Following yesterday’s qualifying session at the Madison Regatta Indiana Governor’s Cup, it was brought to the attention of the H1 officiating group that there was a stipulation within the H1 rule book stating that each boat attempting to qualify must complete three continuous laps above 130mph.

 Of the five boats entered in the event, only two boats completed the three continuous laps, the U-1 and U-9 of Strong Racing. The other three boats, including the U-91, U-40 and U-11 all fell short of the three-lap requirement at minimum speed.

 The issue is being rectified with points being reassigned and the boats affected have chosen to take the commissioner’s option which allows them to qualify for the race.

 We’re disappointed by this development and are taking all the necessary actions to rectify the situation and ensure all boats are in their proper positions as we prepare for today’s heat races. We simply missed this rule and that’s not acceptable, but all we can do at this point is correct the situation and learn from it to ensure it doesn’t happen moving forward.

 Both our leadership team and our officiating team are new this season and while that’s not an excuse, there are learning curves and unfortunately, this has been one of those. Although we know this will not be popular with our loyal fans, we need to follow the rule book to maintain our integrity.

 The H1 Board will meet prior to our next event in Tri-Cities, Washington to discuss potentially changing this ‘forgotten’ rule.

 I would like to personally extend an apology to our competitors and our fans. We will do better and we will now look ahead to the upcoming heat races and tomorrow’s main event at Madison.

 ~ Mike Denslow, Chairman, H1 Unlimited