Villwock wins fourth straight Columbia Cup

Washington hydroplane racer dominates again on Columbia River

KENNEWICK (AP) — Dave Villwock drove Ellstrom Elam Plus to victory Sunday in the Lamb Weston Columbia Cup for unlimited hydroplanes — his fourth straight victory in the race on the Columbia River in southeast Washington.

Villwock won all three of his preliminary heats, and took the winner-take-all final with an average speed of 145.013 miles per hour.

Steve David, driving Oh Boy! Oberto, took the lead at the start of the five-lap final, but was passed by Villwock at the end of the first lap.

Villwock, from the Seattle suburb of Auburn, said he and his crew discussed strategy before the final.

"What we decided to do is make sure I could get some boat speed, stay in free water and avoid trouble," he said.

As a result, he started the final heat out in lane four.

"We knew we would be building speed," he said. "I had to keep things clean. I hit the (starting) line with a lot of boat speed but it took a lot of boat speed to get around them.

"We knew we had five laps to get it done."

David, of Lighthouse, Fla., finished second at 142.164 mph.

Third place went to Dave Bryant, of Mesa, Ariz., driving Miss Hoss Mortgage Investors, at 137.454 mph. Fourth went to J. Michael Kelly, of Puyallup, in Spirit of Detroit, at 134.687 mph.

Villwock has won every race so far this year and is far ahead in season point standings.

The high-tech boats all used Lycoming turbine engines. All, that is, except the Hoss Mortgage Investors II, a piston-powered boat that is a crowd favorite because of the enormous sound it generates.

It was also the only boat to suffer serious problems during the weekend. It broke a propeller shaft in the preliminaries, lost a propeller and blew two engines.

The hydros move on to Seattle for next weekend's Chevrolet Cup at Seafair competition on Lake Washington.