It was another beautiful weekend in Seattle for Seafair and on the lake, the H1 Unlimited Hydroplane racing had some fierce competition. The boats were racing on Lake Washington and the Blue Angels were flying above which made for a fantastic scene.
On the race course for the hydroplanes, there was some tight racing throughout the day with some controversy to go along with it.
The Oberto boat driven by Jimmy Shane is participating in its last Seafair and they were hoping to go out with a win.
In the final heat of the day, vying for a championship, the Oberto boat and the Graham Trucking I boat, driven by J. Michael Kelly, was where the controversy began. The two boats were neck and neck throughout the heat and it came down to the end where Shane and the Oberto boat crossed the finish line first.
The celebration broke out as the boats headed back to the pits, but during that deciding final heat, Shane committed an encroachment penalty on the first turn of the final lap which gave the Oberto boat a one minute penalty and moved him back to sixth place.
The reason for the controversy was that it was not radioed in immediately to the drivers because officials needed to check the film to make the right call and that eventually was the decision.
Chief official Brian Hajny told reporters afterward that the violation was spotted by a referee in a helicopter and then was reviewed.
Kelly, who is from nearby Bonney Lake, won his second straight Albert Lee Cup. Because of the penalty, that bumped Jean Theoret in the Ellstrom Elam Plus boat to second place and in third place was Scott Liddycoat in the Les Schwab/Red Dot boat.
“Very unfortunate, I think it was good, tight racing,” a disappointed Shane said after the race. “Very tight going into that corner where they made the call. Unfortunately, they said that I pinched him a little too tight. I really don’t agree with it. I just feel it was good, tight racing. Unfortunately, it took us out of the race.”
The Graham Trucking I boat won the Albert Lee Cup for the third straight year with it being the second straight for Kelly. The streak started three years ago with Shane before he switched over to the Oberto team.