Rolling Thunder Racing

Roger Harris was driving JS-7 at the Cambridge Classic. The final was won by JS-62 Smoke on the Water after JS-7 was DSQ for leaving and entering the course illegally.

Great weekend of racing on Onondaga Lake. Rolling Thunder won the one off Eastern Divisional Championship race on Friday after some good testing.

Saturday GP-88 ran second to GP-77 in the only set of heats. Sunday Tom won his heat against Ken Brodie Jr. and in the final had lane three for the start. Seven boats ran by far the most exciting GP race this season, all finishing strong. GP-88 led the whole race but had jumped the gun by less than a boat length. That left Pierre Maheu in GP-46 ADF Diesel and Bert Henderson in The Crush II GP-77 to duel for second on the course but first after Rolling Thunder’s penalty. Maheu won and Henderson was awarded a penalty.

GP-88 had a great start in Heat 1B at Brockville on Saturday. Tom hit the start perfect and took an early lead. Bert Henderson in the new GP-77 The Crush II came charging hard from lane 4 and at the completion of lap 2 was right with Tom. Henderson went into turn 1 on lap 3 still way out in lane 4 and Tom was still tight to the buoys. GP-77 came out of the turn right next to GP-88 and then they hit. They smashed sponsons and then the back corner of GP-77 gouged a hole in the side of Rolling Thunder. GP-77 motored on to the victory while Rolling Thunder slowed for awhile unsure of the condition of the boat. Ken Brodie Jr. caught GP-88 on the last lap but Tom hit the throttle and was able to hold off Brodie for a 2nd place finish. No penalties were called in the heat. GP-77 would race in Heat 2B later on Saturday and finished 2nd to GP-46 driven by Pierre Maheu.

Sunday’s races were canceled due to wind and rough conditions. The damage to GP-88 hull was pretty serious but engine issues were also discovered when the boat was back on the trailer. Both the hull and engine are fixable and the boat should be as good as new for Syracuse.

It was an eventful first weekend of racing in Canada. There was a bad accident between Marty Wolfe (GP-93) and Ken Brodie (GP-50) but both came out largely unscathed. GP-88 had some solid showings in the qualification heats but problems with the barrel valve in the final kept the team out of contention. Bert Henderson in his new GP-77 The Crush II won the final with Pierre Maheu taking second but first overal in points for the weekend. We’ll be back at it this weekend in Brockville. The race will be carried live on Hydroplane Quebec and Grand Prix Hydroplane. Check out the new HD footage from on board GP-88.

Yesterday we took GP-88 to Two Rivers Yacht Basin for testing on the Bohemia River. The team worked out a few kinks and got to test some improvements to the boat and engine. Everyone is looking forward to the first GP race in Long Sault, Ontario May 29-30.

Some highlights of last year’s Thunder on the Niagara.

GP-88 at MotorSports 2010 on Vimeo

A look back at some of the highlights of the 2009 season for the Rolling Thunder Racing Team.

GP-88 ran an exhibition at the Wildwood Hydrofest on Sunday. The boat looked great, but upon returning to the pits the crew found a broken rocker and metal shavings in the oil filter. There is not enough time to solve the engine problems before this weekend’s World Championships in Morgan City, La. Tom believes they have identified the cause of the recent mechanical failures and should have them solved for the beginning of the 2010 race season. Good luck to all at Worlds.

GP-88 will be testing this weekend at the Wildwoods Hydrofest. There will be a live webcast of the race on HRTV.