Madison Saturday qualifying notes

Ohio River Debris Stops Madison Qualifying

MADISON, Ind.--The Ohio River with the help of Mother Nature's rains throughout Northern Kentucky this past week stopped the Madison Regatta Indiana Governor's Cup final day of qualifying in its track Saturday.

At approximately 4:35 p.m. EDT, the Madison Regatta and ABRA officials agreed that the debris in the river was diminishing from earlier reconnaissance trips but it was still not good enough to get the boats in the water for the second day of qualifying and testing for Sunday's race.

"When you have a boat going the speeds we are going and you see a four foot log in front of you, it is impossible to maneuver around the debris," said Dave Villwock, the Madison Regatta's fastest qualifier from Friday's action with a speed of 158.027. "This race course has always had debris but this has is not safe."

All of the 10 boat teams in the pits surveyed the 2 ½ mile course by boat while other officials checked the debris riddled river from a helicopter.

"What you see from a boat is only the debris that's floating," added Villwock. "Then you see some of those 'periscope' logs (small branches on top of the water) and you have no idea how big the log is below the water. You can see much of that from the air."

Madison and ABRA officials surveyed the course throughout the day, flying up the Ohio River Valley to the Kentucky River approximately 12 miles away.

"The river rose about two feet overnight," said Tony Steinhardt, Madison Race Chairman. "The river should be back down to what we had Friday by Sunday morning."

Ten boats are in the pits for the race. And even though two haven't qualified, ABRA will allow the Mirageboats.com U-100 team and the FormulaBoats.com U-1 team into the race.

The unlimited racing action will start at 11 a.m. tomorrow with the championship final tentatively scheduled for 3:40.

FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS
1-Dave Villwock, Miss Elam Plus, 158.027
2-Jean Theoret, Miss Beacon Plumbing, 154.418
3-Steve David, Oh Boy! Oberto, 150.436
4-David Bryant, Miss Ahern Rentals, 150.310
5-Jeff Bernard, FormulaBoats.com,149.882
6-Jimmy King, Miss Chrysler Jeep, 149.375
7-J Michael Kelly, Spirit of Detroit, 148.473
8-Ken Muscatel, Superior Racing, 143.586
Mike Allen, U-1 FormulaBoats.com--No speed
Greg Hopp, MirageBoats.com---No speed

-credit: abra