Officials ruled that Dave Villwock did not leave enough room for Steve David in the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto to his inside as the two came through the final turn.  The one lap penalty on Villwock gave David and the Oberto team their third straight Columbia Cup victory.

Courtesy: H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Series Media Relations

Dave Villwock in the U-96 Spirit of Qatar led the final heat of the 2010 Lamb Weston Columbia Cup from start to finish.  But as he crossed the finish line, H1 officials were announcing a penalty had been called on the apparent winner in the final turn of the final lap.

Officials ruled that Villwock did not leave enough room for Steve David in the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto to his inside as the two came through the final turn.  The one lap penalty on Villwock gave David and the Oberto team their third straight Columbia Cup victory.

A happy Steve David said, "I knew it was tight in the last turn, but my radio was out so they couldn't tell me about the call.  Then I saw they were sending Dave back out for an extra lap and I thought maybe they had seen the turn the way I did."

"Winning the three peat was our goal," David continued."It's a tremendous accomplishment for our whole team and I am very proud of all of them"

Villwock expained the turn by saying, "I was having trouble with the throttle and I knew Steve had taken away the overlap, so I was trying to leave him room.  They told me on the radio there was a dead boat in lane two or three and another one ahead of us moving to the outside.  I tried to get us through all that with low sun in our eyes and I thought I left room.  The referee didn't think so."

The penalty on Villwock moved J Michael Kelly in the U-7 Graham Trucking up into second place and team mate Jeff Bernard in the U-5 Formulaboats.com finished third.

David, Villwock and the rest of the H1 Unlimited fleet will move on to the Albert Lee Cup at Seafair on Seattle's Lake Washington August 6-8.

Final order of finish - 

1.   U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto                      Steve David

2.   U-7  Graham Trucking                   J Michael Kelly

3.   U-5  Formulaboats.com                 Jeff Bernard

4.   U-17  Miss Red Dot                       Nate Brown

5.   U-96  Spirit of Qatar                       Dave Villwock

6.   U-37  Miss Peters & May               Jon Zimmerman

DNF  U-21 MIss Albert Lee Appliance   Brian Perkins

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