Sprint boat action at St. John: Morrison’s Wicked boat tops Slough entry

At left, the Bank Shot 21 boat of Jimmy Hess and Daryl Healey goes up on its side before sliding to a halt on the bank at the east end of the tight slough course. Dan Morrison and Cassie Beaudry, top right, of Port Angeles’ Wicked Racing team had the fastest boat of the day with consistent runs of less than 38 seconds. Among the unsung for the day were the slough crew volunteers who often had to get into the cold water to push stalled racers back to their trailers. The Jolly Rogers 208 boat of Kelly Davis receives the assist above.

Veteran driver Dan Morrison and navigator Cassie Beaudry in their green Wicked Racing 10 boat booked a consistent day to post the top speeds and win the seven-boat unlimited class at Webb’s Slough. Saturday’s race in cold and sometimes wet weather featured a card of 26 boats for the season’s first race at the Slough which marked the start of its 10th season.

The cold spring weather added to the challenge racers faced on the extra-tight slough course in St. John.

Despite the weather, the St. John races brought a solid crowd of race fans to watch the competition in the three classes.

St. John’s Skylar Smith placed third in the 400 class before the home crowd. Smith, 19, now a WSU sophomore, advanced to the semi round in the class after qualifying for the eliminations. He was edged by .5 seconds for a chance in the final round of the class.

Darrin Swindahl of Graham took the class with an off time, 45.404 seconds, after Paul Gahr, of Port Townsend, the other finalist in the class, went into the fence on his last run.

Smith moved into the 400 class this year with his Wavedigger II boat.

Dan Morrison of Port Angeles cooked runs of less than 40 seconds most of the day in the unlimited class. He dueled with the innovative Jolly Rogers boat of Eric and Rhonda Werner in the final elims.

The Werners, from Wrangell, Alaska, broke the 40-second mark in the last round for a 38.757, but Morrison cranked it up a milli-notch with a 37.108 to take the title.

All three of Morrison’s elimination runs were less than 38 seconds.

Bill Sparling and Nicole Brown placed third in the unlimiteds, and Jamie and Leslie Hassel, lead boat on the Canadian Fat Buddy team, placed fourth in the semi-run.

Fastest time in the 400 elimination was posted by the other Wicked Racing entry, Doug Hendrickson from Richland and Nichole Heaton-Muller. They cooked a 41.915 to top the first round of eight finalists in the class, but had a 43.754 in the semi round to finish fourth behind Smith, who closed out at 42.799 for third place.

Dennis Hughes of Spokane, who had his 15-year-old daughter, Sara, as navigator, dominated the elims in the modified class with three runs of less than 41 seconds on his ‘69 Overkill boat. They were the only entry in the modified to clock less than 41.

Robert and Aimee Cox finished second in the class with a 41.585 in the last round.