Saturday Heat Recap:

Following the morning second qualifying session, the H1 Unlimited hydroplanes took to the race course for a total of four heats on Saturday afternoon. In the first heat, 1A, the U-9 Beacon Plumbing hydroplane of Corey Peabody showed the speed of Strong Racing. The U-40 Flav-R-PAC of Dustin Echols also showed strength on the start, but unfortunately jumped it resulting in a one-minute penalty from the officials. Peabody would claim the first heat win of the day and when the U-9 lined up again for heat 2B, Peabody once again made his way to the front to win ahead of Andrew Tate.

Revchem Composite Fast Lap award winner, Tate in the U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate hydroplane for Miss Madison Racing claimed the win in heat 1B, but would finish second in heat 2B.

After Echols was found to have jumped the start in heat 1A, he was able to redeem that in heat 2A when he got a perfect start and held onto the lead to claim the first heat win of 2024 for the U-40 and Bucket List Racing.

 Driver Quotes:

 Dustin Echols, U-40 Flav-R-PAC, Bucket List Racing

What does it mean to get your first heat win of the season?

“It just shows our hard work is finally paying off. It took us long enough. The last heat, I had a good boat ride, but I just didn’t hit the start right and it’s on me. Finally, this one all came together and all the pieces came together perfectly. As the race unfolded, I thought, ‘finally, this one is ours.”

What did it mean to have so many fans cheering for you after that win?

“It’s the absolute best feeling ever. We have a lot of fans that follow our work around the circuit and they all know how hard we’ve been working to get to this point. Finally, it just paid off and they can celebrate with us.”

Corey Peabody, U-9 Beacon Plumbing, Strong Racing

What has it meant to showcase a solid performance in today’s heat races?

“Now that we have cleared the tech truck. It was a good run for the Beacon Plumbing U-9 boat. Jeff Campbell (crew chief) and the crew have got this boat rolling for me.” 

Heat 1A Results:

Driver:                                     Boat:                                                                         Avg. Speed:

1. Corey Peabody                U-9 Beacon Plumbing                                              143.616 mph
2. J. Michael Kelly              U-1 Beacon Electric                                                   134.886 mph
3. Dave Villwock                 U-27 Apollo Mechanical                                           128.980 mph
4. Dustin Echols                 U-40 Flav-R-PAC*                                                     102.531 mph

*Jumped start. One minute penalty assessed.

 Heat 1B Results:

 Driver:                                      Boat:                                                                               Avg. Speed:

1. Andrew Tate                      U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate                                    142.464 mph
2. Jamie Nilsen                     U-11 Miss Mercury’s Coffee                                             138.849 mph
3. Gunnar O’Farrell             U-35 Gutters by Keith presents Boitano Homes         134.571 mph
4. Bobby King                       U-12 Graham Trucking                                                     132.498 mph

Heat 2A Results:

Driver:                                      Boat:                                                                                 Avg. Speed:

1. Dustin Echols                 U-40 Flav-R-PAC                                                                 140.540 mph
2. Michael Kelly                  U-1 Beacon Electric                                                             137.662 mph
3. Jamie Nilsen                   U-11 Miss Mercury’s Coffee*                                              97.396 mph
4. Gunnar O’Farrell            U-35 Gutters by Keith presents Boitano Homes*         93.667 mph

*Jumped start. One minute penalty assessed.

 Heat 2B Results:

Driver:                                 Boat:                                                                   Avg. Speed:

1. Corey Peabody             U-9 Beacon Plumbing                                         144.743 mph
2. Andrew Tate                 U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate                      143.200 mph
3. Dave Villwock               U-27 Apollo Mechanical                                    120.505 mph
4. Bobby King                    U-12 Graham Trucking*                                     94.653 mph

*Jumped start. One minute penalty assessed.

 Revchem Composites Fast Lap Qualifying Results:

1. Andrew Tate                    U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate                      156.985 mph
2. Corey Peabody                U-9 Beacon Plumbing                                         155.242 mph
3. Dustin Echols                 U-40 Flav-R-PAC                                                  153.744 mph
4. J. Michael Kelly              U-1 Beacon Electric                                              150.385 mph
5. Dave Villwock                 U-27 Miss Apollo Mechanical                            150.294 mph
6. Jamie Nilsen                   U-11 Miss Mercury’s Coffee                                148.306 mph
7. Gunnar O’Farrell           U-35 Boitano Homes                                            146.287 mph
8. Bobby King                     U-12 Graham Trucking                                         142.140 mph

Qualifying Recap:

With a shortened qualifying session on Friday, the Saturday morning test session started off with an extension of qualifying to allow the boats another pass to try to improve their times from Friday afternoon as per the H1 rule book, all boats need to have the chance to take a second opportunity to improve their qualifying effort.