The Unlimited Lights - 2007 in Review

By Fred Farley - Unlimited Hydroplane Historian

(1) DESERT THUNDER, Richland, WA

The Unlimited Light Racing Series had its 2007 kick-off at a first-ever event in Richland, Washington, at Howard Amon Park. Thirteen Unlimited Light hydroplanes attended. This was the largest turnout ever for a season-opener in UL history, which dates back to 1995.

Most of the top-ranked teams from 2006 were back to do competitive battle. These included the defending National Champion HAPPY GO LUCKY (UL-1) of Jerry and Greg Hopp and the Joe Frauenheim/Phil Bononcini-owned second-place finisher, MISS BOAT ELECTRIC (UL-72).

The UL-72 had a rookie driver, Kayleigh Perkins, not quite 19 years old, in the cockpit at Richland. The sister of Unlimited hydroplane driver Brian Perkins, Kayleigh had recently graduated from the ULHRA’s highly acclaimed “Lighter Than Lights” racing series. She would alternate with co-driver Patrick Haworth throughout the 2007 season.

Greg Hopp, driving his Jamie Auld-crafted back-up hull, raced from the outside lane in the Final Heat to outrun Vince “The X-Man” Xaudaro in the XAUDARO RACING (UL-929) to the checkered flag, 95.866 miles per hour to 91.393. Perkins and MISS BOAT ELECTRIC (UL-72) took third at 90.205.

This was the first race under the new UL rule that required boats with supercharged engines to start outside of those boats with naturally aspirated engines.

Xaudaro showed tremendous chute speed and was able to run head to head with Hopp for better than two laps as they swapped the lead multiple times in the three-lap finale. In the final turn, Xaudaro's boat hooked in the churned-up Columbia River and could not recover in time to stay with Hopp.

The 18-year-old Perkins finished the day not only with the third-place trophy but also with the lead in National High Points, 1325, compared to 1225 for Xaudaro and 1200 for Hopp. This was in spite of the rookie driver handicap of having to start five seconds after the clock. She won one preliminary heat and finished second in another. Kayleigh is not the first woman to compete in the Unlimited Light category but is the first with a “regular” ride.

(2) TASTIN’-N-RACIN’, Issaquah, WA

Greg Hopp and the UL-1, sponsored this time by KLAHANIE FITNESS, made it two in a row in 2007 by winning the Comcast Cup at “Tastin’-N-Racin’” on historic Lake Sammamish, near Issaquah, Washington. Again, he started the Final Heat from the outside lane with one supercharged boat--the FIVE STAR RACING (UL-19) and Ryan Mallow--to his left.

Hopp, known for a preference to make starts from lane-one, had been forced to change tactics on account of the rule regarding supercharged engines. It was Greg’s first run of the season in the defending Unlimited Light Champion hull, designed by Ron Jones, Jr. (His team had replaced the cockpit during the off-season along with other upgrades and the work wasn’t completed in time for the season-opener at Richland.)

Five front line teams hit the starting line together, while the large crowd roared its approval. At the end of lap-one, it was three wide: Vince Xaudaro, Mallow, and Hopp. Throughout lap-four, Hopp gained a slight advantage over Mallow with Xaudaro settling into third. And that’s how they finished. Kayleigh Perkins and UL-72 ran a steady fourth throughout, followed by Michael Flaherty in UL-8 and Wil Muncey, Jr., in UL-83.

With the victory, Hopp moved to the top in the National Points race, ahead of Xaudaro. Perkins picked up two preliminary heat victories at “Tastin’-N-Racin’” but also had one “Did Not Finish”, which dropped her from first to third in the standings.

(3) LES REGATES DE VALLEYFIELD, Valleyfield, Quebec

The Unlimited Light scene then shifted from the Pacific Northwest to Valleyfield, Quebec, near Montreal, in southeastern Canada.

Two driver changes were in evidence at Valleyfield. Patrick Haworth took his turn behind the UL-72 wheel and Jerry Hopp substituted in the UL-1 for son Greg who had an Unlimited ride (in Madison, Indiana) that weekend.

Valleyfield native Haworth scored his second hometown UL victory and his third UL victory overall. (Patrick had won at Valleyfield in 2003 with the now-defunct UL-10 team.)

Haworth drove MISS BOAT ELECTRIC to victory in all three of his heats and closed the gap between the UL-1 and UL-72 teams to just 206 points. Patrick averaged 88.002 miles per hour on the short 1-mile course in the Final Heat, ahead of Jerry Hopp who did 85.008.

Following the conclusion of Les Regates de Valleyfield, the UL fleet participated in an exhibition event in Chamberlain, South Dakota, prior to resuming the series on the West Coast

(4) GRAHAM TRUCKING CUP, Seattle, WA

The Unlimited Light teams had an added incentive to do well at the first three races of the 2007 season in Richland, Issaquah, and Valleyfield. Due to space limitations in the Stan Sayres Pits at the Seattle Seafair Regatta, only the top fourteen teams in UL National Points would be allowed to compete for the Graham Trucking Cup on Lake Washington.

The Seattle race is always of prime importance to hydroplane sponsors on account of the live regional television coverage, provided by KIRO-TV/Channel 7.

The fans will be talking about the 2007 Seafair Final Heat for years to come. Greg Hopp edged teenage sensation Kayleigh Perkins by three boat lengths in a drag race to the finish line. Greg averaged 102.659 miles per hour to Kayleigh’s 102.189.

Hopp, driving the GRAHAM TRUCKING G.T. – HAPPY GO LUCKY, was again required to start outside of Perkins’ MISS BOAT ELECTRIC because of the supercharged engine rule.

This was the seventeenth career win since 2001 for Greg Hopp, the winningest driver in Unlimited Light history. (Bo Schide is the second winningest with twelve victories between 1997 and 1999.)

It was a great weekend for local favorite Al Carstensen whose MAACO OF BREMERTON (UL-6) team wound up in third-place overall. Carstensen wasn’t even in the field at Seattle on Friday but, due to withdrawals by other teams, a Seafair entry slot opened early Saturday morning. The UL-6 averaged 98.909 behind the UL-1 and the UL-72 in the Final Heat.

With four down and three races remaining on the 2007 calendar, the UL National Championship race was boiling down to the same two teams that had won the title the past seven years. The MISS BOAT ELECTRIC/IMPACT RACING team had won the championship from 2000 through 2002, while the HOPP RACING team had won the previous four season titles.

(5) GRAHAM TRUCKING CUP, Silverdale, WA

History was made at Silverdale, Washington, in 2007. Kayleigh Perkins became the first woman to win an Unlimited Light race. And it wasn't handed to her. On the contrary, she had to "work like hell" for the victory.

Perkins in MISS BOAT ELECTRIC (UL-72) and Greg Hopp in FESTOOL SUPPLY NORTHWEST – GRAHAM TRUCKING G.T. – HAPPY GO LUCKY (UL-1) dueled deck to deck for three laps until Hopp’s boat threw a propeller blade on the final lap and did not finish.

The initial running of the Final Heat was halted on account of an accident to Vince Xaudaro’s veteran UL-929. The “all black, all the time” boat was destroyed when it leaped off a roller and dove into a hole in the water. The hull basically stuffed its nose and both sponsons were ripped from the hull, reminiscent of a wishbone. The boat did not flip, and Xaudaro fortunately was not injured as the ULHRA driver safety systems did the job.

In the re-run of the Final Heat, Perkins trailed Hopp by a boat length at the end of lap-one. The two traded the lead several times until the first turn of the final lap when Hopp lost the propeller blade. At the time, Kayleigh and Greg were running side by side in their duel for supremacy.

Ryan Mallow, the 2006 Silverdale winner, came in second to Perkins with MILLENNIUM DIGITAL MEDIA (UL-19). Ryan averaged 96.411 to Kayleigh’s 99.607.

(6) SAN DIEGO THUNDERBOAT REGATTA, San Diego, CA

For the San Diego race, Jerry Hopp assumed the driving chores for the UL-1 after son Greg was slightly injured in a non-racing mishap. And Patrick Haworth took his second turn of the season at the wheel of the UL-72.

“Grandpa” Jerry went on to score a sensational win on Mission Bay with GRAHAM TRUCKING G.T./HAPPY GO LUCKY. Hopp trailed the front-running Haworth and MISS BOAT ELECTRIC for most of the Final Heat but finally overtook Haworth in the last quarter of a lap to claim the victory, 112.301 miles per hour to 110.879.

The victory was especially satisfying for Jerry and effectively dimmed the memory of the 2004 San Diego race. That was when he and the UL-1 led for two laps in the Final Heat until a fuel tank malady caused Hopp’s boat to struggle and nearly go dead in the water. This was Jerry’s seventh career win in the Unlimited Light Class.

Paul Becker checked in third in 2007 at 101.522 with MISS CRITICAL LOGIC (UL-14), followed by Wil Muncey at 96.378 with POWER PUNCH (UL-83).

With six down and one race remaining, Jerry and Greg Hopp and partner Bob Schellhase had a slim 132-point lead over the second-place UL-72. Once again, the High Point contest would not be decided until the last day of the season in Port Angeles, Washington, “Where Champions Are Crowned.”

(7) STRAIT THUNDER, Port Angeles, WA

Anything can happen at a boat race; and something usually does.

At the season-concluding Strait Thunder, sponsored by Victoria Express, Mark Echols drove to his first career victory in what was to be the last race for team owners Bob and Janet Estes. The MISS GRAHAM TRUCKING (UL-33) dominated the field in the Final Heat and sent Mr. and Mrs. Estes into a very happy retirement.

Kayleigh Perkins, at age 19, not only won the Unlimited Light Driver Title over two-time champion Greg Hopp, she drove MISS BOAT ELECTRIC (UL-72) to the team championship by taking second-place in the Final Heat, after finishing first and second in her two preliminary heats. This was the team’s first National Championship since 2002 when co-owner Phil Bononcini was the team’s driver. Kayleigh is also UL racing’s first female Rookie of the Year.

Echols averaged 94.895 in the Final Heat, followed by Perkins at 89.755 and Paul Becker in the MISS CRITICAL LOGIC (UL-14) at 84.426.

Absent from the starting line-up was the Hopp Racing/Schellhase Racing UL-1 flagship. Greg Hopp, on his qualifying lap in the FESTOOL SUPPLY NORTHWEST – GRAHAM TRUCKING G.T. – HAPPY GO LUCKY, flipped after crossing a roller going into turn-one. Hopp was uninjured but his mount was through for the day.

Immediately following the conclusion of qualifying, the FIVE STAR RACING (UL-19) and driver Ryan Mallow, in a sporting gesture, withdrew and re-entered as the UL-1. Mallow finished second in his first preliminary heat but was unable to start in the second. As a result, Ms. Perkins needed merely to finish the Final Heat to wrap up the championship for her team.

The “stand-in” UL-1 took fourth-place in the Strait Thunder finale behind Echols, Perkins, and Becker, and ahead of Joe Souza in UNION PRIDE (UL-94) to bring down the curtain on the ULHRA’s 2007 campaign.

The final team standings for the season had UL-72 in first-place with 7430 points, followed by UL-1 with 6918, UL-929 with 4218, UL-14 with 3679, and UL-33 with 3544.

The final driver standings for the season had Kayleigh Perkins in first-place with 5450 points, followed by Greg Hopp with 4559, Vince Xaudaro with 4231, Paul Becker with 3679, and Mark Echols with 3544.