Seafair hydros qualifying keeps up the suspense

Anyone attempting to handicap the unlimited hydroplane field for the 58th running of the Seafair Chevrolet Cup didn't pick up any insights on Saturday.

Defending champion and season points leader Steve David in the U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison took the checkered flag in a close decision over points runner-up Jeff Bernard in the U-15 Formulaboats .com in heat 1A.

Eight-time champion Dave Villwock in the U-1 Miss Elam Plus blew away the field in heat 1B.

Two-time champion Jean Theoret showed that the U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing is back in fine form, winning heat 1C by less than a roostertail over hard-charging David Bryant in the U-10 Hoss Mortgage Investors.

Heat 2A is scheduled to begin at 10:40 today on Lake Washington, with the final slated to go off at 4:45 p.m.

David, who is attempting to help the Miss Madison win its first-ever points championship after 46 years of racing, grabbed the inside line and won wire-to-wire. With the qualifying points and heat win, David now leads Bernard by 698 points.

"That's so critical in points," David said. "You have to run hard, but you have to run smart. So it's kind of like they're holding in the reins just a bit but still letting me race. That was absolutely perfect."

With 1,700 points available in the last race in San Diego, David can't get comfortable, no matter what he does here.

"Unless we're ahead by 1,701 we can't take anything for granted," David said, "because you could blow it over in qualifying. I feel confident, but not overly so. Everything has to fall your way on Lake Washington."

David finished with an average lap speed of 144.119 mph.

Villwock, who hasn't won here since 2004 in the Miss Budweiser, didn't need to go that fast to win heat 1B. The veteran driver nailed the start and cruised to the win over Greg Hopp in the Mirageboats .com.

"Sometimes the easiest wins are the hardest, that's when the starter falls off the boat," Villwock said. "Luckily we hit the start, ran the laps and didn't hurt the boat. We were trying to be conservative. Nobody remembers what happens in the first heat unless you crash."

Villwock won't have it so easy in heat 2B when he goes against Theoret and the Beacon Plumbing, when the two veterans battle for inside position.

"We had a really good start and we had the inside lane," Theoret said. "He kept pushing me, trying to make me break or make a mistake, but it didn't happen so I'm really happy."

Theoret wouldn't say he's a lock if he can keep hitting the start and race from the inside lane.

"Anybody who gets the inside lane is going to be hard to beat," Theoret said. "It's the shortest way around the course. We're very confident, but I never sell the bear's hide until I kill it. There are a lot of good teams here."

Just to be in the race is somewhat miraculous after the damage the boat received last Sunday in the Tri-Cities.

"They've been working day and night," owner Billy Schumacher said. "It's really nice to see Jean come back with his first win after all that repair."

Bryant briefly took the lead on the second lap, but Theoret regained it with his superior speed through the first corner.

"I bobbled a little and that gave up whatever little lead I had," Bryant said. "You can't bobble at all when someone is inside of you. I think we had the straightaway speed."

Notes

• Driver Jimmy King has the only piston-powered boat left racing on the unlimited circuit, and its run at Seafair is over.

The team brought four of the Allison V-12 engines that used to power fighter planes in World War II for the three-race West Coast swing. All four are damaged, forcing King to drop out of the race after failing to complete heat 1A.

One motor went south in Tri-Cities, and they've lost three since they've been in Seattle.

"When you have something that is this fast and to have issues come up that are a little different every time so you can't narrow it down, is extremely frustrating," King said. "It's been extremely rough for our team."

The boat qualified at 147.299 mph but drafted to a stop after completing only three quarters of a lap.

"There's a hole in a piston on one of the motors, we have connecting rods hanging out on two of them and a crankshaft that's locked up on a fourth one," King said. "We have more back in the shop, and the goal is to get ready for San Diego."

• The fuel of choice for the unlimited hydroplane turbines is JetA, which costs $5.75 a gallon here this weekend. That's an increase of 75 cents a gallon since the beginning of the season.

Transporting all the equipment from race site to race site has been the biggest increase in costs. Last year, the U-6 Oberto team spent about $800 to get everything from Detroit to Tri-Cities. This year it cost more than $2,600, according to team manager Charlie Grooms.

• Hydro legend Chip Hanauer bumped up his qualifying speed to 147.631 mph during an early run in the 787 Boeing boat that runs on biofuels.

Hanauer, who said he would qualify the boat but not race it, would have been the seventh-fastest qualifier of the 13 boats that made it over the 130 mph standard.

Hanauer, retired after winning 61 times, only one short of the all-time mark of the late Bill Muncey. Villwock is third on the list with 55 wins.

• A boat has to turn a lap of 130 mph in the heats to qualify to race. When it appeared windy weather might be a factor on Friday, it was decided that early testing sessions would count as qualifying.

Villwock improved on his top qualifying speed Saturday morning, turn a lap of 155.857 mph. He was also the top qualifier last year with a speed of 156.201 mph.