Oh Canada! – again

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, August 6, 2006

SEATTLE – Perhaps now they’ll start playing the Canadian National Anthem at the start of the Seafair Chevrolet Cup.

In what well could be the start of Seafair’s newest dynasty, Canadian Jean Theoret parlayed a perfect start into a dominant victory as he piloted the U-37 Miss Beacon Plumbing to a victory in the Chevrolet Cup championship Sunday at Genesee Park.

It was the second-straight year that Theoret and the boat won the Seattle race. On the road to being named the rookie of the year last season, Theoret drove the U-8 Llumar Window Film to the Chevrolet Cup championship. In the offseason, U-8 owner Bill Wurster sold the hull to legendary driver Billy Schumacher and his wife Jane. The result seemed to be an even faster boat, as the U-37 posted a qualifying time nine miles-per-hour faster than it did last year in Seattle, and cruised to an even more impressive victory.

“It’s amazing,” said Theoret, the all-time winningest Grand Prix class driver before he moved on to unlimited hydros. “It’s outstanding to come here to Seattle and win both events. It’s the home-town team, home-town sponsor. …I’m really proud of this team. They gave me an outstanding boat.”

The U-37 is the second-straight boat to repeat as champion in the Chevrolet Cup. The Miss Budweiser won from 2002-2004. That boat was driven by Dave Villwock, winner of seven of the last 11 Seafair races and pilot of this year’s pre-race favorite, the U-1 Miss Ellstrom Elam Plus. But despite posting the fastest qualifying time, it was clear that in racing conditions, the U-1 was not as fast as the U-37.

“We were chasing some gremlins in the motor department,” said Villwock, who finished third. “There’s something wrong. We weren’t getting any RPM out of the engines and weren’t accelerating like we wanted to. So I couldn’t get to the starting lane quite right. …We tried to change some things, but it didn’t work.”

The race was won right at the beginning. As the boats jockeyed for position, Villwock cut across the infield and took the inside lane, leaving Theoret in Lane 2. But as the boats neared the starting line, Theoret, as he did often during heat races, accelerated and blew by the other boats. The U-6 Oh Boy! Oberto of Steve David and the U-10 Todd Hoss Presents Fairweather Masonry of J.W. Myers tried to stay close but Theoret opened up a huge lead and was never threatened.

“I said that’s the way we have to go, no holding back, full-throttle,” Theoret said of the beginning. “We either make it or we jump it. …That was the end of the story.”

The final result was surprising in that it was expected that this year, a larger field that included three former Miss Budweiser hulls, would make the race the most competitive in some time. Instead, Theoret seemed to be the fastest all weekend.

Theoret, a native of Maple Grove, Quebec, said he needed the fast start to counter Villwock’s speed, and other drivers agreed that was the way to go.

” (Theoret) knew the water, his boat was handling well and Dave didn’t have the boat to handle the rough stuff,” said David, who maintained his driver and boat points lead by finishing second. “When Dave’s out front, he’s awfully fast, but when you get him in the rough stuff, it all changes. You’ve got to get to the first turn first.”

Schumacher, who ranks sixth in unlimited wins all-time with 17 in a career that ended in 1976, said that his new team has now accomplished exactly what it hoped to this season, adding the Seafair win to the Detroit Gold Cup championship of a few weeks ago.

“There were two races this year we wanted to win,” Schumacher said. “The Gold Cup and the Seattle race. I’m just totally impressed with how the boat performed today. Jean could not have driven it any better. He did a fabulous job. When I saw him get in the boat for the final, he had a smile on his face, and I knew what that smile was all about.”

Theoret said this year’s team has improved the boat, but added that Schumacher has allowed him to drive the way he feels is best.

“Billy lets me drive however I want,” Theoret said. “He looks at the boat, the way it is set up, the way it drives and let’s me know what’s going on. His eyes are my eyes on the shore.”

The U-10 Todd Hoss presents Fairweather Masonry of J.W. Myers actually finished second ahead of the Oberto but was penalized a lap for encroaching on the Oberto and ended up sixth, just ahead of the U-3 Acura of Seattle that didn’t finish. The FormulaBoats.com duo – both former Miss Bud hulls – finished fourth (U-5) and fifth (U-7). Jeff Bernard in the U-5 qualified for the final by winning the provisional final.

Snohomish’s Greg Hopp took the U-100 Todd Hoss American Dream out of the pits for the provisional final but was unable to start once on the water.

So will Theoret be re-locating to Seattle? After all, his team and sponsor are based there, and he now seems to be the new King of Lake Washington. Theoret laughed and said no, he’s happy in Canada, but he’s glad to have found a winning formula in the Northwest.

“We may not be the fastest in qualifying,” he said, “but we had the fastest boat in the race this weekend.”