The Edmonds-based Miss Peters and May had its best finish of the season in the Bayfair Regatta in San Diego Sunday. Driver Tommy Thompson brought the local unlimited hydroplane home in second place behind race and season Champion, Jimmy Shane in the Graham Trucking boat.

Shane had to finish two places higher than defending Champion Steve David in the Oh Boy! Oberto in the final heat in order to secure the championship. David, not wanting to “back into” the championship in his final race, pushed for the lead at the start, Unfortunately he was 30 feet too early and was penalized a lap, costing him both the racer win and season championship.

Said David: “What a weekend! In video review of the final heat, we jumped the gun by 1/30th of a second. The 5’s nose was on the line as well, but H1 says on the line is OK, over is not and I’m OK with that. We could have taken a safe second and won the National Championship, but safe seconds aren’t what we’re made of. We were not about to back door the National Championship. We put it all on the line. Congrats to the 5 on their win.”

Shane led from wire to wire in the final, after David’s penalty. Second was Kip Brown in the Spirit of Qatar, who was later disqualified for a fuel violation, moving our local hydroplane, owned by Scott and Shannon Raney, to finish second. “I’m so proud of our crew!” Shannon Raney said after the race. “Second place in San Diego today! Thank you to all our sponsors, crew members and my hot husband!”

Third place went to Greg Hopp in the Miss DiJulio, and David ended up fourth after the penalty.

It was quite a year for our local team. The boat was destroyed in the first race of the season, so a new hydro had to be purchased and put together. The team saw steady improvement throughout the season, and we now have seven months to wait until the 2014 season starts.

— By Harry Gatjens