Greg Hopp and his trusty UL-1 Mike's Hard Lemonade-Happy Go Lucky bested Michael Flaherty in the winner take all Final for the first ever Quicksilver Regatta championship at Silverdale WA. The Final Heat finish was a reversal of Heat 1A held the day before, when Flaherty was able to drive around Hopp from the outside and take the win. This time, there would be no driving around Hopp as his bright yellow hydroplane drove off to a two roostertail length victory. Hopp's victory comes one week after his victory at Seafair in Seattle. In fact, were it not for a DMZ violation at Tri Cities, Hopp would've won all three events held over the past 3 weekends.

Flaherty took second, but stayed in the hunt for the National Championship, which appears headed for a showdown in Port Angeles WA, Sept. 30, Oct 1 & 2 where the Unlimited Lights title has been decided the past two years.

Third place after a very strong weekend, was Harold Mills in the UL-40 Miss Red Dot Corporation. Mills had deck to deck battles in the preliminary heats with Greg Hopp and Michael Flaherty, only to come up just short. But it was a very productive weekend in the points battle for the Thunder Valley Racing Team as they scored 1125 points for the weekend.

4th place went to Joe Turner in the Escapeius Maximus, Pacific Rim Brewing Co. entry. This is the same boat that Ron Doumont brought to Seattle a week ago from his home in eastern British Columbia., to replace Turner's UL-18 that was damaged when the trailer came loose from its tow vehicle. Turner, Doumont, and a slew of volunteers from several Unlimited Light and Lighter than LIGHTS teams transferred the UL-18 engine to Doumont's hull, and Turner drove to the alternate spot for the Final Heat at Seattle. In Silverdale, they finished each heat, including one heat driven by Doumont, and Turner drove to 4th place overall in a very popular Final Heat finish. Afterward, Turner announced that the collaboration with Doumont will continue at San Diego and Port Angeles.

In 5th was the brightly painted and lengthy named Hyundai of Everett presents Mz Zip Fizz Energy Drink Mix. The brand new boat gets better with each outing. For the first time this season, Driver Steve Hook and the UL-19 finished every heat, including their first win in the "B-Main". It was a thrilling deck to deck duel with Harold Mills that wound up with Hook winning by 26 feet............the length of the UL-19.

Sixth place went to Vince Xaudaro in the UL-929 Conover Insurance, who's boat went out for the warm-up but went dead in the water in turn two just prior to the start. Xaudaro was one of three drivers who qualified for the Final without running the B-Main, but unfortunately came away from the Final with no points. The "X-Man" and Kevin Aylesworth's UL-5 Baker Equipment Co. team are in a battle for 3rd place in the points. Aylesworth turned over the driving duties to backup driver, and brother in law, Jon Church who finished all 3 preliminary heats. In testing he turned a personal career best lap in the UL-5 of 114.9 mph on the 1 1/4 course. However, following Sunday's first heat the team detected a component failure in the rudder bracket so they withdrew from the B-Main and Final. Aylesworth says, they'll be ready for their home town San Diego race, September 16-18.

The first ever Quicksilver event was a tremendous success. Excellent crowds, excellent weather, and excellent racing action combined for the series' best first year event since Port Angeles WA debuted to rave reviews in 2003. In fact, none other than Jerry Hopp, co-owner of the Mike's Hard Lemonade and participant in races of all sizes and markets for 3 decades, proclaimed that Silverdale gets his vote for race site of the year.

John Lynch
"Voice" of the Unlimited Lights