Shane pilots damaged Oberto boat to Columbia Cup win

KENNEWICK – The winner of the 2014 HAPO Columbia Cup Championship is…the crew of the 6 Oberto. 

Jimmy Shane drove a badly hurt and patched boat to victory after the team put a temporary fix on a hole in the left sponson that looked to be beyond repair.

Jon Zimmerman won two prelims in the 9 Les Schwab Tires – Team RedDOT and finished second to Shane in the final. 

Third on the water went to Cal Phipps in the 7 Graham Trucking but a one lap penalty took him off the podium and Kip Brown was scored third in the new 96 Spirit of Qatar.

After incurring two minutes in penalties, Tom Thompson was scored fifth behind Phipps in fourth place.

Asked if the crew deserved credit for the victory, Shane replied, “Abolutely.  And you have to include Scott Raney and the guys from the 11 Peters and May.  They stepped right in and were a major part of the repair.  It shows what a great community H1 and boat racing is and I am so happy we were able to get back on the water and win another one for the Oberto/Madison fans.”

Shane also said the repaired boat handled much differently than it had earlier in the weekend, saying, “I was fighting it more than usual but it stayed together and got us to the checkered flag.”