Favorites Jimmy Shane, Jean Theoret penalized in Seafair heat races

Penalties are relatively common in hydroracing.

They don’t, however, generally happen to the two most heavily favored pilots.

That’s what happened in the opening heat of the Albert Lee Appliance Cup, though, as Jimmy Shane and Jean Theoret accumulated the same one-minute penalty that cost them victories in Heat 1A and 1B, respectively.

In the opening race, Shane, driving the U-1 HomeStreet Bank boat, lost his shot at victory before competition even officially started. In the five-minute period before the green flag, Shane’s speed dipped below the required minimum 80 miles per hour twice.

The first time, he accrued a warning. The second, a one-minute penalty, effectively erased the three-time national champion’s chances at victory.

“It looked perfect from my vantage point,” Shane’s crew chief, Dan Hoover, said. “He may have dropped down going through those turns, but it looked good to me.”

Shane ended up crossing the finish line first at the end of the three-lap race, but his penalty pushed him to a last-place finish. Graham Trucking’s J. Michael Kelly eventually won the heat after finishing just behind Shane in the U-5 boat.

Kelly has won the past two Seafair championships.

“Our boat has been really strong here,” he said. “It’s worked out in our favor. I think we’ve been pretty strong the last couple of years, and a few things have kept us from getting national high points, so now it’s just a matter of making sure we don’t get the penalties and don’t break the boat.”

To win though, he will have to defeat Shane and Canadian driver Theoret, who replicated Shane’s mistake in Heat 1B. Piloting the U-16 Oh Boy! Oberto, Theoret also dropped below 80 miles per hour while jockeying for lane position pre-race.

The penalty on Theoret allowed rookie driver Andrew Tate, racing the U-9 Les Schwab Tires boat, to race to victory in Heat 1B. Tate squeaked out the win after passing Graham Trucking’s U-7 driver Jeff Bernard in the final lap.

“We knew the red boat was in front of us and we knew he was legal, so we gave it everything we had to get up there with them and hope for the best,” Tate said. “The water is so rough here it’s going to be hard to go around anyone on the outside even if you’ve got a couple miles per hour on them.”

Meanwhile, U-11 Unlimited Racing Group driver Tom Thompson had also accrued a penalty for falling below 80 miles per hour before the race, which initially put Theoret in third place. However, upon official review, Thompson’s penalty was overturned and Theoret, like Shane, ended up in last place.

There will be two more heat races Sunday morning before the final Sunday afternoon. Points are accumulated during the heat races to determine qualification for the final.

“Having a victory in the first heat is huge heading into the final on Sunday,” Tate said. “We have two more heats tomorrow, and then everyone’s going to lay their cards on the table and give it all they’ve got.”