While there were several hydroplanes that came away with injuries, there weren’t any injuries to the drivers. Low water levels dropped the size of the loop from two and a half, to two miles. Rylee Fitzgerald reports. Read the whole story here: https://www.applevalleynewsnow.com/entertainment/events/three-hydroplanes-wreck-out-at-the-tri-city-water-follies-after-course-size-is-reduced/article_90583dc0-4dcb-11ef-93b0-fbdadd062b46.html
KENNEWICK, Wash. — The biggest event of the year in the Tri-Cities took place this weekend. That’s the Tri-City Water Follies . Safety was on the mind of everyone at the Follies after more than one hydroplane caught air this weekend.
Strong Racing Beacon Electric U1 driver, J. Michael Kelly said he’s okay after his boat flipped on Saturday.
“I mean, I feel, I feel good. I'm sore, obviously. You know, I feel like I just got done racing a long weekend of hard fought battles, and I just got it done in one heat,” said Kelly.
He explained how it happened, in his perspective. “I kind of fell back a little bit at the beginning of the race because it was really rough in the first turn. So, I kind of got through there, but then I started making ground up and, you know, I felt like I was going to be able to, you know, come through the next turn ahead of him and just unfortunate to, you know, the boat,” said Kelly. “It was just a racing incident and just hate it for the team and stuff. It just created a lot of work and I’m bummed for the fans and stuff. We had a really good race boat and just ended our weekend pretty pretty quickly.
The Strong Racing team did bring out two hydroplanes, so they weren’t fully out for the weekend in the Tri-Cities. These wrecks cause a lot of work for the crew, Kelly explained, and repairing a hydroplane can be expensive. They’re next on the water this upcoming weekend, and Kelly is expecting to be racing the Beacon Electric again then.
It’s been 11 years since Kelly has flipped in a hydroplane, he’s gone over four times on the Columbia River.
“This river’s kind of kicked, kicked my butt here,” said Kelly. “I've had a lot of success here too, and unfortunately, I've gotten over four times here as well.”
Friday’s H1 races were postponed to Saturday. Concerns about low water levels in one part of the course dropped the track from 2.5 to 2 miles.
“I've never had three patients come into my compound in one weekend,” said Lorren Johnson, Water Operations Director and Vice President of the Tri-City Water Follies.
Johnson attributed the wrecks to the reduction of the race loop.
“It's because of the size of that course out there. It's basically like a bathtub, and you get a couple of kids in that bathtub that are running their little race boats in the bathtub. It kinda gets wavy in there, right? So, you got a smaller area, not a lot of time for the water to calm down as the boats go by. So, it's causing a lot of waves, a lot of waves from different directions as well, and of course when they reverb off the shore of the river they're coming back as well. So, you got all that stuff stirring up the water, and it causes a rough racing condition,” explained Johnson.
Plenty of support came in to the drivers who had to drop out for the weekend.
“It means a lot when people come and check on you, you know, cuz it's tough. It's like, you know, I'm really competitive and it sucks to not be out there, and, you know, they're more worried about me as a, you know, person than my race boat, and all I care about is my race boat,” expressed Kelly.
While there were several hydroplanes that came away with injuries, there weren’t any injuries to the drivers.
“Thank you to the safety personnel,” Kelly said. “Thank you to my fans and friends, and it just means a lot.”
Johnson also expressed his appreciation for all of the rescue crew, volunteers and sponsors.
“We really appreciate Apollo and STCU coming on board with us and making this event such a great event and keeping it in the Tri-Cities, and I can't say enough about all these amazing, all the way throughout the park, the amazing volunteers that spend their weekend,” said Johnson. “But, you know it's their life, right? A lot of these guys this is their life, this is what they live for. This is their vacation time right now. So, the volunteers mean everything to us.”
The Water Follies have officially wrapped up for the year, but the next time H1s are on the water is for the Seattle Seafair, this next weekend.
Umtanum, WASH. -- Updated at 7:00 p.m.: The fire is 100% contained at 410 acres per the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). The remaining Level 1 evacuations were lifted earlier today & SR-821 is open. This’ll likely be the final update.
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