SEATTLE — Steve David with Oh Boy! Oberto won the Albert Lee Cup at Seafair race for unlimited hydroplanes on Lake Washington Sunday.
David held off a determined challenge from Dave Villwock, driver of Spirit of Qatar.
About two lengths separated the two boats at the end for one of the closest finishes in Seafair racing history.
Graham Trucking’s J. Michael Kelly appeared to take the lead at the start but was called by officials for jumping the gun. He was slapped with a one-lap penalty for the infraction.
David powered through the first turn and led up the backstretch, Villwock following closely. Villwock nearly pulled even in the second turn, but the Oberto accelerated more quickly and held a slim lead at the end of the first lap.
The duel continued for the next two laps.
At the end of the third lap, the Oberto caught some air and nearly flipped. Villwock edged in as David regained control.
In the fifth and final lap, the two lapped Jon Zimmerman in Miss Peters &May.
Zimmerman moved outside to give them room. The wake from his boat caused Villwock to run through rough water and David used that to his advantage.
Coming off the final turn, Oberto had a lead of about two lengths on Qatar and held on to take the checkered flag.
David averaged 143.288 mph for the five laps. Villwock averaged 142.714 mph.
Brian Perkins, driving Albert Lee, was far behind in third place. Fourth was Jeff Bernard in Formulaboats.com.
Kelly was fifth and Zimmerman was sixth.
“We set the boat up to fly and it worked for us,” David said. “As long as the bow is up and the propeller is hooked up, you keep building speed.”
The Oberto boat is based in Madison, Ind., where David won the Indiana Governor’s Cup on the July 4 weekend.
He also won in Washington’s Tri-Cities two weeks ago.
“This is the first time we’ve ever won three races in a season,” he said. “There’s not much more you can say when everything comes together like this.”
One race remains on the 2010 unlimited hydroplane circuit, to be held in Doha, Qatar, the third weekend of November.
“The team will be going through the boat thoroughly before Qatar,” David said.
In the semi-feature race for the smaller unlimited light class, Paul Becker led Sammamish Mortgage to a narrow victory over Kayleigh Perkins in Foster Care.
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