Walled Lake, Michigan

June 13-14, 2009

J and Fae Report

Ahh, home sweet home in Region Six! This race site is a new jewel for our region. After the inaugural event last year, word spread about the beautiful setting and generally smooth water. This year's field reflected the positive vibes as several classes drew deep, strong lineups. This region is normally blessed with a good supply of modified boats, especially when people like the English and Mashburn families join in. The racing is always good and organizations like the Michigan Prop Riders and others put on first class events. It is always fun.

Here are the J and Fae boat totals: (T-4) (Y-6) (S-9) (E-10) (A-9) (NM-2) (GNH-4) Total-44 Footnote: No official standings have been posted so this story is purely as we saw it.

T boats had a small but classy field. Brandon Kennedy (T-1) Shameless Say What is always the favorite. He's not (T-1) for nothin folks. Alexis Weber (T-10) Flirtin With Disaster, Bobby Kennedy (T-125) Shameless My Mistake and Becky Wilson (T-31) Circus Circus were ready to challenge the Kennedy monster. Some nice tight starts across the new starting line led to some wild first corners. In both finals Brandon (T-1) took control and cruised away. Alexis (T-10) and Bobby (T-125) traded seconds and thirds.

Y boats presented a few of APBA's fastest hulls. Dan Kanfoush (Y-1) Fast Eddie 2, Sean Bowsher (Y-52) Roostertails Racing, and Joe Sovie (Y-44) Accelerant are blurs on any course. The diving, travelin man Dave Archiable's (Y-91) Knot Rod My Mistress also showed some of its old speed with Danny Walls driving. Now, Joe (Y-44) is running some sick speeds with that ta-da-dat ta da dat sound. Sean (Y-52) has his new hull whistling along in perfect attitude and usually hits a great start. Danny (Y-91) and Doug Simpson (Y-123) Shattered Savings ran fast as well. However, Ol Dan pushed the (Y-1) to two more perfect victories. What a juggernaut! Joe and Sean and several others will keep tweaking and chasing that yaller beast all summer. The show will be great.

S boats had some wild action with tight starts, deck to deck duels and a scary collision. The collision occurred entering turn two on lap one of Sunday's final. Keith Anderson (S-17) Bad Habit held a slight lead coming off turn one. Bobby Kennedy (S-20) Hot Flash and Doug Martin (S-33) Keen's Sunday Money were closing fast when, according to racer's accounts, Doug had a steering problem. Bobby had nowhere to go and the resulting contact sent him upside down. Thanks to the capsules and some good luck both drivers were ok and the race was restarted. Keith (S-17) went on to his second win of the weekend. The (S-17) is a Region Six heavyweight babeee. Doug (S-33) ans Bobby (S-20) took second and third Saturday. Alan Bush (S-711) One More Time and Steve Bering (S-57) Fang Racing completed the podium Sunday. The Stockers were very cool.

The A boats field was absolutely ridiculous! Nine boats, every one of them fast. 5 spiders, Mike Monahan in Debbie Welte's carbon fiber (A-23) Jack's Geezerboat, Greg Isaac's (A-164) Blitzkrieg (Bobby Kennedy driving), Glenn Koutny's (A-7) Magic and the return of  John Shewbrooks (A-3) Sho-Nuff Special. Whew! What a mouthful. The Mashburn Navy had Nick Pellerin (A-60) Mr. Bud, Dan Kanfoush (A-600) Mr. Bud 3, and Buster Graham (A-66) Mr. Bud 2 ready to rumble. Having said all of the above, the English family has two Fat Chance hulls primed and ready to squash the field in 2009. Tommy Thompson will drive the (A-25) and Tommy Thompson will drive the (A-52). He is going to go a lap, switch boats, go another lap etc. Just seeing if you are paying attention. The long range plan is for one to be a backup. Wow, what a backup! At any rate the two English boats took both wins. Mike (A-23) astounded the crowd, kicking away spiders, to take two seconds and the overall weekend win. After a couple frustrating seasons Debbie deserved to celebrate. Nick (A-60) and Bobby (A-164) got thirds. What a field! What a field! Did I mention it was a great field of 2.5 mods?

E boats exceeded everyone's expectations with ten boats. That is pre-bad economy numbers my friends. Top notch favorites included Tommy Thompson in Donnie Thompson's (E-816) Batt Boat, Mark Burkhart (E-726) X-Ray, Jim Martin (E-43) Keen's Machine and Keith Joslyn (E-500) Centsless 14. Every heat was maniacal with several boats hurtling into turn one in typical 5 Litre fashion. It was wild. Tommy (E-816) and Mark (E-726) took hard earned wins. Mark (E-726) and Keith (E-500) took seconds. Jim (E-43) and Mike Bruns (E-6) Quantum Leap took thirds. Mike is really gaining speed in the Leap. The fives were heavy metal. Oops, Sunday's final was overturned due to a penalty on Mark Burkhart (E-726) X-Ray. That moves Keith (E-500) up to first with Mike (E-6) second and the (E-75) Fat Chance 3 third.

 NM and GNH boats ran as a combine. Pre-race favorites were Super Cal Phipps in Jim Deel's legendary (GNH-8) Deel Me In, Mike Weiner's (NM-81) Country Boy, Tony Black in Ken Bauer's (NM-928) Illusion and Steve Kuhr jr. (GNH-317) Irishman. Cal (GNH-8) ran away on Saturday followed by the (NM-81) and Tony (NM-928). Sunday's final came to an abrupt halt when Tony (NM-928) flat spun in turn one if lap three. Steve (GNH-317) was winning and was awarded the victory.

Well, that is the way we saw it. It was a cool race on a beautiful course. The town is embracing this event. Therefore, it should grow into a top notch venue in coming years. Things were well organized and professionally done. Walled Lake is a keeper!    See ya in the pits. J and Fae