Over 40,000 spectators lined the river bank on the Ohio in Lesko Park this weekend to watch Formula 2 and Formula 3 powerboats fight for the title of Central Divisional Champion. This is a very special venue for the team it is the location we won our first Regional Championship.
The course was a 32 - 34 second 5-pin oval course with a dog-leg on the front stretch.
Due to the high boat count the series opted to separate the Formula 3 class into two qualifying heats consisting of a one-lap time trial and two 10-lap qualifying heats. Qualifying heats were split by the series, our team was placed in qualifying Heat B along with the majority of competitive teams. We raced against National Champions Sam Miller and Sam La Banco and Divisional Champion Mike Hooper. We knew it would be an extremely challenging qualifying heat.
TIME TRIALS AND QUALIFYING
The team was able to secure the second fasted time during the one lap time trial. We lined up on the start dock for the first of two 10-lap qualifying heats.
As the white flag dropped we were able to run along side the #7 of Miller. Miller having the inside advantage we were unable to pass and finish a strong 2nd.
The boats lined up for Qualifying heat B in the reverse order. We were now at the end of the dock and again finding ourselves at a major disadvantage. With the majority of the teams having championship titles under there belts it was going to be a very hard race. During the 10-lap qualifying heat boats 2 - 5 were bunched together and running hot. We finished 4th in qualifying Heat B and an accumulation of points gave us an overall 3rd in our qualifying group. The series only took the top two boats, we were placed into the last chance qualifier (LCQ) Sunday morning.
LCQ
Eight boats were placed in the 10-lap LCQ and were racing for position on the start dock for the 20-lap final. We had poll on the start-dock and as the flag dropped we were able to hold off the competition and win the LCQ lining us 5th on the start dock.
FINAL
The 20-lap final was the most competitive races of the season, the boats were very closely matched. We grabbed a 4th place finish off the start and pressuring the 3rd place boat while trying to blocking 5th and 6th place. This was the first event of the season we were not on the podium but it had great racing and lots of dedicated fans.
Special thanks to our incredible sponsors including Peters and May, Lucas Oil, Digatron USA, Lithium Pro's and ofcourse our incredible team, Sam Haraway, Claudia Harway, Dave McCormick, Mark Jakob and a special honorary teammate the Good Kenny Lightfoot!
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| LCQ: Fighting for 5th place |
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| Fan of the weekend, Aj Johnson |
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