"Dangerous Dave" strikes again

[Hydro Junkie]

In heat 3B of the Columbia Cup, the Dave Villwock driven U-37 Beacon Plumbing hit the U-6 Oberto, damaging both boats. Long story short, Dave hit a bouy in Turn 2, slid out and hit the front corner of the Oberto's left sponson. This resulted in a 2-3 foot chunk being taken off the rear of the Beacon Plumbing's right nontrip and crushing a similar length of the sponson of the Oberto. The Oberto crew, after the boat was towed to the dock, scrambled to get the boat ready to run. Cudo's to the U-11 team for helping get the Oberto back on the water in time for the final. According to Oberto driver Jimmy Shane, he had the Oberto in lane 3. After hitting the bouy, the U-37 "made a beeline" for the Oberto, initiating the contact. The Beacon Plumbing then proceeded to leave the race course, forcing the Oberto off as well. Both boats were then shut down rather than continue running and possibly increasing the damage

 

[Hydro Junkie]

And now, 40 minutes later, we get "the other side of the story". According to Dave, the nontrip failed and, as the now loose parts left the hull, they affected the steering by catching on the rudder. This supposedly caused the boat to go straight and, right after that, Jimmy Shane plowed into the back of the U-37. Dave said he thought the turn fin had failed initially when the boat stopped turning.

 

[bsmtboy2]

Update... In the final heat lap 2 miss lake ridge paving flips upside down with debris . Driver seemed ok but all has returned to the pits for refuel ....

 

[Hydro Junkie]

To make matters worse, the rescue teams are having to deal with the boat trying to sink. At several points, all that was visible was two feet or so of the right sponson, pointed almost straight up, along with part of the canard. The rescue boats were apparently trying to get the boat upright so that it can be hoisted out quickly when it gets back to the dock

 

[bsmtboy2]

Go to www.h1unlimited.com for the live video feed.

 

[bsmtboy2]

Looks like that boat disintegrated on impact...several pieces on rescue sleds

 

[Hydro Junkie]

It's interesting that the boat was so heavily damaged considering it's almost a clone of the Oberto. The Oberto went over in Qatar, was taped up and finished the final. It was also damaged in the 2011 collision in Madison with the U-96 yet was able to run again in Tri-Cities three weeks later

 

[bsmtboy2]

It takes a lot of force to break that honeycomb decking like that, he must have landed upside down going full bore...!

 

[bsmtboy2]

Oberto wins unofficially go Jimmy Shane!