2002 Washington NAMBA Nats Results

*Friday*	*Saturday*	*Sunday*
M2 Mono M2 Hydro O Mono S Hydro N2 Offshore N1 Crackerbox P Sport Scale Hydro ECO	N1 Mono N2 Hydro P Hydro Q Mono P Offshore O Sport Scale Hydro P OPC Tunnel LSH	N1 Hydro N2 Mono P Mono Q Offshore O Hydro Q Hydro

After 5 years it was our turn to host the nationals again! During those 5 years I've been fortunate enough to attend the other nationals in California, Florida, New Jersey and Alaska. These venues have really set the standard on how to run a National Event. The members of the Electric Unlimiteds Northwest and Puget Sound Fast Electric Model Boat Club decided to dedicate themselves to that same standard. When it was all said and done we had hosted the largest model boat race in North America with 31 racers, 256 boats, 21 new national champions, 4 new records and a ton of good memories.

Many racers rolled in on Wednesday and were ready to test on Thursday. It was very apparent early in the day that the bar had been raised from last year. A few of the boats I remembered from Thursday included Dan Chase's Kukorelli ECO. That thing looked like it could compete in N2 Mono! Unfortunately, Dan's boat started glitching shortly after its maiden voyage. I think he said he went through 4 receivers before he got one to work for the last heat! Another standout was Donnie Wollards O Hydro. I had wanted to see that thing run since he set the record a few months back. It looked like my P Hydro! He's really hooked up with the Lehner motor and Rum Runner Stainless prop! Unfortunately the records didn't fall in O Hydro this time around as the class ran on Sunday and the wind kicked up just enough to hold down the records but that was it, nobody had to hold back!

On to Friday. The first classes were the 4 cell "M" classes, while the classes were small, the speeds were not. It's amazing the speed you can get from a 4 cell boat. Larry Larson brought Jay Turner’s rigger, powered by a hot Reedy 05 and a gear drive! The thing sounded like a vacuum cleaner but really moved. In the end it was Douggies boat that had a little extra and won the class. O Mono was the next class up with 3 full heats! In the end it would be a tie between Doug Twaits Jr. and Brian Vega with Douggie edging him out on time. I slid in behind them for third, but did have fast time with my Lightning NEO El Lobo 2. S hydro was next. Brian Vega won the class with his Rum Runner Rigger. I picked up second with my Rum Runner Rigger due to a little misfortune. Just like past nationals I’ve had a little bad luck from time to time and “would of, could of, should of,” won the class. I had 2 firsts and was all by myself in the lead with the only guy that could have taken it away upside down in the corner when my speed control went poof! To add insult to injury my boat took on the nickname ‘ole stinky’ from the smell of the fried controller. It took almost a full can of goof off when I got home to try and get the smell out since I race the same boat in P Hydro and needed it again. While I thought I did a pretty good job, people kept walking by the next day telling me I must have missed a spot! The battle for N2 Offshore was very tight with only 2 laps separating 1st through 3rd with Donnie Wollard, Scott Bickford and Brian Vega. In Crackerbox, last years national champ Scott Bickford went for a repeat. Colten Crowe took second with newcomer Chris Harrington from Alaska in third. Look out for Chris next year, this guy is good, really good. On to ECO. I still don't know what it stands for, but in the US it is still Donnie Wollard all the way. It's like he's part of that boat. Never makes a mistake. Colten took second with his maiden voyage of his Danvo Avenger, while third went to Chris Harrington….. did I mention this guy is good?!

Saturday, the first class was N1 mono, one of the biggest classes of the event. By the third round it was looking like a rematch from last year in Alaska where Greg Schweers tied with Colten Crowe and won on time. This year it was payback! Again, both drivers had perfect days with their Maus Micro Bullets but it was Colten's turn to edge out Greg by only .04!!!! Brian Vega rounded out the top 3 with his Rum Runner mono. N2 Hydro was a duel to the finish. Both Douggie and I had 2 firsts going into the last round. When it was all finished, we were both sub 1 minute for 5 laps on 6 cells. I was 58.95 to his 59.44. What was really amazing is that Douggie’s boat was powered by a new $102 Lehner basic 5300 motor and de-lifted 1732 prop! In the end it took a record to beat him and it's a memory I'll have for a long time. Thanks Don for building me a killer boat. I had one week to build it for nats and it was dialed in on its first run. That guy can build a boat! Coming in right on our heels was Larry Larson with the clone to my boat. What was really amazing was the depth of speed for the entire class! I don't remember lapping anyone! Every heat was a deck to deck battle with Larry Kirby and his Climate Blizzard, Brian Vega and his Rum Runner Rigger, Dennis Whitt and his Hammer Head rigger, Donnie and his RR Rigger and on and on! P Hydro was next. This time it was the masters turn to show us what it takes. Doug Twaits Sr. gave us all a clinic on how to get the job done with two firsts and a second for the class win with his Twister. Second went to Larry Larson and his RR Rigger who was tied with Doug Twaits Jr. and his Twister, but had a faster time. In Q mono I took 3 firsts with my Maus Bullet for the win followed by Doug Twaits Jr. and Randy Naylor. P Offshore had a big range of boats. Big, small, monos, cats and stepped hulls. It was a real challenge for the different boats with their own handling characteristics to try and keep from getting tangled up, which happened more then once! In the end it was Greg Schweers, and his Stepped El Lobo followed by Dick Crowe and Tony Treichel with only 1/4 lap separating Dick and Tony. O sport Hydro was probably the biggest class at the event. The detail work on these boats is just incredible. If you haven't already, take a look at the concourse pictures on the pictures page. However, if you notice a few dings, it's because the drivers of these boats build them to win first and just like several of the full sized unlimited hydros, in the heat of the battle these boats will trade paint too! This was another good class for me with a class record and win. Second was Doug Twaits Jr. followed by a strong showing from Scott Bickford. This guy works me over good at all of our local club races. Maybe it was just my turn! Once again the boats were very competitive in this class with a few newcomers poised to bring home the hardware for themselves. With a first and a second going into the third round, Klete Fruedenstein found the edge of the envelope blowing his brushless Mega powered Bandit shovel off in the last heat. Klete's boat really hauls. It's the first mega powered boat I've seen and its every bit as fast as any other sport boat on the water! OPC Tunnel belonged to Larry Larson. Second went to Greg Schweers and third to Scott Bickford. The last heat of the day was LSH. This new class is really growing and fielded 4 classes at the nats this year! With 10 lap races, consistency is the key. Only 2 drivers in the whole class finished all of their heats. Colten Crowe took first with a perfect day running his screaming Cordite SS1 powered Maus Shovel and Duncan Blanchard with two firsts and a second took second for the class. Rounding out the top 3 was Mike Stoumen. Mike had two firsts and a DNF. I know how he feels. Would of could of should of. Mikes boat was fast. Another one for the would of could of category was Dennis Whitt, with one of the fastest LSH's I've ever seen.

By Sunday everyone had fallen into a groove. I guess that will happen when all you’ve done is race boats the last few days. The first heat was N1 Hydro. Once again Douggie was the man to beat with his twister. This time he was feeling a little heat from local driver Larry Kirby with his own scratch hull who picked up second. Larry has been racing for several years and has constantly been one of the fastest guys in our club. Doug Twaits Sr. picked up third to round out the fleet. N2 Mono followed with Doug Twaits Jr. again on top with his $102 dollar Lahner Basic 4200 motor and Y535 prop! That guy can drive a boat! Second went to Dick Crowe with his Lightning NEO powered El lobo 2. The only guy with a faster time then me was Larry Larson. Larry ran 1:19.33 to my 1:21.86 and it was the only N2 heat that I lost! Thanks Lar! Third place went to Tony Treichel from Canada running a Trinity P94 on a hughey geardrive and a Y535. P Mono was next. This time it was Dennis Whitt’s turn. Dennis had been knocking on the door all weekend and decided to knock it down with this class. Second went to Chris Harris who also had 3 strong heats. Greg Schweers rounded out the top 3 with 2 firsts and a DNF. I tried to run with Greg in the last heat of P Mono and had to run on the ragged edge. As it turned out it was too ragged! We both hit a hole in the right turn which ended our race prematurely! Q Offshore turned out to be a real offshore event! The wind kicked up a little on Sunday and seemed to really blow every time the big boats got on the course! With 3 strong heats, Greg Schweers locked up first place. Following Greg in for second was Dick Crowe and third went to Dennis Whitt. Dennis had a little misfortune in an earlier heat or he would have placed higher, his boat was really hooked up! O hydro had an exceptionally fast field of boats. While the water was a little rough from the wind it didn't hold anyone back! The only casualty was my knee and radio as I took a nice crash on the dock just prior to the first heat. I would have still run had the battery compartment not separated from my transmitter in the incident! It wasn’t my finest hour! It was sure cool though when Mike Stoumen walked upstairs with a brand new radio to loan me so that I could get back on the water. That guy is too much! I did well in the rest of the heats, but in this class it takes 3 strong finishes for the hardware. That’s just what Douggie did again. 3 firsts for the win! This was a Jr. Sr. victory with Doug Twaits Sr. picking up second. Larry Larson clocked the fast time for the class and snagged third. That last class of the event was Q Hydro. In the first heat Douggie and I hooked up. At the start I was in lane one and Douggie was in lane two and we were just flying! By this first corner Douggie was in lane one and I was looking for my sponson in the entrance buoy! Man I hit that thing hard! Douggie went on to win that heat and the next two for the class win. Second went to Larry Larson who again had fast time while Randy Naylor picked up third.

By now it was no surprise that Doug Twaits Jr. would be the Overall Highpoints champ. I did everything I could to squeeze in there and still came up short 750 points behind him. Third was Larry Larson followed closely by Brian Vega, Doug Twaits Sr. and Scott Bickford. Team Championship went to Fuller’s Fast Electrics.

Seems like every year the boats get faster and faster, but one thing remains the….. the people. It’s still my favorite thing about this sport. I love all the new faces. Some of them included Bob Lahde from Oregon. This guy came to nats not even sure about what he was going to run but it didn’t matter, he showed up and competed like a true champion. Another new face was 14 year old Jeffrey Marlow from New Jersey. Jeffrey flew out from New Jersey with his grandmother to compete. He was a real class act. When he wasn’t racing or working on his boat he was out in the chase boat. I made the mistake of calling him Jeremy once but he was nice enough not to make me feel any dumber then I already felt! There were even a few new guys from Alaska, I’ve already mentioned Chris Harrington who is currently off of my new guy list. If I didn’t know it I’d say he had been racing for years. Not only is he a good driver with fast boats, Larry Larson used him for his own personal pit crew! Another new Alaskan that went beyond the call of duty was Steve Corpuz. He volunteered to run back to the hotel to grab some carbon fiber booms to help me fix Q Hydro with the detachable sponson! The next thing we knew, he had missed his heat. While he was disappointed he missed his heat, he was happy that he could help. Wow!

My other favorite part about racing is family. I’m the luckiest guy in the world to be racing with my son. He’s only 5 but knows more about boats then I did after my first few years! What’s really inspiring is to look at the tables around me and see Don and Donnie Wollard, Doug Twaits Jr. and Doug Sr., Scott and Jim Bickford or Tony and Terry Treichel. I can only imagine what I have to look forward to with Colten.

I know I’ve gone on and on but I’ve got to take another minute to thank those that helped put on this event. First of all I've got to that the sponsors. Without their support we would never be able to hold a first class event. If you haven't already, please visit the sponsors page and keep them in mind the next time your looking for stuff for your boat! On an individual side, I've got to thank Larry Kirby, who went way out of his way to setup all of the electrical for the event AND his wife Peggy who cooked up a feast with Gretchen Blanchard to keep us going! Scott and Jim Bickford also went out of their way taking care of all the last minute details and were always the last ones to leave making sure everything was in place. I also want to thank Ray Fuller and Mike Stoumen. These are the guys I’d go to for last minute help and before I could say, can you take care of…., they’d say, “It’s already done”! Running the chase boats were Mark and Eric's boys who were assisted by Jeffrey Marlow (when he wasn't racing!) and my nephew Braden Sherman. You should have seen these guys handle a trolling motor by the end of the event! And yes, I’ve got to mention my Mom. She was there from Thursday through Sunday taking registrations, keeping score and helping out Mark Anderson and Eric Broulet (from the District 8 nitro club) who ran the race. If anyone has ever done that job before you’ll know how indebted I am right now!

There are a ton of things I left out and I apologize to all of you that deserved mention in this story. Maybe this will be a work in progress as my memory kicks in!

About the only thing I missed this time around was hanging out at the hotel, bench racing and working on boats as fast as I can so that I can get to sleep before Larry starts snoring. I guess that will have to wait till next time, which looks like it will be in California, hosted by the Devil Mountain Water Boilers! I'll be there!