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TBPNews #103 – July 15, 2006
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>>>> Tunnel Boat Performance News >>>>>> (over 7000 members!)
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In this issue:
1) Valleyfield Results Delayed, Allen Wins, Villwock out
2) Seebold Celebrate 25 Years of Bud Lit Support
3) First Win For FainPlast in P1-Evolution Category
4) 2006 ODBA Schedule
5) Powerboat Racing on TV
6) Jimboat's Feature articles

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1) Valleyfield Results Delayed, Allen Wins, Villwock out

Unlimited hydroplane racing made it's debut run in Valleyfield, Quebec (Canada) the "Boat racing capital of the World" with great anticipation.

Mike Allen, driver of the U-7 FormulaBoats.com II boat, officially won his first unlimited hydroplane race - Les Regates de Valleyfield that concluded July 9, 2006. Allen just eked out a win over Steve David (Lighthouse, Fla) in the U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto/Miss Madison in the final dual of the timed races. But the final race results were put on hold due to a problem during the inspection process.

Allen's blade did not fit the Inspection template (16 inch diameter). But propellers can take on different shapes and forms throughout its racing life. Even though ABRA officials believed the propeller to be damaged, an electronic profile of the propeller still needed to confirm their assessment.  ABRA does not have the equipment to check these profiles on site thus forcing the final results to be delayed until the propeller was electronically profiled at Wolverine Prop in Southfield, Michigan.

Jean Theoret, driver of Billy Shumacher's U37, was the hometown boy at the Valleyfield race. Defending world champion Dave Villwock and the U1 Miss Elam broke a skid fin during testing on Friday in Valleyfield, damaging the hull and making the team bring in its back-up hull. Nate Brown took over driving assignment.

The 1 mile course was small, with a 1/4 mile radius turn on the north side and an even smaller 1/8 mike turn on the other. Going into final, it was evident who the crowd favorite was - Jean Theoret in the U37 Miss Beacon Plumbing was cheered each time he came in front of the main stretch crowd.

The 2nd and 1st place race ended up being a very close race between the U6 Oh Boy Oberto and the U7 formulaboats.com II. U37 Miss Beacon Plumbing driven by Jean Theoret taking 3rd, after it was determined that Mike Weber in the U5 formulaboats.com jumped the gun.

Next ABRA race is the biggest race of them all next at the Chrysler Jeep APBA Gold Cup in Detroit on July 14-15 and 16.  I will have Feature photos from the race in the next issue of TBPNews!

Check out more at: http://www.abrahydroplanes.com/
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2) Seebold Celebrates 25 Years of Bud Lit Support

The Seebold dynasty, led by multi-world champion Bill have every reason to be happy as the Seebold Race Team have just celebrated their 25th anniversary of Bud Lite sponsorship. Both Anheuser Busch and Seebold Racing are based in St Louis and in 1981, six months before the launch of Bud Lite, the US brewing giant recognized that powerboat racing fitted the image of their product and agreed to provide limited support to Bill Seebold. Since then Anheuser Busch has enjoyed the unparalled growth of their beer sales holding 48.8% of US beer sales and Budweiser and Bud Lite are the worlds largest selling beer. In the last few weeks Budweiser has been seen daily on the global stage as sponsors of soccer's World Cup. The Seebold's have long been a dominant force in circuit racing with Bill being joined by sons Mike and Tim. Although Bill has retired from the sport he still plays a leading role in Seebold Racing while Tim regularly tops the bill of Champboat racing in his Bud Lite outfit.

Check out more at: http://anheuser-busch.com/news
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3) First Win For FainPlast in P1-Evolution Category

After winning the 2004 SuperSport category of the P1 World Championship, Marco Pennesi, driver and owner of Team Speedbuster, chose to move up to the Evolution category in 2005, with a new boat, designed and built by him specifically to compete in P1. The boat, Fainplast, experienced some technical problems during the season convincing Pennesi to make improvements to drive surface system, propellers, gear boxes and flaps. He spent all winter building and testing.

During testing on the morning of the Grand Prix of Italy, Fainplast turned over whilst practicing a high speed turn and sank. Drivers were not injured but there was great despair throughout the team as they reflected on the hard work now required repairing the boat. Within 24 hours the boat was back at the team’s shipyard and the team spent all of June getting ready for the next event, the German Grand Prix.

In Germany, the team was rewarded, winning the second leg of the German Grand Prix in Travemunde with a highly impressive performance. Now they hope to repeat the result in the next race which takes place on 29/30 July, the Grand Prix of Italy in Gallipoli.

Check out more info at: http://www.powerboatp1.com
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4) 2006 ODBA Schedule

Come out for all the excitement of ODBA World Championship Outboard Drag Racing!

2006 ODBA Schedule
April 22-23--Chattahoochee, FL
May 20-21--Wetumpka, AL
June 10-11--Demopolis,AL
July 3-4--Kingston,TN
Aug.5-6 - Plymouth, NC
Oct. 13-14-15 - Jasper, TN

More info at: http://www.odbaonline.com/
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5) Powerboat Racing on TV

*** "Thrill Zone: Extreme Powerboats" - National Geographic powerboat show.

Author Jim Russell (Jimboat) is powerboat design technical consultant on a new National Geographic special for "Thrill Zone" series...Wednesday, July 19, 8:00PM; Thursday, July 20, 3:00AM; and Saturday, July 22, 4:00P

Details at: (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/ET/daily/20060719.html)

Watch for other show dates on AR's website!  http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/NatGeo_thrill-zone.html
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6) Jimboat's Feature articles

Jimboat writes Feature articles in HotBoat, Family&Performance Boating, World of Powerboats, Extreme Boats magazines.

- 'The Bottom Line'-"Why does a Pad make a vee Hull faster?" - F&PB-Sept 2005
- "10 Smokin' Speed Secrets Revealed..." - HB-Feb2005 
- "Winterizing your Performance Outboard" - F&PB-Jan2005
- "What a Drag" - 'Trim Angle & Engine Height Can Reduce Drag and Increase Speed' - HB-Sept2004 
- "10 Safety Tips" - 'Ten Safety Ideas for High Performance Go-Fast Boats' - HB-Aug2004
- "Flight Path" - 'Where does Lift Come From?' - HB-April2004
- "Rocket Science" - 'How To Increase Your Hull's Design Speed With Aerodynamics' - World of Powerboats-Winter2004
- "Tunnel Vision" - 'What Factors Influence Tunnel Hull Performance' - Extreme Boats-April2003
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See you next time!
/Jimboat
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