PORT ANGELES — The familiar roar of unlimited light hydroplane racing returns to Port Angeles Harbor this year, albeit one weekend sooner than usual.
The seventh annual Victoria Express presents Strait Thunder Hydroplane Races and Family Festival will have hydroplanes competing at up to 160 miles per hour on the mile-and-a-quarter loop on Port Angeles Harbor in the final race of the season Sept. 26-27.
Prior to this year, Strait Thunder has been scheduled the first weekend of October.
There will be three classes of race boats on the water in Port Angeles: unlimited lights, lighter-than-lights and thunderboats competing in the new Westport Series.
At four select Unlimited Light Hydroplane Racing Association (ULHRA) events this year, thunderboats are invited to participate and battle it out for what is reputed to be the largest prize package in ULHRA racing history.
Strait Thunder will host the fourth and final event in the series, a dash-for-cash final.
In order to qualify for the series and the prize money, the hydroplanes must be at least 25 feet in length and exclusively supercharged.
Hydros will start to arrive on Friday, Sept. 25, and races will start in the morning of Sept. 26 with the championship finals running on Sunday afternoon.
All the racing action can be viewed free to the public on-site or online at www.ulhra.org.
