American Dream Easily Gains A Repeat Hydroplane Victory

Mark Evans and the PICO American Dream breezed to victory Sunday in the Molson Dry Thunderfest unlimited hydroplane race on Okanagan Lake.

Evans, of Wenatchee, drove his boat to four straight heat wins, including the winner-take-all final with an average speed of 130.197 mph.

Mark Tate of Canton, Mich., was second in the Close Call (127.194 mph), followed by Nate Brown of Preston, Wash., in Miss TruckGear (126.749).

The Miss Budweiser, with replacement driver Mark Weber in for the injured Dave Villwock, failed to qualify for the final. A loose fuel valve cost the Bud a third-heat victory and, by the time the trouble was detected, the chief referee of the Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Association ruled that the boat was too late in the water for the provisional, or last-chance, heat.

It was the second straight victory for Evans and PICO. Evans took the Columbia Cup a week earlier in Kennewick, Wash., after Villwock’s Miss Bud flipped and crashed hard onto its top in the championship heat.

Villwock, of Auburn, Wash., was seriously injured and will miss the rest of the hydroplane racing season. He underwent surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and had two fingers on his right hand amputated.

Also Sunday, Bo Schide won his third Unlimited Light final of the season in the Alamo out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The event was delayed when defending Ultra Light series champion Pete’s Wicked Ale/Pegasus of Springfield, Ohio, flipped on a warmup lap. Driver Bob Larimore was pulled unconscious from the wreck, but revived before being taken to Kelowna General Hospital with what race officials described as non-life-threatening injuries.

The hydro tour resumes next weekend on Lake Washington in Seattle with the Texaco Cup.

Other finishers in the Thunderfest final heat:

4, Mike Hanson of Madison, Ind., in DeWalt Tools, (125.427); 5, Mitch Evans of Chelan, Wash., Spokane-based Packet Engines/Appian Jeronimo (122.611); 6, Steve David of Pompano Beach, Fla., Gargoyles Nitro (119.691); 7, John Watkins of Federal Way, Wash., the Miss Molson Dry (118.265).