Silver Cup

 

Campbell Brothers sweep Silver Cup

 

Click here for Jim Clark's fantastic photos of the Silver Cup.

 

Race Recap

MONROE, Wash. – If anyone thought the entire 2008 ERCU season would be graced with the same great weather we had at the season-opener, well, the Silver Cup in Monroe proved them wrong.

Let’s just say that those who ran at the Silver Cup experienced just about every possible kind of weather.

Snow. Rain. Hail. Sleet. Snow pellets (whatever those are). Wind. Thunder.

And yes, even sun.

Despite all that, and even though Mother Nature forced several weather delays in the day’s racing program, when all was said and done 28 vintage boats and 14 modern entries completed the second race of the 2008 Red Dot Championship Series presented by Bullithead Design.

Probably to no one’s surprise, Mike Campbell and Jeff Campbell were the day’s big winners as Mike took the modern final with his 1974 Country Boy and Jeff the vintage with the 1969 Pay ‘n Pak Outrigger.

In the modern final, the result may have been a little different if it weren’t for three gun-jumpers. Rick Lentz, Mike Gossler and Craig Bradshaw all were quite a bit too early, and the rest of the field was in good shape.

In the final, Mike Campbell pulled off the ultimate “flip-and-win”, blowing over midway through the race, but holding on to a big-enough lead that he was able to retain first place, and go on for the win. Second place went to Bill Smiley with the Charlie’s Girl – which made the final despite missing the first heat, as the trailer boat – third was Gossler with the super-fast 1978 Circus Circus, followed by Brian Gilmore in fourth. Jerry Johnston – who flew in from Palm Springs just for the race – finished fifth with the Natural Light. Lentz – who towed the trailer to the race and was the second person on site – finished sixth with the U-95 and Bradshaw – who impersonated Steve David in Phoenix by running the Winston Eagle up on to the beach (less than a boat length) – did not finish.

In the modern connie, while Smiley and Patrick Gleason were the only penalty-free finishers, Smiley piloted the Charlie's Girl to first in the connie, and Gleason piloted the Thousand Trails to second place, followed by Doug Brow’s 1978 Squire Shop and Nelson Holmberg’s 1973 Red Man Too. Gary Hanson’s Miss Cott’s Beverage did not finish, and Steve Twardus’ 1971 Country Boy was DQ’d.

In the vintage final, Jason Hartley took an early lead with the 1969 Pay ‘n Pak hooktail, but was eventually passed by the Outrigger, which essentially ran away with the lead, even though the course looked like the Pacific Ocean during the worst and longest squall of the day.

Second place in the bumpy parade went to Johnston and the Miss Timex Clock, followed by Hartley. Aaron Olson, a newcomer to ERCU, finished fourth with the 1958 Miss Pay ‘n Save he purchased from Twardus. Fifth went to Mike Campbell’s new Harrah’s Club, and sixth was Bob VandenAkker with the 1963 Notre Dame. Gossler’s Miss U.S. 5 did not finish the final.

The vintage first connie was won by Hanson’s Muvalong, but because of ties in the top seven, was unable to move into the final as the trailer. Holmberg drove Kirk Pagel’s Shanty I to second place, while Lentz in the 1958 Miss Bardahl was third. Fourth was Monroe’s own Craig Mullen, driving the 1971 Hallmark Homes, followed by Dawna Gross in the 1970 Lil’ Buzzard in fifth, and Ron Hornung in the Skip-A-Long.

The vintage second connie was a demolition derby, that only Gerry Bordon survived. His Parco’s O-Ring Miss won the second connie, while DNFs went to the 1966 Miss Budweiser, 1948 Hurricane IV, 1957 Hawaii Kai, 1974 Sunny Jim and a DNS to the 1960 Thriftway Too.

When all was said and done, a day full of weird weather and a few mishaps and penalties was a super-fun day.

 

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