CBF/GP

Off and running!

Long Sault, Ontario  May 30-31, 2009

J and Fae Report

Well, well, well the CBF/GP circuit is exploding into action for 2009. J and Fae headed north to Long Sault and followed Jack Lowe's Brockville reports. Jack, your web cast idea is awesome babee! We share a love for this sport and hope to meet ya at a race soon. Maybe Syracuse? With Jack, Christian Bergeron and Art Smith covering the action, this circuit is hooked up! Wait til Art's in boat camera idea gets going. Look out NASCAR!

     Long Sault was a short trip (1500 miles) for J and Fae. Here are a few observations. The course is blessed with generally calm water, protected in a cove like setting similar to Cambridge, Maryland. The pit area is tight and extreme rain turned it into a quagmire. This might have led to the cancellation of the finals. It was cold but the boats were running well before the big rains came. That was frustrating since the finals were going to be strong.

     The field was excellent in 1.5's, 2.5's, 5's and GPs. The Can Ams were a little short handed. Here are the J and Fae boat totals: (T-6) (S-13) (E-13) (GP-8)(CAN-AMS-2)  Can Ams had (CA-103) Illusion and (CA-122) Blue Thunder. They ran one exhibition heat.

T boats were dominated by Steve Armstrong (CT-11) Honey Child. He won every heat copping the title on total points with 20 points. A new paint job has Steve's boat looking fast and handsome. Jonathon Abbott (CT-1) Flyin Eagle ran strong until his violent back flip in the second heat. Jonathon was ok and returned at Brockville. Derek Anderson (CT-824) Patriot, David Metivier (CT-43) Metivier Racing, Kevin Smith (T-26) Dream Weaver and Mathieu Lemein (CT-7) Lucky Seven also scored points. Metivier's boat has a cool new tail fin.

S boats had a very strong field. Mike Monahan jumped into Greg Barker's (S-9) Rewinder and that combo proved to be unbeatable. Mike probably had flashbacks as he cruised along to win every heat to garner 30 points and the victory. Eric Langivin (CS-12) Long Shot (28 pts) and Marc Theoret (CS-444) Miss Virgo (22 pts) completed the podium. Genevieve Bergeron (CS-777) GT Racing, Glen Stephenson (CS-10) Wet Spot and Christina Wilson (S-20) Hot Flash were flying as well. Derek Anderson, the reigning high point champ, had engine gremlins. The stockers were fast and furious.

E boats are seeing a changing of the guard. Patrick Haworth and Eric Labelle are not running this season. Not to worry though, this class will still be totally sick! Big sleek bombers, check. Exotic paint schemes, check. Lunatics behind the wheel, check. The "kamikazes" will thrill like always. Jim Martin (E-43) Keen's Machine loves to mix it up with the Crazy Canadians. His boat is a bomb and he proved it garnering 26 points. Stormin Norman Ensbury (CE-99) OCR Racing is looking stout as well taking 25 points. Jean Francois Lupien (CE-27) FBL Special took 22 points in his new, beautiful vessel. Sylvain Campeau (CE-20) Dynomytes and Marc Lecompte (CE-104) Primeau Performance took 21 and 20 points respectively. The fives were ripping and snorting.

GP boats were ready to roar with eight fire breathing dragons filling the pits. At least for one race, Hootie Wolfe (GP-93) Wolfe Racing was the class of the field. If you use your imagination you can think Jimmy King is in there and it is 1994 all over again. Hootie won every heat and took the win. He was definitely "HOOTIE-ING". A three way tie for second in points resulted as Claude Bergeron (GP-444) Miss Valleyfield, Pierre Maheu (GP-46) Diesel, and Jimmy Shane (GP-7) Long Gone took 18 points. The heats provided some great side by side action and the final would have been absolutely great. Oh well, it sure makes looking forward to Syracuse a lot of fun.

     Watching Jack's Brocksville action a few things jumped out at us. Norm Ensbury (CE-99) and Sylvain Campeau (CE-20) looked great. Tom Pakradooni (GP-88) Rolling Thunder is really becoming a threat. Pierre Maheu (GP-46) Diesel got a great victory in some pretty rough water. Patrick Haworth (GP-777) Crush is improving. Steve Armstrong (CT-11) and Marc Theoret (CS-444) got hard earned wins. All in all it looked like another strong CBF Regatta. Now here is the deal race fans. Whether you head to Valleyfield, Tonawanda, Syracuse or any of the sites hosting the CBF/GP race action you are going to see a fantastic show in 2009! Next stop is Walled Lake, Michigan, a cool race site in good old Region six.  See ya in the pits.  J and Fae