PORT ANGELES — A full day of sprint boat racing awaits fans Saturday at Port Angeles’ Extreme Sports Park.
Two-person sprint boat teams from around the Pacific Northwest and for the first time, the birthplace of jet sprint racing, New Zealand, will zip through Extreme Sports Park’s water-filled channels in the first of two American Sprint Boat (ASB) racing event of the summer.
And motor sports fans from around the North Olympic Peninsula and beyond can sit back and enjoy the show.
Gates open at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with qualification laps starting at 10 a.m. at the Extreme Sports Park, 2917 W. Edgewood Drive.
Race organizer and event timer Melody Pozgay said she expects around 26 boats to compete, including some teams that are making their debut laps on a sprint boat track.
Three classes will compete: modified, which have engines up to 350 cubic inches; 400s and unlimited.
Finals for each class will be held in the afternoon and the day of racing usually wraps before 5 p.m.
There will be food vendors, race team merchandise for sale and a beer garden on site as well.
Drivers and navigators travel through a “rotation,” or series of around 30 twists and turns around the track’s maze of island, reaching speeds well in excess of 90 mph.
“If you want more G-forces in a motorsport, buy an aircraft,” Port Angeles-based Wicked Racing No. 10 driver Dan Morrison said. “It’s like a roller coaster with a throttle on steroids, only way more intense. The first time I raced I felt like my eyeballs vacated from the side left of my head.”
Saturday also marks the first race in front of the home crowd for Live Wire 02, piloted by Vaughn Trapp of Port Angeles. Trapp was the crew chief for the boat when it was driven as the TNT Live Wire 02 by Sequim’s Paul Gahr.
What makes sprint boat racing unique is drivers and navigators have just hours to memorize the track’s layout of twisting turns and never get a chance to practice on the course.
The course rotation will be released at the free Sprint Boat Show and Shine event today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Lower Elwha Food and Fuel, along U.S. Highway 101 at 4773 S. Dry Creek Road.
Sprint boat teams will have their boats checked out to ensure they meet technical and safety requirements and fans are welcome to take pictures and talk racing with drivers and navigators as well as 92.9 KISM radio personalities Brad and John.
Miss a turn and boats earn a dreaded DNF, or “Do Not Finish,” placing each sprint boat team’s emphasis on first memorizing, and then communicating the track layout via a series of hand signals.
This could be an issue for the New Zealand boat.
“They get the rotation earlier there, sometimes days ahead of time, and we only give it out until Friday,” Pozgay said.
“That hasn’t stopped them from asking if they could see it early.”
Crashes are common, some of them spectacular rollovers, but drivers and navigators typically walk away unharmed thanks to strong roll-bars and other safety features.
The pressure is on sprint boat teams, to qualify, and to win, from the opening second of Saturday’s races.
Race-day announcer Bill London will return to walk spectators through the day’s action.
Tickets are $25 for those age 16 years and older, $20 for seniors older than 55 and military members with ID, $15 for children ages 6-15, while children younger than 5 are free.
The ticket price includes parking.
Pit passes are $5 and available only at the event.
Camping also is available for $30 today through Sunday.
Tickets can be bought at online at brownpapertickets.com/event/4067723, at the gate on race day or in Port Angeles at Mobile Music and Lower Elwha Food and Fuel; in Beaver at the Lake Pleasant Grocery and in Sequim at Dog House Powder Coating.
The race also will be shown live at www.facebook.com/EspPortAngeles.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
