Jimmy Shane drove the Oberto hydroplane the fastest speed in qualifying for this weekend’s hydroplane race at Seafair. Shane piloted his boat to average lap speed of over 156 mph.. He had the rest of the field handily covered as a next fastest boat was over 4 mph slower.

The qualifying was delayed for two hours due to heavy winds at the race course today. What started as a beautiful sunny day turned very stormy with high winds and rain about 2 p.m., so qualifying didn’t get started until 4 p.m.

Second fastest was Jon Zimmerman in the Red Dot hydroplane at just over 152 mph. He was followed by J ?Michael Kelly in the Graham Trucking boat at just over 149 mph. The rest of the field fell in below those speeds with our local hydro, Miss Peters and May, in at 137 mph.

Dave Villwock, driving the Beacon Plumbing, twice went out for qualifying laps, but both times and irregularities in his fuel mixture, which caused the times to be disqualified. Villwock has won the race in Seattle 10 times and is the all-time winningest driver and hydroplane history. Villwock, 61, retired from the sport at the end of 2012 but has returned at the The request jof Bill Cahill, who is interested in buying the boat and wants to see it at its best before he decides.

Also failing to qualify was the Leland racing Unlimited and Greg Hopp in the Miss Dijulio.

Follow all of this weekend’s racing action on My Edmonds News.

— By Harry Gatjens