For the Reporter
Sunshine, clear skies and smooth water were the order of the day on Lake Washington on Friday, right up until time for qualifying for the Albert Lee Appliance Cup at Seafair.
The heavy cloud cover that rolled in off the Pacific brought with it light showers and a heavy breeze that put whitecaps on the race course just as qualifying was scheduled to go, causing a delay.
Officials and drivers waited while the system went through and when qualifying got under way, about 70 minutes later, the first boat on the water was Schumacher Racing’s U-37 Beacon Plumbing driven by Dave Villwock. After a busy week in the shop repairing damage from the Columbia Cup, Villwock posted a best speed of 144.138 to set the early standard.
But that speed was thrown out by the tech truck with an N2 violation while Kip Brown was on the course running a fast lap of 148.883 in the new U-96 Spirit of Qatar, a boat that is improving quickly since making its debut a week earlier. Villwock’s second attempt was also disallowed with a fuel flow violation
When the course closed two hours later, Jimmy Shane had put the U-6 Oberto at the top of the ladder, qualifying at 156.243 – four miles per hour faster than retired driver Steve David’s top Seafair qualifying speed a year ago.
Two other drivers also topped the 150 mark – J. Michael Kelly was second at 151.222 in the U-1 Graham Trucking and Jon Zimmerman in the 9 Les Schwab Tires/Team RedDOT was third on the ladder at 152.219. Kelly’s speed was disallowed with another N2. When Kelly requalified his speed was 149.756, putting him in third place.
Racing begins Saturday with Heat 1A at 11:55 a.m.
The champion of the Albert Lee Appliance Cup at Seafair will be determined in the winner-take-all final heat at 4:45 p.m. on Sunday.
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Unofficial qualifying results
Number, sponsor, driver, speed
U-6 Obert, Jimmy Shane, 156.243
U-9 Les Schwab Tires-Team RedDOT, Jon Zimmerman, 152.219
U-1 Graham Trucking, J. Michael Kelly, 149.756
U-96 Spirit of Qatar, Kip Brown, 148.883
U-21 Fox Plumbing & Heating, Jeff Bernard, 143.109
U-7 Graham Trucking II Cal Phipps, 140.964
U-22 Boitano Homes presents Performance Tool, Mike Webster, 139.9
U-11 Peters & May, Tom Thompson, 137.77
U-18 Bucket List Racing, Kelly Stocklin, 131.451
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