Friday
“We have a lot more speed in this boat. We are not even running the good stuff yet.” J Michael Kelly states as the U13 team took it’s turn on the qualifying ladder. Today is the first day of qualifying for the 2007 Indiana Governors Cup in Madison, Indiana. A hot and humid 90 degree day greeted the team as it pulled into the “Wild” Bill Cantrell Memorial Race course. “Man it is humid here”, stated driver JMK.
On the subject of the course here in Madison, JMK stated that he really likes it. “Fast, tight turns, and long straightaways, you kinda wonder what’s coming up next. I just hope everyone holds their lanes.” This is Kelly’s’ second time on the Madison course. He raced here two years ago for Jim Harvey and his U2 boat.
Mike is really happy with the team. “We have two full time crew members now and they brought my dad along for the full circuit.” “Madison is cool. The fans are also. We should have a good time here this year.” “The parade is tonight and that should be a lot of fun”
Saturday
With temperature’s in the lower 90’s and humidity levels in the 50’s waiting on the beach is the last thing that the U13 crew wants to do. However with the recent rains in the area, the dam that is located up river had to release some water overnight. This allowed debris to flow over also. That caused the officials at the Indiana Governors Cup to hold everything for the first part of the day. “This makes for a long day” stated J Michael Kelly. “We want to go out, we have made some changes to the boat to try and get it to stick a little in the turns. We have installed a bigger skid fin and changed the angle of the rear wing to make the boat fly a little bit more. At slower speeds I was having difficulty with the handling, hopefully this will change that. Then we can put the good prop on and really go all out. We are afraid that if we did it now, we might hit a refrigerator.
The team has been working hard on getting the boat prepared for the race. Mentally the team and the driver is ready. All that needs to happen now is for the water to cooperate.