Rough Columbia River water takes down one unlimited, as Tate and Villwock earn victories

Saturday’s Apollo Columbia Cup had the H1 Unlimited fleet battling in perhaps rougher waters than anyone has ever seen at the Tri-City race site.

It’s not because of inclement weather, but the change in the race-course layout.

The Columbia Cup normally offers a 2.5-mile track. But because the northwest turn is sitting in shallow water, race officials felt it prudent to shift the course 350 feet to the east and turn it into a 2-mile track.

While the result was slower speeds, it also meant no dominant boat could pull away from the rest if the field. That meant messier water in the turns.

“That half-mile difference seems pretty big now,” said U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate driver Andrew Tate. “That sport course is busy. We should be closer together out there and it’s intense.”

While Tate won his preliminary heat, the talk of Lampson Pits was the first heat race of the day.

In that race, 1A, the field got just over a lap into the contest when J. Michael Kelly, driving the U-1 Beacon Electric, flipped his boat.

It happened on the Franklin side of the Columbia River as he and teammate Corey Peabody — driving the U-9 Beacon Plumbing — were battling for the lead just about to enter the west end turn.

Kelly, in Lane 1 and a half-boat length behind Peabody in Lane 2, seemed to have his boat unhook in the water. It veered slightly right and into Peabody’s rooster tail.

The U-1 ended up lifting off of the water and did what looked like a cartwheel, coming to and end in the water upside down.

The race was immediately stopped.

Kelly was out of the boat quickly and on his hands and knees waiting for the fast-approaching rescue sleds and their crews.

He was taken to the on-site medical center and treated and released with a banged up left elbow.

“I’m upset about the boat,” said Kelly afterwards. “I don’t know what happened. I go in there and then I’m upside down. We’ve got a lot of cross rollers out there. And they just keep hanging out, not going away. We’ll get it together though.”

No one knew if that was for this weekend or next, though.

Darrell Strong — who along with his wife Vanessa — owns both the U-1 and U-9. As of 7 p.m. Saturday, he wasn’t sure what condition the boat was in. It was laying upside down at the dock and hadn’t been flipped back over yet.

“We’re not gonna withdraw from this race until we see what it looks like,” said Strong. “If we can get it fixed (in time for Sunday), our crew will work all night.”

If not, Strong was confident it would be ready next weekend for Seattle.

Tate — the season-long leader in national high points — took care of business in Heat 1B.

Tate started in Lane 2, battled Jamie Nielsen in the U-11 Miss Mercury’s Coffee for a lap, and then took control.

Tate grabbed 400 points for the victory — and with his 100 points for fastest qualifier earlier in the day, he extended his nation high points lead.

But it’s gonna be a battle on Sunday with four more preliminary heat races and the final.

“It’s worse out there than the old course,” said Tate. “It’s like Seafair 2.0 out there. It turns pretty gnarly, and I understand what J. Michael went through. If we get some wind tomorrow, it might help lay down some of those parallel rollers we’re seeing.”

Nielsen finished second in the heat, while Gunnar O’Farrell in the U-35 Boitano Homes overtook Bobby King in the U-12 Miss Graham Trucking for third place.

Dave Villwock, driving the U-27 Miss Apollo, won the re-run of 1A to earn 400 points.

Dustin Echols in the U-40 Flav-R-Pak took second place when Peabody was penalized for bearing in on Villwock and settled for third.

Villwock settled into Lane 2 and hit the start on the head.

Even with one less boat in the re-run, the river was still sloshy.

“It’s gonna be rough, but you have to get through that crap,” said Villwock, who at the age of 70 became the oldest driver to win a heat race. “It’s the old strategy: to finish first, you must first finish.”

Notes

Here is Sunday’s schedule:

7 a.m. — Park opens.

7 a.m. — Church service.

7:30-8:30 a.m. — Testing.

8:45 a.m. — Grand Prix Heat 4.

9:15 a.m. — Opening ceremonies.

10 a.m. — H1 Heat 2A.

10:30 a.m. — H1 Heat 2B.

11 a.m. — Air show.

1:30 p.m. — 2.5 stocks Heat 5.

1:45 p.m. — E-350 Heat 5.

2 p.m. — Vintage final.

2:30 p.m. — H1 Heat 3A.

3 p.m. — H1 Heat 3B.

3:30 p.m. — 2.5 stock final.

3:45 p.m. — E-350 final.

4 p.m. — Grand Prix final.

4:30 p.m. — Apollo Columbia Cup final.

▪ Tate drove the U-91 to the fastest qualifying time on Saturday afternoon, clocking in with a legal 156.185 mph lap.

That earned his team another 100 points in the national high points race.

He came out last on the eight-boat, inverted ladder, and promptly came back to the pits on his first lap.

That’s because the steering wheel popped off and landed in his lap. It cost Tate his first chance at qualifying.

“It was probably an oversight on my part,” said Tate. “Usually, I check that it’s locked in. And in my mind, I did do it.”

But he promptly came back out in the second round and took first place.

Peabody and Kelly tried in vain at the end of the qualifying window to top Tate’s mark, but they couldn’t do it.

Here are the final qualifying results:

1, U-91 (Tate), 156.185 mph.

2, U-9 (Peabody), 155.450 mph.

3, U-40 (Echols), 154.566 mph.

4, U-1 (Kelly), 154.000 mph.

5, U-27 (Villwock), 152.322 mph.

6, U-12 (King), 148.800 mph.

7, U-11 (Nilsen), 148.883 mph.

8, U-35 (O’Farrell), 143.778 mph.

▪ The U-21 Boitano Homes changed its designation number on Saturday morning to U-35.

Why?

Because Boitano Homes started its business in 1989. When you do the math, that means the sponsor has been in business 35 years.

▪ Despite having raced in the season opener in Guntersville, Ala., in late June, the U-27 Apollo Racing boat was officially christened Saturday morning in Lampson Pits.

That allowed the Ratchford family to be present for it. Bruce Ratchford, who grew up in the Tri-Cities, founded Apollo decades ago. And he and his company are not only sponsoring Charley Wiggins’ boat this season, but he’s also sponsoring the Tri-Cities race and next weekend’s Seafair race.