Hughes, Cox, Swindahl win

Dennis and Sam Hughes of Spokane zapped three consistent elimination rounds in less than 46 seconds to take the unlimited class Saturday before another giant crowd at the sprint boat races at Webb’s Slough in St. John. The win nailed the season’s championship for Hughes who placed second in the unlimiteds at the June 15 races at St. John.

Scott and Cari Jensen of Maple Ridge, B.C., actually went up and over one of the banks in their Bad Fish boat at the west end of the Webb's Slough course early Saturday. The boat kept running, and the Jensens went on to finish the timing run. They advanced to the final-four semis in the modified class.

Twenty-six boats were on the race card for the second round at St. John. The two St. John stops turned out to be the only meetings for the American Sprint Association racers this year after the shutdown of Extreme Sports Park in Port Angeles. Two stops slated at that course were scratched from the summer schedule.

Hughes had elimination runs of 45.445, 45.815 and 45.467 in the three elimination rounds.

Jamie and Leslie Hassell, campaigning with the Fat Buddy boats from the Canadian team, took second in the unlimiteds.

The Hassells’ boat clocked 49.043, 50.502 and 48.264 in the three elimination runs.

Dan Morrison and Cara McGuire of Port Angeles and their Wicked Racing boat took the unlimited class in the June outing at St. John, but had trouble with a new boat Saturday. Morrison did have one run of 45.478 in the first elimination round, but did not finish in the second round

Morrison, a part owner of the track at Port Angeles, announced the shutdown there in July. The track has actually been posted for sale by the controlling owners.

The race course rotation chart for the second round at St. John, with a long stretch run in front of the terraces, proved to be a longer course with best times by the Hughes boat close to six seconds longer than the best times on the June 15 course run at St. John.

Winners in the 400 class were Darrin and Ashley Swindahl of Graham in their Bandit Gold Rush 49 boat. They dueled with Paul and Joshua Gahr, the father-son team from Sequim, down to the last run in the class which proved to be the most competitive in the finals.

The Gahr boat actually clocked the fastest times in the first two elimination rounds, but the Swindahls nudged him in the final round.

The Swindahl boat cooked the final at 51.734 to edge the Gahr’s 52.194 on the final run.

Gahr, who topped the class in June, had the fastest 400 run at 51.732 in the semi round.

The other Swindahl boat with Brian and Aubrey aboard advanced to the semi-finals and had a best time of 53.358 before they were eliminated.

Robert and Amy Cox of Spokane dominated the elimination runs in the modified class. They finished the last run at 48.705 for the championship win.

Dustin Springer and TJ Burrows in the Jolly Roger boat advanced to the final run but did not finish.

One of the footnotes to the second St. John segment was the absence of Bill Sparling of Corvallis, Mont., in the unlimited class. Sparling had to drop his entry because of forest fires in Montana.

Zeke Jessen, 9, St. Maries, Idaho, shows some of the booty he received from the racers during team introductions. Jessen is related to Bootlegger boat team members who race out of St. Maries and Harrison.

Ranae Faircloth of Portland and Meighan Condon of Spokane raced as an all-female team Saturday in the Obsession boat 47. They advanced to the quarter-finals in the modified class.