In his
first preliminary heat win, Villwock won with an average lap
speed of 152.774 and it only took two laps. The reason was J.W.
Myers (Burien, Wash.) in the Peter and Mays hydroplane lost
a skid fin in the in the middle of the third turn, spun out
of control and smacked into The Roostertail Banquet Hall
seawall. (Photo by HB Meeks/Tell Us Detroit)
Villwock
Reaches
the ‘Big
60,’
Wins
Gold Cup
DETROIT---Dave
Villwock
reached
the ‘Big
60’ this
afternoon
on the
Detroit
River
winning
his 60th
career
hydroplane
race and
eighth
Gold Cup
Championship,
taking
the
101st
Jarvis
Restoration
Detroit
APBA
Gold Cup
in
perfect
fashion.
And it
was a
perfect
weekend
of
unlimited
hydroplane
racing
for
Villwock
(Auburn,
Wash.).
He was
the top
qualifier,
won all
four
preliminary
heats
and then
went on
to
victory
the
winner-take-all
final
Sunday
afternoon.
It was
the
eighth
Gold Cup
championship
for
Villwock,
tying
him for
second
place
with
legendary
Bill
Muncey
and
three
behind
the
all-time
leader
Chip
Hanauer
and it
was his
60th
career
win as
unlimited
driver-one
behind
Hanauer
and two
behind
Muncey
for the
all-time
record.
“I have
to thank
Chip
Hananuer
and Bill
Muncey
for the
path
that
they
have
paved to
made it
all
possible,”
said the
56-year
old
Villwock.
“Unbelievable,
unbelievable
to match
the
numbers,
just
unbelievable.”
While
Villwock
earned
the
inside
lane by
virtue
of his
four
heat
wins. He
still
had to
worry
about
Steve
David
(Lighthouse
Pt,
Fla.) in
the Oh
Boy!
Oberto ,
who
started
next to
him in
lane two
and a
choppy
Detroit
River
course.
The
final
was
delayed
25
minutes
due to
high
winds
but the
winds
didn’t
subside
very
much.
“The
course
was very
rough,”
said
Villwock.
“The
Oberto
is a
very
good
rough
water
boat but
I think
our boat
just ran
better
in all
type of
river
conditions
all
weekend.”
Villwock
held off
J
Michael
Kelly
(Puyallup,
Wash.)
in the
Graham
Trucking
in
preliminary
heat
3-A,
averaging
147.845
mph on
the 2.7
mile
course
and then
in heat
4B,
Villwock
showed
David
exactly
what he
was
going to
see in
the
final by
taking
the lead
early
and
holding
easily
winning
heat 4B.
And the
final
was a
carbon
copy.
Villwock
took the
lead
from the
start
and
lengthened
it each
and
every
lap,
easily
defeating
David.
While
the
course
conditions
changed
through
the day,
Villwock’s
performance
was what
the
fleet
expected
from the
winningest
active
driver.
In the
final,
he
averaged
143.971
mph
while
David
averaged
141.170.
The best
racing
of the
day came
in heat
4A when
Kelly
came
from
behind
to catch
Cal
Phipps
(Sterling
Heights,
Mich.)
in the
Miss
Detroit
Yacht
Club and
then
held off
Jeff
Bernard
(Kent,
Wash.)
in the
Formulaboats.com
by one
boat
length.
Kelly
had an
average
speed of
142.898
mph
while
Bernard
went
142.652.
The H1
Unlimited
fleet
now goes
to
Tri-Cities,
Wash.
for the
45th
Lamb
Weston
Columbia
Cup July
23
through
25.
OFFICIAL
RESULTS
for the
JARVIS
PROPERTY
RESTORATION
DETROIT
APBA
GOLD CUP
1-Dave
Villwock,
Auburn
Wash.,
Spirit
of
Qatar,
143.971
2-Steve
David,
Lighthouse
Pt.,
Fla., Oh
Boy!
Oberto,
Florida,
141.170
3-J.
Michael
Kelly,
Puyallup,
Wash.,
Graham
Trucking,
133.471
4- Greg
Hopp,
Snohomish,
Wash.,
Jarvis
Construction,
130.935
5-Jeff
Bernard,
Kent,
Wash.,
Formualboats.com,
124.512
6-Nate
Brown,
Preston,
Wash.,
Red Dot
Corp,
118.812
