Sprint boats will start season at Webb’s Slough

Windows will rattle and cattle will quiver around St. John this weekend as the United States Sprint Boat Association kicks off its 2011 season at Webb’s Slough.

Racers and crews will descend on the town Friday night, and park their boats along Front Street for safety and technical inspections. The line-up gives race fans a last chance to view the boats at their polished state before they are coated with mud from the Webb’s Slough water track.

This marks the fifth season the jet-powered boats will rip through the channels at Webb’s Slough.

Saturday’s race is the first in the USSBA’s seven-race 2011 season. Twenty-four boats with racers hailing from Nevada to Canada are on the race slate this year across three classes.

Canadian sprint boat racers Cory Johnson and Gary McNeil will return to try and defend the titles they claimed by topping the field in both of last year’s St. John sprint boat rounds.

Gunning for the BC boys will be local racers Scott and Lori Ackerman, whose bright yellow number 17 Two Pump Chump is geared up and ready to rip through the canals.

The “Chump” team finished third in the Super-Mod class with strong runs in last year’s Slough stopper.

Slough owners Matt and Amanda Webb have made several improvements to the track over the past year, planting more trees, keeping the race channel clear and making several improvements to the campsite.

The weekend’s sprint boat show will be recorded by film crews from Salt Lake City, who will air the footage on a new TV show airing later this year.

The racers will make their second stop at the slough Aug. 27.