Shortened race course, rough water send 2024 Columbia Cup hydros flipping and crashing

Corey Peabody — after the euphoria died down Sunday following another Apollo Columbia Cup victory — stopped to look at the two Strong Racing boats in Lampson Pits.

One boat, the U-9 Beacon Plumbing, Peabody had just driven to victory for his third Columbia Cup win in the past four tries.

The other boat was the U-1 Beacon Electric that driver J. Michael Kelly had flipped on Saturday, knocking it out of the race.

Peabody stared at one boat, then the other.

“There is victory, along with defeat,” he said.

Many teams could say that Sunday.

Besides the loss of the U-1 on Saturday, both the U-12 Miss Graham Trucking and the U-27 Miss Apollo were taken out together in violent collision in Heat 2A on Sunday morning.

That leaves the fleet of eight H1 Unlimited hydroplanes limping over to Seattle this week for the upcoming Seafair Apollo Mechanical Cup that starts Friday.

A tighter, 2-mile course was pared down from the usual 2.5-mile track on Friday night that this race site normally uses.

Among the reasons was a shallow spot in the Columbia River on the northwest turn of the course that could be considered a safety hazard.

The result was boats racing more closely together, rough water in all turns — because the water wouldn’t dissipate as fast — that created rolling waves that were hard to traverse.

Still, everyone had the same problem.

“It’s the same course as Seattle,” said Kelly Stocklin, owner of the U-40 Flav-R-Pak. “It’s rough water there, too.”

Sunday’s accident

Heat 2A, the day’s first unlimited heat, had to be run three times.

The first time, the race was black-flagged when a bouy came loose.

The second time, the race wiped out 25% of the fleet.

Heading into the east end turn, Bobby King in the U-12 Miss Graham Trucking was in Lane 2 when his boat got loose.

“It’s just one of those things with racing,” said King. “I drifted out and got into (Dustin Echols’) spray. You’re along for the ride at that point.”

The U-12 got airborne and went through the rooster tail of Echols’ boat, the U-40, which was in Lane 3.

Things could have gotten worse, as U-27 Miss Apollo driver Dave Villwock came flying into the turn from the outside lane. Suddenly, there was King’s boat.

Villwock quickly turned right, but it was too late. The left sponson ran over the front of the U-12. And then came Villwock’s skid fin, which dug a trench through the Graham’s right front sponson.

It reminded long-time fans of a similar incident a few years ago in Madison, Ind., when Steve David hooked in a turn, and Villwock went over the boat.

King was effusive in his praise of Villwock on Sunday.

“Hats off to Dave,” said King. “All of his years of experience paid off. He made the best of a bad situation.”

Villwock downplayed the move. But those watching the video saw it.

“I don’t know how much I avoided him,” he said. “I tried to turn enough to avoid him.”

Graham crew chief Tom Anderson looked at his boat’s mess.

“That right sponson concerns me,” Anderson said. “But Dave didn’t have much time to react. Those skid fins are heavy and sharp. The boat will be back in the shop tonight. We’ll start putting it together.”

Villwock wasn’t done. Surprised by King being where he was, Villwock managed to get past the U-12. But his boat got up in the air and hit the water hard before he could shut it down.

U-27 owner Charley Wiggins said Villwock had the wind knocked out of him.

“He wasn’t responding to our radio calls, but that was because he was already out of the boat,” said Wiggins. “We just couldn’t see him from our vantage point. So we told the medical team to get to him also.”

Both King and Villwock were treated and released at the race-site medical center.

Both boats were disqualified in the heat because H1 rules state boats in accidents are DQ’d.

The U-27 boat had left sponson and skid fin damage, and Wiggins was forced to withdraw from the race. But Wiggins said the boat and team will be ready for Seattle.

Columbia Cup final

With just five boats in the field remaining, there was no question of who was making the final.

And everyone had their eyes on Andrew Tate, the driver of the U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate.

Tate had driven the Miss Madison team boat so far to a perfect weekend — finishing first in qualifying, and then winning all three of the team’s preliminary heats.

But sometimes a driver who is having a perfect weekend can have problems. That’s what happened to Tate in the final.

It started at the docks.

“I thought our biggest failure was the motor (at the dock) didn’t light right away,” said Tate. “I hurried to get out there, and I ended up getting behind in our timing marks.”

Meanwhile, Peabody got everything right in the warm-up to the start.

“We had a plan. We wanted to be inside Andrew,” said Peabody.

That didn’t happen — Tate had Lane 2, Peabody was in Lane 3.

But Peabody hit the start line at full speed.

“I knew some of those other guys were going too slow at the start,” said Peabody. “I knew all of my timing marks. And it was about at the apex of the turn I hit the gas.”

He never trailed in the victory.

“Once we got out front, we pushed the lead,” said Peabody. “Then it was just not do anything dumb. Get through this (east-end) corner, then staying ahead and stay in clean water.”

Tate — way back in fourth place at one point — worked hard and was able to get past Echols and Jamie Nielsen in the U-11 Miss Mercury’s Coffee to finish second.

“I didn’t think I had a shot in hell to get second place,” said Tate. “But that’s why you never give up.”

What’s next?

Darrell Strong, who owns both the U-1 and the U-9, said he knew Peabody was going to win a few days ago.

“We talked on Saturday that we thought Corey was going to win the final. We just feel we’re faster,” said Strong.

Crew chief Jeff Campbell agreed.

“Corey has had a tough year since last year after this race,” said Campbell. “But he’s comfortable with this racecourse.”

Sunday night, the Strong team planned to celebrate.

Then it’s back to work on Monday to get Kelly’s U-1 fixed.

“The inside of the boat looks fine,” said Peabody, who doubles as team manager. “We have every piece of equipment in a truck of spares. The canard, the wiring has already been taken out, the engine.

So it’s not bad. It looks worse than it is.”

It’ll just be the extra labor.

“Winning always helps everybody’s attitude,” said Campbell. “We have a short window to get this fixed. About three days. We’ll get some extra help from out of town. We’ll be ready.”

The best part about winning in the Tri-Cities? The previous winner gets to set up camp in Lampson Pits under the big tree that the late Bernie Little had planted decades ago.

“We like,” said Strong, “being in the shade.”