Celina, Ohio

Ohio Governor's Cup

August 25-26, 2007

J and Fae Report

 

    The Inboard navy reported to Celina, Ohio on this steamy weekend and lo and behold, a boat race broke out. The Ohio Governor's Cup Regatta has become a crown jewel in Region Six. Louie Schiavone, Tom Saddler and their crew of volunteers staged another great event. Strong community involvement, excellent organization and a beautiful race site make this a super show each year. Mark and Lori Weber make sure everything runs smoothly and Billy Noonan always gives a great effort as referee. Add a fine field and you get the picture.

 

    Here are the J and Fae boat totals: (T-8) (Y-9) (S-11) (A-4) (E-12) (NM-5) (GNH-6) Total-55.

 

    T boats belonged to Kelly Shane (T-1) Tangled Up In Blue. She roared away to win every heat and garnered the prestigious Governor's Cup for top team of the weekend. Edging out Dan Kanfoush/Jim Sechler and the (Y-1) Fast Eddie Too Kelly accomplished a feat the one litre guys have tried to do all Summer. Brandon Kennedy (T-25) Shameless Say What is flying as well and he took both seconds. Jimmy Shane (T-5) Trophy Hunter and Mark Butler (T-72) For Pete's Sake took the thirds. Kelly and Brandon are in a spirited battle for T-1 this season.

 

    Y boats presented its usual deep field with whining two strokes and some good 2000cc engines. Dan Kanfoush (Y-1) faced a stout group led by Keith McMullen (Y-80) Outlaw, Sean Bowsher (Y-52) Roostertails Racing and Jimmy Shane (Y-91) Trafficade My Mistress Knot Rod. Dan had to earn the two wins and he did. The yellow streak ran like a bomb in any lane showing great versatility as well as its usual speed. Starts were ragged as usual with Dan (Y-1), Sean (Y-52) and Jimmy (Y-91) usually on time and many hulls strewn all over the place. Sean kept up his outstanding consistency taking a second and a third. Keith had a second and Josh Carlton (Y-77) Oh Brother took a nice third in his 2000cc powered craft. This was another speedy show by the buzz bombs.

 

    S boats usually had five vessels running in one roostertail. The quintet was Keith Anderson (S-17) Bad Habit, Mark Johnson (S-9) Honey Bun, Dutch Squires (S-83) Mega Bucks, Bill Villhauer (S-11) Unfinished Business and Jimmy Shane (S-702) Winning Ticket. The action was furious from start to finish and afterward the crowd was spent from sheer excitement. Dutch (S-83) came in the favorite but this wild bunch had seen enough of his transom this season. Mark (S-9) and Keith (S-17) took the two wins flying loose all the way to the checkers. Dutch took both seconds with Jimmy (S-702) taking both thirds in the Dewees' vastly improving hull. With all five top hulls finishing within a second, competition was superb in every heat.

 

    A boats saw Randy Lynn (A-63) Water Pistol and Tony Black/Steve Kuhr (A-41) Jamakin Me Krazy dominate the action taking the titles. Randy (A-63) added a second as did Racer Bob Dabrowski (A-75) Koegels. Kevin Kreitzer (A-64) Blue Devil took a third. It was a small but fast group this weekend.

 

    NM boats had two mega-monsters looming over the field. Tony Black (NM-928) Illusion and Hootie Wolfe (NM-93) Desperado are ultra quick. It turned out they were too quick as they kept running up the back of the five litres which are stepups to help fill the field. Now, the problem is that there is a huge speed differential between the NM'S and the E's. The fives are going as fast as they can and there presence in this class is often a great thing keeping the class viable in both the East and West. However, it proves very dangerous when the bombs racing each other encounter unpredictable traffic. Oh well, everyone came home safe with Hootie (NM-93) and Tony (NM-928) hogging a first and a second each. These two hulls are awesome and the Trafficade team shows up everywhere putting on a spectacular show at each venue. Mike Sadlon (NM-89) No Excuses and James Huffman (NM-97) Southern Extreme took the thirds. The No Excuses is cool looking with those UL tail feathers.

 

    GNH boats had six boats in the pits. However, it was Murphy's Law as they could not get four boats to run simultaneously. Thusly, some great action did not rack up any APBA high points. Steve Kuhr driving Jimmy Deel's (GNH-8) Deel Me In and Hootie Wolfe/Randy Hurst in the (GNH-22) Summer Wine put on a fantastic show of side by side racing. They split the firsts and seconds. Patrick Sancuer (GNH-61) Sankuer Racing took a third. Is a J still a legal letter Sankuer team? We expect eight or more big bombers in Hillsboro (elimination heats last year) so attrition will not be as big of a factor there.

 

    E boats had a solid, competitive field. The three favorites, judging by past events, were Eric Labelle (CE-1) Do It, Joe Less (E-600) Centsless 12, and Ken Brodie (E-500) Centsless 14. Some local entries like John Jenkins (E-132) Merco Marine, Mike Monahan (E-75) Fat Chance, Scott Blackwell (E-617) My Theory and Gary Lovelace (E-628) Ms. Isabelle added some depth to the field. The Less Armada will see Eric (CE-1) in their sleep for a while as he charged from behind to nip Ken (E-500) on Saturday and Joe (E-600) on Sunday. They both nailed the starts and drove like demons but that Bergeron hull is absolutely sick! Joe and Ken hogged all the rest of the podium finishes epresenting the Grand Island Navy well.

 

    All in all this was an excellent regatta. The Celina race committee did themselves proud as they set the groundwork for the 2008 Nationals. This site, like Hampton, will do a fantastic job running the most prestigious Inboard event next year. 2008 will be great but for now 2007 was seventh heaven. See you guys and gals in Hillsboro!  J and Fae