U-16 Qualifies at Seafair

The Friday testing and qualifyiing sessions on Seattle's Lake Washington for the Albert Lee Appliance Cup at Seafair provided the team with an opportunity to give driver JW Myers some valuable seat time and begin the process of tuning the boat for the Saturday and Sunday racing.

Myers was the first driver on the water as the course opened for testing at 3:20 pm and easily surpassed the 130 mph minimum for qualifying with a good speed of 143.625 mph. A second run in the session produced a slower speed of 134.208 mph. However it was learned that the first round speed was taken down for a fuel flow violation, leaving the team with an official quallifying speed of 134.208.

Then Myers took the OH BOY Oberto back on the course for the third time and ran a lap at 146.800. It was announced the speed would not count because a team was only allowed two attempts. However, JW Myers and owner Erick Ellstrom both said they were told in the driver's meeting they could make as many attempts as they wanted within the alloted qualifying window. So we may hear more about that.

Myers commented, "The boat was pretty grumpy during the second run. We were trying a different prop and the boat just didn't like it. For the third run, we went back to the original prop and made a wing adjustment and the boat was the happiest it was all day. We have a raceboat now!"

The draw for Heats 1A and 1B was held following qualifying and Myers learned he would be racing J Michael Kelly in the U-12 Graham Trucking, Brian Perkins in the U-21 Albert Lee Appliance and defending Seafair Champion Andrew Tate in the U-9 Les Schwab in Heat 1A at 11:40 on Saturday.