The H1 Unlimited board of directors today voted to accept a committee’s recommendation to reverse the disqualification of Oh Boy! Oberto and reinstate the Kent-based team’s San Diego Bayfair final heat win.
Steve David drove the hydro to victory at Mission Bay on Sept. 16, averaging 148.512 mph.
Jimmy Shane, who guided the U-5 Graham Trucking to a second-place finish behind David, later was declared the winner. Series officials had disqualified David after determining there had been a flagrant fuel violation by the apparent winner.
After further review and inspection, officials reversed the ruling.
In a letter to H1 Chairman Sam Cole explaining the decision, committee chairman Fred Hauenstein wrote: “The hearing committee met by telephone conference and heard input from parties directly involved with the appeal as well as technical experts. As a result, the committee unanimously agreed to allow the appeal. In other words, recommending reversal of the DQ at the San Diego final race.”
In explaining the committee’s decision, Hauenstein said, “The H-1 rules require that the low pressure flow rater data only be used to judge legality of a contestant. However, in the final heat, the U-6 (Oh Boy! Oberto) low pressure flow rater data was judged to be in error. There was an unacceptable amount of ‘noise’ in the signal and the high pressure flow rater data was consistent with previous heats in which the low data was legal.”
Hauenstein concluded by saying the committee was encouraged by the fact that steps were being taken to alleviate some the problems, which led to the situation.
The Air National Guard Series race teams will prepare for a trip to the Middle East and the final event of the 2012 season in Doha, Qatar in January.
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