Penalties marred an H1 Unlimited final heat for the second-straight week but Andrew Tate posted a perfect weekend to win the Apollo Mechanical Cup on Lake Washington in Seattle on Sunday.
Like last weekends’ APBA Gold Cup in Tri-Cities, Washington, three boats were assessed penalties during the final heat, turning the fourth stop on the H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Series into a parade to the finish.
J. Michael Kelly was penalized one minute for jumping the gun for a second-straight week aboard the U-8 Beacon Electric and Jamie Nilsen was hit with the same penalty in the U-11 Flav-R-Pac. Jeff Bernard was disqualified for driving his U-12 Graham Trucking into the restricted area in the middle of the course.
Add to that the fact that Cory Peabody started far behind the field and Tate cruised to the win without any competition to cap a perfect weekend as the U-91 Goodman Real Estate dominating all weekend.
“This one means a lot,” said Tate, who passed his father Mark Tate on the career wins list with his 13th H1 victory. “After the mechanical setbacks and frustrations in Tri-Cities, to come here and put together a weekend like this is incredibly rewarding. It’s a testament to our crew’s work ethic and to our partners at Goodman Real Estate and BWR Racing who support us every step of the way.”
It’s likely that Tate would have won the race, even without the penalties. He claimed his fourth top qualifying award of the season on Saturday with a lap of 155.349 mph, then won all three preliminary heats in dominating fashion.
Tate put himself in lane three for the final, nailed the start better than his opposition and pulled away quickly. With the two drivers inside of him — Nilsen and Bernard facing penalities — there was nobody left to challenge.
“We knew we had a shot if we just kept it clean,” Goodman crew chief Mike Hanson said. “Andrew gave us a perfect ride and the crew gave him a perfect boat. It’s the kind of weekend you dream about.”
Corey Peabody perhaps benefitted most from the final heat penalties, allowing him to finish off a frustrating weekend with a second-place aboard the U-9 Beacon Plumbing and leave Seattle third in national high points.
Peabody had entered the weekend with the points lead, but wrecked his boat in the first heat and was forced the miss the second with a family emergency after his wife fell in the pit area and injured her back. While Peabody attended to his family emergency, Strong Racing teammate Kelly stepped in to drive the U-9 and salvage some team points in Heat 2A after the repairs were made with Peabody back in the boat for Heat 3A.
“We were late to the show” and it was “just one of those unfortunate things,” Peabody said of the first heat crash. The family emergency later was after Peabody’s wife, Stacey Peabody, fell in the pit area. “We thought she had broken her back but she did not. She’s resting at home.”
Dave Villwock, the surprise winner of the Gold Cup last weekend on the Columbia River, placed third in the U-27 Miss Apollo while Gunnar O’Farrell was fourth in the U-21 Spirit of America. Nilsen was fifth and Kelly was sixth.
While Bernard was disqualified in the final heat, it was a successful weekend for the team. Bernard’s Graham Trucking broke a prop during testing at Tri-Cities and the resulting damage forced the team to thrash for five days just to be ready for the Seattle race. Bernard ended up winning his first two preliminary heats and was second in the third.
“This one feels good,” Bernard said after the win in Heat 1B. “After everything we went through this week, we needed this.”
With 4,075 points, Tate has opened up a 424-point lead over Kelly in the points race with only the season finale in San Diego in mid-September left on the calendar. Peabody is third, 436 points back, and Villwock is fourth, 721 points back.