Madison Friday qualifying notes

Villwock Leads Madison Regatta Qualifiers

MADISON, Ind.--Dave Villwock (Auburn, Wash.) is once again making his Miss Elam Plus boat team the favorite for Sunday's Madison Regatta Indiana Governor's Cup unlimited hydroplane race.

Villwock, the defending Madison champion and winner of last week's season opening Thunder on the Ohio race in Evansville was the leader in the clubhouse after one day of qualifying, hitting a speed of 158.027 during Friday's afternoon session on the Ohio River.

Eight of the 10 boats expected to race in Sunday's championship race are in the Madison Pits and four of those boats qualified with speeds over 150 mph. Defending Gold Cup Champion Jean Theoret (Ville de Lery, Que.) was the second fastest boat on the course Friday with a speed of 154.418 in the Miss Beacon Plumbing.

Steve David (Lighthouse Pt., Fla.), the driver of the hometown boat Oh Boy! Oberto, qualified at a speed of 150.436. The team had problems during the morning session when a crane that lifts the boat out of the water broke while David's craft was still in the water. The resulting delay did not allow the team to work on the boat for the following two hours.

Qualifying continues Saturday at 9 a.m. with racing starting on Sunday at 11 a.m. with a winner take all final at 3:40 p.m.

-credit: abra