Steve David, driving the Oh Boy! Oberto hydroplane, made a great move before the start to take lane one away from his top challenger and gain the advantage, giving him the victory in the Columbia Cup in he Tri-Cities Sunday afternoon.

David was on the outside as the boats entered the backstretch before the start. He stomped on the throttle and was able to “jump” around the other boats and take over the inside lane. This allowed him to run the shorter way around the course, and once he got the lead there was no real chance for him to be passed.

Jimmy Shane in the Graham Trucking boat settled into second place and held it all the way to the end of the race. Jon Zimmerman in the Red Dot and Mark Evans took fourth in the FEDCO. Our local hydroplane, Miss Peters and May, finished fifth and in sixth place was Kip Brown, in the Spirit of Qatar, who was early to the start and got a one lap penalty. Finishing seventh was Go Fast Turn Left racing, driven by Jamie Nielson.

In preliminary heats our local hydro got fourth and third and a second, improving each time. Driver Tom Thompson, who was disappointed after the fourth-place finish on Saturday, said after his first heat Sunday, “I am really happy with the boat today. We had some handling problems yesterday, but the team worked hard last night and solved them.”

Here is a recap of all the heats for the past two days.

2A

1. Oh Boy! Oberto, Steve David

2, Red Dot, Jon Zimmerman

3. Miss Peters and May, Tom Thompson

4, FEDCO, Mark Evans

5. Payne West Insurance, Mike Webster

6. Central Coat Airbrush, Kelly Stocklin

2B

1, Graham Trucking, Jimmy Shane

2. Spirit of Qatar, Kip Brown

3. Go Fast Turn Left, Brian Perkins

4. Miss DiJulio, Greg Hopp

DNF Beacon Plumbing J Michael Kelly Flipped on lap one

3A

1. Graham Trucking, Jimmy Shane

2. Oh Boy! Oberto, Steve David

3. Red Dot, Jon Zimmerman

4. Go Fast Turn Lef,t Brian Perkins

5. Miss DiJulio, Greg Hopp

 — By Harry Gatjens