There has been a lot written and posted about the upcoming Pepsi Racing Power Cup Challenge III, presented by River City Racin' in Chamberlain-Oacoma SD. With good reason. It's a terrific event in an excellent location both for racers and fans; right on Interstate 90 where it crossed the Missouri River at Lake Francis Case in South Dakota. You won't find a more appreciative audience anywhere, and let me assure you, while the two towns combine for less than 3,000 population; their effort is nothing short of "big time".
 
Kevin Eacret was declared the winner in the Unlimited Lights season opener at Phoenix AZ. The race was called without conducting neither the last preliminary heat nor the twin final heats on the unique Firebird Lake layout due to high winds and a sandstorm. Wil Muncey finished in second via three solid runs; all for second place finishes in the preliminary heats, followed by Bob Smets and Kayleigh Perkins. Both Smets and Perkins won two preliminary heats and had a 'did not finish' (DNF) so they were tied with 800 points. Third place went to Smets on the basis of quicker elapsed time for the three preliminary heats. Smets' third place finish and Muncey's second place finish both were career bests in the Unlimited Lights' series.
 
At South Dakota, Eacret will be racing on the course for the first time in an Unlimited Light and since his boat is supercharged he'll have to start in the outside lanes. One change from last year affects Eacret and any other supercharged Unlimited Light. While they must start in lanes outside of the naturally aspirated UL's, after the exit pin of turn #1 on the first lap they can move inside if they have the proper overlap of one full roostertail length over a boat to their inside. Last year the "blower motor" teams had to maintain their lane for the entire first lap.
 
Muncey, Smets and Perkins all have naturally aspirated hydroplane engines.  Perkins drives the defending champion UL-72 that won the first five races in 2009. This year the team is "auditioning" a NASCAR 358 cu.in engine from Triad Racing Technologies. This is the "Toyota" NASCAR engine replacing the team's usual 509 cu. in big block V-8 for this one season evaluation. These teams will be challenged by, among others, Paul Becker who finished fifth at Phoenix and Dan McCulloch who joined the series last year by visiting the race at Chamberlain before his racing debut the next weekend in Montana.  McCulloch picked up a heat victory at the Arizona event.
 
Teams that competed at Phoenix and teams that do compete at South Dakota earn 1,000 bonus points at those events. The bonus points can be very critical when it comes to qualifying for the Tri Cities WA and Seattle WA events Those are the next two races after South Dakota, in late July and early August and both locations have restricted the number of Unlimited Light entries.   Points from the first two races will decide the entries at Tri Cities and points after Tri Cities will determine the Seattle lineup.
 
Congratulations go out to David Grant, co-owner and Crew Chief of the UL-3. He's secured sponsorship as the official Prilosec OTC Hydroplane Racer.  Prilosec OTC is the #1 doctor recommended OTC acid reducer. Driver Chris Grant will debut the new sponsorship at Chamberlain-Oacoma on the UL-3 T-Machine which finished third in the Unlimited Lights season points championship in 2009.
 
Two teams continue herculean efforts to make the race at Chamberlain.  Vince "X-Man" Xaudaro drove Pat Rankin's Steve Balcer built hydroplane at Phoenix. Rankin, from Louisiana shipped his race team to the Pacific NW in order to compete in the Unlimited Lights circuit. Xaudaro is continuing work on his UL-929 "All Black, all the time" hydroplane that was severely damaged three seasons ago. Xaudaro and crew chief Tim Van Hollebeke and their crew have been working countless hours with help from the UL-72 team and hope to have their 929 ready to return to go racing. Many upgrades have been incorporated into this hull, which was leading the points race till the accident at Silverdale WA in August of 2007.
 
The other is the UL-9 team owned by Jim & Karon Wilmot with Team Manager/Driver "Smokin Joe" Souza. This is the "back to the future" entry for 2010.  The 9 hull, when it was owned and operated by Thunder Valley Racing and driven by Nick Badolato, debuted supercharged engines in the Unlimited Lights' series back in 2001. After being raced for three seasons with a naturally aspirated engine, the Wilmot team is converting to supercharged horsepower and is being assisted in the effort by veterans of the Thunder Valley team, Chuck Dow, Ryan Butler and Kelly Stocklin, plus Bill Dyer of Dyer's Blowers, and S and J Engines, Inc. in Spokane WA. With each day it looks more and more that this team will be ready to make some noise at Chamberlain-Oacoma, a race that driver Souza will be competing at for the first time.
 
Joining the Unlimited Lights will be the Crackerbox Pro series. This group of popular race craft joined with ULHRA at the season opening event at Phoenix AZ and were a big hit. I have no doubt the fans attending the race in South Dakota, from many surrounding states; will enjoy the Crackerbox Pro series just as much as they enjoy the "Lights".
 
At least five 5 Liter hydroplanes will make the trek along I-90 as part of the Lighter than LIGHTS series and they will also earn APBA points. For the first time, Arizona's Mike Schroeder, who won the race at Phoenix, will race an LTL event outside of Arizona and he'll be a favorite to win the second race of the year. He'll be challenged by Steve Clark who had a great run at Phoenix to finish second, along with former 3 time eight cylinder LTL champion Bud McKay, Shane Pratt in his "new ride" for 2010, and the Eacret Racing E-36 which was co-driven by Joey Perkins and Kevin Eacret in Arizona.
 
1.0 Liter modified hydroplanes will be racing, utilizing primarily personal watercraft engines, along with 2.5 Liter stock hydroplanes which run the 4 cylinder 2300 cc Ford engine from the days of the Pinto. Among the 4 cylinder LTL entrants is a South Dakota native returning "home" to race. Leslie "Poodle" Warren grew up on a small farm in Montrose SD and her entire family will be on hand to watch her race at Chamberlain-Oacoma. Most of them live around Sioux Falls SD, which is east of the Missouri River race site, about a two-hour drive on I-90. Warren will be racing the S-137.
 
The race sanction also includes the National Modified hydroplanes. This makes for a very interesting and very busy weekend for the NM teams.  They will be able to compete for APBA national points in a two heat race on Saturday at South Dakota, and another two heat race on Sunday so they earn APBA points from two races, not just one. "But there's more"!!!  Most NM teams also fit the requirements to race as Unlimited Lights so they can "double up" at Chamberlain-Oacoma. This means in addition to four NM heats on the weekend they could also race two UL heats on Saturday and as many as three UL heats on Sunday if they go through the B-Main and qualify for the Unlimited Lights' Final.  It's noteworthy that Elizabeth Wolfe in the NM/UL-93 finished second at Phoenix in the 2009 UL race so National Modified teams know they can be competitive with the larger Unlimited Lights. By racing as UL's they qualify for tow money, and could also earn prize money with a Final heat placement, as well as entry into the live Television races at Tri Cities WA and Seattle WA.
 
Have you noticed the changes on this website? Lots of new elements have been added, particularly all of those interviews with Dave Stall "The Car Guy" from his KCBQ Radio show in San Diego. Interesting listening when you have the time to click on the interview links. Every Sunday Dave's show features a live ULHRA interview at 6:15pm. Pacific, 9:15pm Eastern time. Kudos to ULHRA P.R. Director Linda Amundsen and Director of Promotions Debi Muncey for their efforts on this site.
 
On the same Father's Day weekend that ULHRA is racing in South Dakota, the annual Classic Weekend at Pier 66 will be held on the waterfront in Seattle.  ULHRA race craft will be on display along with a huge display of classic yachts, participation by Seafair including the Seafair Clowns, and HARM, the Hydroplane and Race Boat Museum will have a vintage hydroplane display.
 
Hope to see you in Chamberlain-Oacoma on June 19th & 20th where they say "Great Faces, Great Places (and we add Great Races), South Dakota!"
 
John Lynch
"Voice" of ULHRA Racing.