This was a week of drama that will be remembered for a long time to come, with many Challenges on the way to the APBA "Gold Cup" final. The obvious first story was the weather - almost constant moderate rains - but the wind was with us and the river was ready for racing.

The action started on Wednesday with all classes doing some practice and exhibition runs. I believe they set another record for boat count at the event, with the addition of the Outboard Performance Inflatable class. The sun came out for the afternoon and we all hoped this was a good sign for the rest of the week.

Thursday:
The big news was the Miss Wellness Plan blow-over (driver: Scott Pierce) during morning practice. Scott was OK after a quick rescue and medical checkup and was heard to say "maybe they should change the name from Roostertail Corner to Pierce's Corner, because I seem to be the only one that does it there", referring to his similar 1989 flip in Mr. Pringles. The boat was already qualified, they were just out tuning things up when the accident occurred. This hull may not be repaired until after the season.

In the evening, there was a nice event at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum honoring Pioneers of Powerboating with a program called "From Gar Wood to Bernie Little". It was great to see Roy Duby there, and when the program showed his record setting run, I realized just how much I missed the sound of those Merlin engines.

Friday:
A full day of practice and qualifying on the river - all Unlimiteds were sufficiently qualified by the end of the day and Dave Villwock in the Miss Budweiser on the pole. The Automotive Gold Cup was a little of a disappointment, as the Grand Prix boats refused to join the race complaining of weather conditions. That left just 4 Unlimited Lights in the hunt... a good race, but not what it could have been with 8 boats.

Saturday:
The racing begins, and every heat over the weekend had it's news items. Some heats were controversial, with a couple lane enchroachment penalties being assessed; others had some of the best Unlimited racing seen for a long time.

Then as the boats lined up for the Heat 2A start, a terrible collision between Mark Evans (PICO) and Nate Brown (Miss D.O.C./TruckGear). Fortunately both seem to be OK - Mark was fine but Nate suffered a concussion and shoulder injury. It was good to see Nate back in the pits on Sunday.

Heat 2A went on to be perhaps the most exciting heat of the weekend, with Steve David (Miss Detroit Ford Dealers) and Mitch Evans (Appian Jeronimo) side by side for all 3 laps, exchanging 1st place through every turn. In the end, Steve nips Mitch at the line. Wow!

Sunday:
A wonderful surprise to start the day - PICO is back in the pits, ready to go! It reminded me a lot of decades ago, when more teams had Detroit shops and could haul them back for emergency repairs. It was nice to see this fond memory repeated. They say 100 people were involved in the all-nighter repairs. What a job they did - and Mark followed it up with a fast win in 3B.

Heat 4B had Dave Villwock (Miss Bud) out in front but it was PICO putting all the excitement into the race, just behind Bud and gaining. Mark wasn't able to make up all the distance, but he showed he had what it takes to stay in front of Dave & Bud, if he could just get a good start.

And what do ya know - The Gold Cup final and PICO passes Bud entering Turn 1.. WHAT A RACE down the backstretch! But wait, the race is stopped because of a roll-over involving Close Call and driver Mark Tate. Tate was fine, but out of the running.

The restart to the final was a disappointment - PICO seemed to get bogged down coming to the line, and it was all Bud from there.

Notes:
Congrats to Dave and the crew for doing a great job! Congrats to Mark and everyone at PICO for all the excitement.

It was great to see Appian Jeronimo make it to Detroit this year - a class act and a bit of luck got them all the way to a second place finish.

I really missed the Cooper U-3 team - reportedly their new hull just couldn't be ready in time.

Many of the people that helped to repair the PICO boat signed their names on the repair.

Let me kudo WDIV Detroit for coming back live to show the final final race - thats the dedication we fans love to see.

The espn2 show was good too - I caught the replay that night. It seemed to me the best job that Diamond P has done so far, and the Zodiac commercial was greatly improved. I hope everyone will watch/tape the next (last scheduled) espn2 replay of the Detroit race -- if you haven't already. Sunday, June 15, 3:30 a.m. EASTERN.

Bri