MADISON, Ind.— Even though organizers of the Madison Regatta Indiana Governor’s Cup are considering bringing in the FAA to monitor flying boats, all 10 ABRA teams that will start qualifying on the Ohio River’s Bill Cantrell Memorial Race Course Friday morning really do plan to keep their boats on the water.

Villwock won all four heats including the winner take-all-final to capture his 10^th win in the last 12 races in Evansville. 

Villwock’s victory was his 52nd career victory, good for third on the all-time unlimited hydroplane driver win ladder but maybe more important for the team, the boat came out of the race unscathed.

Three hydroplanes all went end over end in three consecutive heats on the Ohio River Sunday morning.  Jeff Bernard (Gig Harbor, Wash.) in the U-5 FormulaBoats.com was the first to go flying in the third turn of the final lap in elimination heat 2-A.  Jean Theoret (Ville de Lery, Quebec) decided to try and break the altitude record one heat later flipping 360 degrees and landing right side up in his Miss Beacon Plumbing on the final lap while Bernard’s teammate and defending national team high point champion Mike Allen (new Orleans, La) made it three in a row, taking the U-7 FormulaBoats.com up and over on the second lap of heat 3-A.

Theoret and Bernard eventually made it back onto the racecourse later in the day but only Theoret could get the Beacon Plumbing going fast enough to compete.  He placed second behind Villwock in the winner take all final.

Qualifying will take place Friday and Saturday starting at 9 a.m. with heat racing on Sunday beginning at 10:50 a.m. with the winner-take-all final slated to start at 3:40 p.m.

NOTES:  Mike Allen and the U-1 FormulaBoats.com are still planning on making the Madison race though that boat has the most damage.  Allen said the team was taking the boats back to Ted Porter’s Formula Boats shop in Decatur, Ind. and will work on both boats there.  Allen might have had the most serious of injuries of the three drivers.  He fractured the top portion of his left thumb when the steering wheel was yanked during the flip….U-5 FormulaBoats.com crew chief Mike Weber wanted to make sure young gun Jeff Bernard got back in the boat on Sunday.  “I think it’s important for this,” said Weber pointing at his head.  “You want him to get back in the boat.”  The boat was placed in the provisional heat but had major problems and came back in after one lap….David Bryant qualified as an unlimited driver in the U-10 Miss Ahern Rentals this past weekend and looked pretty good on the race course.  Third-place finisher Jimmy King in the Master Tire said after the race, “I’m not worried about racing with him out there.  He’s going to be good.”….Jean Theoret  driver of the Miss Beacon Plumbing talked about the aerial show in turn three and said the East wind plus the fact the water was two-feet higher in the Ohio River on Sunday than it was the previous two-days might have played a role in the flips.  “There were a lot of rollers out there today that we didn’t expect.”…Dave Villwock in the Miss Elam Plus now has 52 career victories and is the winningest active driver in the sport. 

Here is a list of the top five all-time drivers in the sport:

1-BILL MUNCEY (62) 1956-1981, 

2-CHIP HANAUER (61) 1979-1999 ,

3-DAVE VILLWOCK (52) 1992-2006 ,

4-DEAN CHENOWETH (25) 1969-1982,

5-JIM KROPFELD (22)  1983-1989

MADISON INDIANA GOVERNOR’S CUP ROSTER

#     Boat                                 Driver (Hometown)

U-1 Formulaboats.co,            Mike Allen (New Orleans, La)

U-3 Master Tire                      Jimmy King (Wales, Mich)

U-5 Formulaboats.com          Jeff Bernard (Gig Harbor, Wash)

U-6 Oh Boy Oberto                 Steve David (Lighthouse Pt., Fla)

U-10 Miss Ahern Rentals               David Bryant (Mesa, Ariz)

U-13 Spirit of Detroit               J Michael Kelly (Puyallup, Wash)

U-16 Elam Plus                     Dave Villwock (Auburn, Wash)

U-25 Superior Racing             Ken Muscatel (Seattle, Wash)

U-37 Beacon Plumbing           Jean Theoret (Ville de Lery, Que)

U-100 Leland Racing                  Greg Hopp (Snohomish, Wash)

Thunder on The Ohio Results                       

1^st. Dave Villwock U16 Miss Elam Plus  140.203

2^nd Jean Theoret U37 Miss Beacon Plumbing  136.167

3^rd Jimmy King U3 Master Tire  135.982

4^th Greg Hopp U100 mirageboats.com  128.690

5^th David Bryant U10 Miss Ahern Rentals   127.575

6^th J Michael Kelly U13 Spirit of Detroit  125.829

7^th Steve David U6 Oh Boy! Oberto  114.239

CURRENT 2007 NATIONAL HIGH POINT STANDINGS

1-Dave Villwock,  ELAM Plus ...                                      1700
2-Jimmy King,  Master Tire ...                                          1265
3-Jean Theoret, Miss Beacon Plumbing ...                        1080
4-Steve David, Oh Boy! Oberto ...                                      990
5-Greg Hopp, Mirage Racing ...                                         949
6-David Bryant, Miss Ahern Rentals ...                              720
7-J Michael Kelly Spirit of Detroit ...                                   604
8-Jeff Bernard, U-5 Formulaboats.com ...                           370
9-Mike Allen, U-1 FormulaBoats.comFormulaboats.com ...  285
10-Ken Muscatel,  Superior Racing ...                                  30