For over seventy years, the H1 Unlimited series has raced on Seattle’s Lake Washington. Home to several drivers, crews, and teams, the Emerald City has a rich tradition in the sport. Seattle first hosted a race in 1951, following Ted Jones’ 1950 APBA Gold Cup victory aboard Stan Sayers’ Slo Mo Shun IV.

The Ted Jones racecourse is the only two-mile oval on the H1 Unlimited schedule in 2023. Seattle has produced some memorable races throughout the event’s history including Andrew Tate’s first win in 2016 during his rookie season.

This year’s race at Seafair marks the first time the APBA Gold Cup has been contested in Seattle for thirty-eight years. In the city’s last Gold Cup race, Chip Hanauer drove the Miller American to his fourth consecutive win in the famed race. Seattle has previously hosted fourteen APBA Gold Cups.

As the H1 Unlimited Series fleet travels to Seattle, let’s review the last five Seafair races…

2022: J. MICHAEL KELLY WINS IN SEATTLE

SEATTLE — J. Michael Kelly won his fourth race in Seattle and his second in a row when he drove the U-9 Boitano Homes to victory in the 2022 HomeStreet Bank Cup on Lake Washington. Kelly, 43, of Bonney Lake, Washington, was the winner of Seattle’s most recent H1 Unlimited Series event in 2019.

Kelly was far ahead at the finish line of the winner-take-all final after both Jimmy Shane in Miss HomeStreet and Dave Villwock in Miss Beacon Plumbing started too early and were penalized an extra lap. Jeff Bernard took second place in Miss Goodman Real Estate and Shane eventually took third place after Villwock and Jamie Nilsen in Miss The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse were disqualified for not maintaining a minimum speed before the start.

Earlier in the day, Kelly and Boitano Homes won the first preliminary heat after both Shane and Villwock were penalized for starting too early. Shane then won the day’s second heat by a narrow margin over his teammate, Bernard in Miss Goodman Real Estate.

After winning the past two events on the H1 Unlimited Series, Jimmy Shane, driver of the Miss HomeStreet, continued his winning ways by taking first-place honors during Saturday’s match-race event on Lake Washington.

Shane took the victory by leading from start to finish in the final heat of the new match-race format. The competition included one-on-one match races, followed by a last-chance heat, and then the winner-take all final.

In the match races at the beginning of the day, J. Michael Kelly in Boitano Homes battled Jamie Nilsen in Miss The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse side by side through two laps until Kelly crossed the finish line ahead by a nose. Shane also entertained the fans with a close race against Jeff Bernard in Miss Goodman Real Estate and won by a boat length. In the third match race, Dave Villwock in Miss Beacon Plumbing enjoyed a close victory over Kelly. Bernard and Kelly then earned spots in the final with their placements in the last-chance heat.

In the final heat, Shane took the lead at the start, pulled ahead during the first lap, and was never challenged. The closest competition came in a contest between Villwock and Kelly for second place, with Villwock coming out ahead at the finish line.

2019: KELLY AWARDED HOMESTREET BANK CUP AFTER SHANE IS PENALIZED

SEATTLE — J. Michael Kelly was declared the winner of the 2019 Homestreet Bank Cup at Seafair after a post-race review by H1 Unlimited Officials determined that Jimmy Shane violated the 80 mile per hour rule. Shane was assessed a one-minute penalty while Kelly, who was originally issued a penalty for the same violation, had his penalty overturned after further review.

“After reviewing the tape, it showed that I picked up my speed and carried it all the way to the start line, so it [the penalty] got reversed,” said Kelly following the Final Heat. “It’s nice being able to celebrate the right way, it’s just unfortunate that these kind of things happen. At least everything was looked at and everyone did their job. I’m proud to be a part of Graham Trucking and Beacon Plumbing.”

Kelly has now won two consecutive H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Series races following last week’s victory in the Tri Cities. Today’s win is his tenth career victory and the third for Kelly on Lake Washington at Seafair.

As a result of the penalty, Shane was relegated to a fifth-place finish ending his chances of a perfect weekend. Shane qualified fastest and swept all three preliminary heats in dominating fashion. Despite failing to win the last two races, Shane still holds a commanding 1,443-point lead over Kelly in the High Points standings with one race remaining.

Finishing second was Andrew Tate driving the Miss Delta RealTrac hydroplane with Jamie Nilsen rounding out the final podium position. Jeff Bernard rebounded from a mechanical failure in an earlier preliminary heat to finish fourth. Corey Peabody finished sixth from the trailer position and Brian Perkins rounded out the field in seventh following a penalty for jumping the gun.

2018: TATE WINS THIRD RACE OF 2018 AT SEAFAIR AS PHIPPS FLIPS

SEATTLE – Andrew Tate picked up his third win in four races this season with a victory in the Albert Lee Cup on Lake Washington in Seattle on Sunday.

Tate, driving the Lori and Mike Jones-owned U-9 Les Schwab Tires, physically finished second on the racecourse but was awarded the win when Jimmy Shane and the U-1 Miss HomeStreet was hit with a one-minute penalty for going below 80 mph twice during the pre-race milling period.

“That was a goofy last heat there,” Tate said. “I couldn’t be happier for the Les Schwab team. They worked their butts off. We’ve got a great sponsor and a great boat.”

The victory was the sixth of Tate’s short three-year career and the eighth for the Jones Racing Team. It also allowed him to increase his lead in the H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Series National High Points Standings to 1,998 over Shane and the U-1 Miss HomeStreet with just two races remaining in the season.

Tate knew that he was going to have his hands full in the final against the new U-1 Miss HomeStreet craft, which had an impressive debut with three heat wins, including one against Tate.

Tate was outside of Shane in lane four at the start of the heat and was behind when the two drivers cleared the first turn. Shane slowly began to pull away when the penalty was announced on lap three.

“We were both cruising around 80 and I guess there was a call made there on the 1 for going under 80,” Tate said. “It’s unfortunate. You don’t want to win that way. (Shane) was in a great position. Unfortunately, a call was made, and we’ll take it any way we can get it.”

With Shane now relegated to fifth, Tate had little trouble in pulling away for the win. J. Michael Kelly finished second in the U-12 Graham Trucking with Brian Perkins placing third in the U-21 PayneWest Insurance. Rookie Aaron Salmon was fourth in the U-99.9 CARSTAR powers Miss Rock.

The first running of the final heat was stopped after Cal Phipps suffered a 360-degree blowover in his U-1918 Oberto Beef Jerky. Tom Thompson appeared to cut off Phipps as the pair entered the second turn of the first lap causing Phipps to ride up the roostertail of Thompson’s U-11 Diamond Reliable Tool presents J&Ds.

The U-1918 Oberto landed right-side up and Phipps quickly exited the craft uninjured.

“I got up there and there wasn’t a lane,” Phipps said. “There is supposed to be a seven-boat overlap and it didn’t look like seven boats to me.”

2017: SHANE WINS ALBERT LEE APPLIANCE CUP

Seattle – Jimmy Shane in the U-1 Miss HomeStreet and Andrew Tate in the U-9 Les Schwab Tires battled side by side through the final lap of a thrilling winner-take-all final heat in Seattle. Tate, the winner of last year’s Seattle race, managed to pass Shane right at the end, but it turned out to be all for naught. Tate was assessed a one-minute penalty for dislodging a buoy before the start.

“This had to be one of the most exciting races people have ever seen here,” said Shane when he returned to the pits. “I don’t know how Andrew caught me that last lap and a half. I thought I had him covered. I never let off on the throttle, yet he was coming on the outside. But, the Miss HomeStreet boat ran great. We’ll take the win and the 400 points.”

As the boats scored up for the run to the starting line, Tate ran into one of the buoys on the course and was assessed the penalty as a result. Meanwhile, Brian Perkins in the U-21 Albert Lee Appliance grabbed the inside lane heading to the start with Shane on his outside.

“The start was great,” Shane said. “We were right on our timing marks, right where we wanted to be. I didn’t see anybody on my inside except for Brian. I thought, ‘This is great. This is right where we want to be.’ I had a good head of stream heading down there. There were four boats side by side. We all made it through clean, I came out of the first turn in the lead, and never looked back. It was one hell of a final heat.”

J. Michael Kelly in the U-12 Graham Trucking took second-place honors, Perkins was third, Tom Thompson in the Miss DiJulio presents J&D’s was fourth, J.W. Myers in OH BOY! Oberto was fifth, Greg Hopp in the U-99.9 KISW Miss Rock powered by CarStar was sixth, and Tate was seventh.

Both Shane and Kelly came away as winners in action earlier in the day. In Heat 3A, Shane beat the field to the first turn and remained in the lead to the finish. Thompson started in the inside lane but was penalized one minute for crossing the starting line too early. That left second place to Perkins in Albert Lee and third place to Hopp in Miss Rock.

In the second preliminary heat, Kelly took the inside lane at the start, pulled away from the others going around the first turn, and won the heat easily. Tate and Myers dueled for second place briefly at the beginning of the race, but Tate soon moved ahead and stayed there to the end. Dustin Echols finished fourth in the 440 Bucket List Racing.

2016: ROOKIE ANDREW TATE WINS ALBERT LEE APPLIANCE SEAFAIR CUP

SEATTLE–Rookie unlimited hydroplane driver and Michigan native Andrew Tate drove the U-9 Sound Propeller Presents Les Schwab Tires to victory in the Albert Lee Appliance Seafair Cup on Lake Washington. Tate averaged 133.224 mph in the winner-take-all final heat. Tate, on the inside, held off a hard-charging Jimmy Shane in U-1 Miss HomeStreet in one of the most thrilling duels in Seafair history.

Shane nearly caught Tate in the second turn of the fourth lap, but Tate sprinted down the front straightaway and kept Shane on his hip through the fifth and final lap. Shane averaged 131.416 mph. J. Michael Kelly physically ran third but was hit with a one lap penalty for a lane violation. The infraction dropped him to fifth place. Third went to Brian Perkins at the wheel of U-21 Albert Lee Appliance. He averaged 125.731 mph. Jeff Bernard drove U-7 Graham Trucking II to fourth place with an average speed of 119.370. Kelly’s average speed for fifth place was 108.914. Jimmy King, driver of U-3 Miss DiJulio, failed to finish the final, as did Jean Theoret aboard U-16 Oh Boy! Oberto.

Tate is the first rookie to win the Seafair race since Jean Theoret claimed victory in 2005. Tate, whose father, Mark, drove unlimited hydroplanes, said he called his father after the race to tell him about the victory. “He was really happy,” Tate said.

The Les Schwab Tires boat was extensively damaged during the Columbia Cup race in Tri-Cities, Washington, a week ago. A broken propeller caused damage to the boat’s bottom. The crew worked all week to repair the hull, making the Seafair victory especially sweet.