Friday Seafair
“So there’s a brand new prop at the bottom of the lake that probably has a heat on it,” Kelly said. “On the plus side, we didn’t bust up the boat, but we did lose $15,000.” That’s a quote driver J Michael Kelly made to the media after returning to the dock with once again another propeller broken. Luckily this time the shaft broke and the prop fell to the bottom of Lake Washington.
The U13 Miss Graham Trucking is in Seattle for the running of the Chevrolet Cup at Seafair. Seattle is the home of many of the hydroplane teams on the American Boat Racing Association’s 2008 tour. During qualifying Kelly recorded a time of 143.363mph on the 2 mile course.
The team is coming off another week of repairs as the boat suffered damage at Tri Cities last weekend. “It wasn’t quite as much work this time to do the repairs, but it was still a lot; especially since the crew is still tired from the earlier repair. I asked Cal Phipps to stay here for the week and he really helped us a lot. He helped with the Evansville repairs and that’s why we let him take the boat out for three laps in Tri-Cities. He did 151 mph and looked very comfortable in the boat. Our onboard camera shows him with a big smile.”
Saturday Seafair
A light breeze and flat water welcomed the drivers and teams for the first set of final qualification heats. The U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto driven by Steve David and Jeff Bernard in the U-5 Formulaboats.com the U-3 Hoss Mortgage Investors Too J. Michael Kelly in the U13 Graham Trucking and Kip Brown in U-17 Our Gang Racing all answered the call for the heat. The U3 was in third place when a rod blew through the engine causing a bright orange flash and forced the boat to coast to a stop at the apex of turn two. J. Michael Kelly and Kip Brown used the failure of the U-3 to their advantage, moving the U-13 Graham Trucking and U-17 Our Gang Racing hulls into third and fourth place.
Driver J Michael Kelly commented after the heat, “The boat was pulling to the left. We didn’t have any time to test with this propeller, so my timing was off at the start. I’m happy with 225 points. It’s a good start for the weekend and the boat is in good shape.” The U-13 Graham Trucking was able to complete two laps without breaking or losing a propeller. They are now down to using an old propeller that was tried once last year, and hadn’t used at all this year. “It’s not our best,” said owner Dave Bartush. “But we have to go with what we’ve got.”
Sunday Seafair
“J Michael Kelly has more shear ability than any of the drivers out on the course” a comment made by Chip Hanauer on the KIRO TV 7 broadcast Sunday afternoon. That sums up what many in the media thinks about the 29 year old driver from Puyallup, Washington. Racing at Seafair is likening to racing in front of the home crowd, as many of the teams do call Seattle home.
Racing in heat 2B along with Dave Villwock, defending national High Points Champion from last year, Jean Theoret, driving the U37 Beacon Plumbing, Jimmy Shane in the U7 formulaboats.com and Kip Brown in the U17 Our Gang Racing this proved to be a very fast heat. Brown jumped the gun as he came across the line too early and the rest of the field was chasing him into the first corner. But coming out it would be a duel between the 1 and the 37 as JMK in the 13 was giving chase close behind. Coming in third and without any damage was the strategy of the Graham Trucking entry.
The U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing and the U-13 Graham Trucking did a slow lap side by side during the milling period to claim lanes one and two for the start of Heat 3A. From the inside, Jean Theoret in the U-37 crossed the line first and was never challenged for the lead throughout the heat and won by one-fourth of a lap. The U-13 driver J. Michael Kelly finished second gaining the points needed to try and make the final. The U-7 Formulaboats.com and driver Jimmy Shane finished third. The U-50 Albert Lee was chasing the U-7 in turn one of lap two until the engine popped and the hot end blew giving the blue and yellow boat a “Did Not Finish” result. The “controversial” final heat had the U13 Graham Trucking entry sidelined driver J. Michael Kelly unable to finish the race due to a malfunctioning hatch.
The last race on the 2008 ABRA series will be in San Diego, California at the Bayfair on Mission Bay, September 19-21.