Western U.S. Kilo trials wrapped up after a long sunny weekend on the
Oregon coast. Offshore winds slowed the boats at times, but didn't
generate stoppages. Unfortunately nothing electric showed up...I've
got some guesses as to why Mike was absent, but nothing confirming
just yet. In our case it was a matter of my having had a pretty
disruptive year and my driver committed to finishing up his new home
for an occupancy permit.
Off topic, but for those interested, about a dozen records were
set...Two of those the result of intense competition between two
very focused teams. And a huge crash (the only accident of the event)
for a KRR driver who'd come all the way from Florida for an
unintended circus act.
The big contest was between J.W. Myers/Corey Peabody and Sean McKean
in 700 and 1100cc outboard hydro with each team's run quickly
answered by the other. McKean seemed to have the edge, but his boat
was an unstable crabbing handful at speed, likely from too little fin
exposure. In the end though Sean sorted things out best. His 700cc;
run set the mark at 130.563 mph with a fast pass at 132.9. mph (and
GPS read of 135 top) besting the class record speed by 9 mph.
The Saturday afternoon crash was a result of Duff Duffield getting
his big-block supercharged K-Racing Runabout into a "tank-slapper" of
sorts at about 145 mph just as he was entering the traps. The boat
rolled up on a chine, hooked and began to tumble end over end,
turning to a roll series that began to tear it apart. The good news
was that the boat had a capsule that protected Duff even though the
lid was torn off...Duff emerged from the capsule before rescue
arrived wet but uninjured. Guesses at cause center on too little
rudder,...One of the common tricks to fish for additional speed is to
reduce skidfin or rudder surface and sometimes players overreach a
tad. A photo sequence of the crash can be seen here:
http://rides.
John
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
No comments:
Post a Comment