National high point battle comes down to San Diego Bayfair | Hydros

When the H1 Unlimited Hydroplanes take to Mission Bay for the HomeStreet Bank at San Diego Bayfair on Sept. 15-17, not only will the teams be racing for the prestigious Bill Muncey Trophy, but they will also be battling for the national high point championship in this season’s final event.

Three teams have more than 5,000 points going into this weekend’s race with Renton’s Jimmy Shane and the U-1 Miss HomeStreet leading the pack with 5,979 points. Andrew Tate in the U-9 Delta/Realtrac is close behind with 5,700 and Bonney Lakes’ J. Michael in the U-12 Graham Trucking is third with 5,385.

Shane, the winner of the Albert Lee Appliance Cup in Seattle and the APBA Gold in Detroit, is looking for his fifth consecutive national high point driver championship and his fourth consecutive with the Miss Madison Racing Team, owner of the Miss HomeStreet. Shane won the H1 national high point title in 2013 driving for owner Ted Porter in the Graham Trucking boat.

“Once again, we’re in a tight points race heading into the last race of the season,” said Shane, who works as an integration engineer at Blue Origin, LLC, in Kent. “This will be a weekend of action-packed racing and drama building up to the final race deciding the national championship. I am very proud to represent HomeStreet Bank.”

On the other hand, the community-owned Miss Madison Racing Team is looking to claim its fourth consecutive team high point title and eighth championship in the last 10 years.

Community-owned by the city of Madison, Indiana, 2017 is the Miss Madison team’s 57th consecutive year of competition. No other team can match the Miss Madison’s record for consecutive seasons of participation. Eight different hulls have raced as the Miss Madison in the past 56 years, although two of those were temporary substitutes. The Miss Madison Racing Team has 30 race victories.

In Detroit, Shane added another record to the team’s and his own resume. The average speed for Miss HomeStreet in the championship final heat was the fastest ever in APBA Gold Cup history. The five-lap average of 152.759 mph on the Detroit River Course eclipsed the records set by Dave Villwock in 1999 as he drove the Miss Pico to a five-lap average of 152.591 mph and the 2012 mark of 151.089 mph in 2012 as Villwock won the prestigious trophy in the Spirit of Qatar.

While Shane has two victories to his credit, Tate won the President’s Cup in Detroit and the Indiana Governor’s Cup Shootout in Madison. The Governor’s Cup event was a non-high point event. Kelly was the HAPO Columbia Cup champion on the Columbia River in the Tri-Cities.

Tentatively, five boats are scheduled to be in San Diego. Besides the U-1, U-9, and U-12, the U-11 driven by Tom Thompson will make the field. After qualifying over 157 mph in Detroit, the U-11 team threw a propeller and lost the long shaft in the first heat of Saturday’s President’s Cup, knocking the team out for the remainder of the weekend. It was the second long shaft the team lost in Detroit.

The Unlimited Racing Group LLC, the owner of the U-11, announced last week that Reliable Diamond Tool from Phoenix, Ariz., will be the team’s presenting sponsor for the San Diego Bayfair race. The U-11 team will be called Reliable Diamond Tool presents J&D’s for the event this week.

The U-440 Bucket List Racing Team with Dustin Echols in the cockpit blew an engine in Detroit. Owners Kelly and Sharon Stocklin are working to make the repairs to compete at Bayfair.

The U-99.9 Miss Rock powered by CARSTAR suffered major damage in the Detroit President’s Cup after a blow over accident in one of the preliminary heats. It cannot be repaired in time for Bayfair. Kevin Eacret was not injured in the accident.

For more information, go to sandiegobayfair.org.