For the Reporter
With a little help from his friends, Jimmy Shane combined the inside lane advantage, great boat speed and a solid job of driving to capture the Albert Lee Appliance Cup on Lake Washington Sunday.
Shane, driving the U-5 Graham Trucking hydro, held off three-time defending Seafair champion Steve David and the Kent-affiliated U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto to take the checkered flag.
For Shane, 27, the fourth win in his young career was especially sweet, coming in the hometown of his sponsor, Rob Graham of Graham Trucking.
“It’s incredible,” Shane said. “Ted Porter has owned boats for a long time and Rob Graham has been sponsoring his boats for years, but neither one of them had won in Seattle. To win here in one of the biggest events on our tour is so special. I can’t put it into words.”
Kip Brown in the U-95 Spirit of Qatar finished third and Bonney Lake’s J. Michael Kelly and the U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing were fourth.
Jon Zimmerman – the trailer boat in the final by virtue of a win in the provisional heat – drove from seventh to fifth in the U-9 Fox Plumbing & Heating presents Team RedDOT powered by Les Schwab.
In the final heat, Shane secured lane one, Brown grabbed lane two and Kelly had lane three, forcing David out to lane four.
When asked about all the “kids” taking the good lanes and forcing him out wide, David replied, “Yes, I think we might have had a shot at (Shane) from lane two but four was just too far out. I made a run to catch him once. I got over into two but he’s just too fast to catch if he’s that far ahead.”
Earlier in the day, preliminary heats produced some great racing, especially in Heat 3A that saw Shane secure the inside but ran a close second to Brown for all three laps.
David won all three of his preliminaries with Shane, Brown and Mike Webster in the U-22 Boitano Homes presents Performance Tools scoring wins in the qualifiers.
David, who has won four of the last five national championships, boosted his lead in the national-points standings to 663 markers.
Next stop on the H1 Unlimited Hydroplane tour will be Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30-Sept. 1) in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
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FINAL HEAT
Finish, boat, driver, mph
1. U-5 Graham Trucking, Jimmy Shane, 142.874
2. U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto, Steve David, 139.924
3. U-95 Spirit of Qatar, Kip Brown, 133.441
4. U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing, J. Michael Kelly, 127.075
5. U-9 Fox Plumbing & Heating presents Team RedDOT powered by Les Schwab Tires, Jon Zimmerman, 124.918
6. U-22 Boitano Homes presents Performance Tool, Mike Webster
7. U-48 Snoqualmie Casino, Jamie Nilsen
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