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.
F
or 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.
or 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!
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.
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