a great race to open the racing season. Next race is in two weeks in Ellensburg, Washington, the Bill Muncey Memorial.