With great fanfair "The Disk-O Speedboat Championnat" took place this weekend at the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. The island was the perfect place for such an anticipated event. Speedboat enthusiasts from all around the world gathered for this once a year event.

"Where there’s smoke, there’s fire" so the saying goes, and bars and boat racers are no different. Disk-O race headquarters was located at the St. Maarten Royalé Hotel, after checking in, the Team went down for dinner and a few drinks at the hotel restaurant, knowing that the other race teams would be there as well. It became immediately apparent that the majority of Royalés clientele was of exceptional beauty.

At the beginning of the first day it was incredibly thrilling to see that the compitition would be fierce. The energy of the event was at an all time high as teams began to convirge for the time trials.

During time trials Team Disk-O had a few problems. A bad start had Team Disk-O running towards the back of the pack. Trying to make up ground and running in fifth place, Jim Hickey entered turn one on lap three and the boat suddenly popped out of gear. Jim quickly reached down to jam the v-drive back in gear, but the lockout handle popped off of the shaft. The boat was in gear, but Jim slowed to limp it back to the dock. The second round time trials were better as Team Disk-O placed second in an all out dragrace as the London boat Vengence went neck and neck. The second place finished allowed Team Disk-O to advance to the finals on Sunday.

The boat was cleaned and prepped, and then we headed off to the beachside BBQ and party that was thrown at Disk-O Championnat Headquarters. Disk-O pulled out all the stops with "carne asada" grilled right on the spot along with all the usual Caribbean food trimmings, and a hosted bar. Even though the finals were to be on Sunday, the party lasted throughout the night.

 

Broken parts on Saturday had put a few teams on the trailer. Back at the trailer the spark plugs were pulled and it was discovered that cylinder 1 had not fired at all. After removing the valve covers, there it was: the rocker arm for intake #1 had come off of the stud. Further inspection revealed that the lifter had come out as well. The intake was quickly removed and the lifter was sitting in the valley. The cam didn’t look too bad, so while Jim was at the drivers meeting, a lifter was borrowed and the engine put back together.

Sunday came quick, as the teams were pared up into brackets for compitetion to begin. The winner of each heat would advance in their bracket as the field would be narrowed for the Championnat Finals. Heats and lanes were chosen according to time trial times. Team Disk-O won three races in their bracket before losing in the final round. "After coming around the last corner the nose began to pull up, I thought the entire boat was about to flip over so I had to shut it down," said Jim Hickey.

Overall, it was a good, safe weekend for the Disk-O Team. Congratulations to Ted Shephard on his race win and Series Championnat, and to the many others that helped us throughout the weekend.