Disqualification helps Jimmy Shane repeat as Gold Cup hydro champion

KENNEWICK – In unlimited hydroplane racing, the start of the race many times determines the champion. 

Little did Gold Cup champion Jimmy Shane realize that when he radioed to his spotter a possible pre-race violation against Jean Theoret, that call would be the deciding factor in Shane winning his second consecutive Gold Cup title on the Columbia River. 

Shane, in the U-1 Oberto, captured the Gold Cup Championship on Sunday only after officials checked the video and saw that Theoret, in the U-96 Ellstrom Elam Plus, did indeed go into an area called the DMZ and was disqualified from the championship heat.

Theoret was trying to get inside of Shane to grab lane one when the violation occurred. But when the race started, Shane was down in speed and Theoret rocketed past him to take a commanding lead on the first lap. 

From that point on, it looked like it was going to be a battle for second and third between Shane and J. Michael Kelly in the U-5 Graham Trucking. As it turned out, those two boats battled deck-to-deck for all five laps of the championship final with Shane edging Kelly by the smallest of margins.

Shane averaged 145.756 mph while Kelly came in second with a speed of 145.088 mph.  The win was Shane’s ninth career win in H1 Unlimited Hydroplane racing.