PORT ANGELES — The first leg of the inaugural world championship, a visit from the mother of “Beast Mode” and the debut of a major sponsorship await at today’s American Sprint Boat Pro Racing Series event.
Gates open at 8:30 a.m. and time-trial racing begins at 10 a.m. at Extreme Sports Park, 2917 W. Edgewood Drive.
Tickets are $25 for adults (15 and older), $20 for military members and $10 for children ages 6 to 14. Children 5 and younger are admitted free.
Purchase tickets at the gate on race day, online at www.extremesportspark.net or via several area vendors listed on the ESP website.
Racing will continue throughout the afternoon and the final heats are expected to wrap around 4 p.m.
Delisa “Momma” Lynch, mother of punishing Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, will make an appearance at the track.
Sequim racer Teri Cummings, the navigator of the TNT Racing Jeepers Creepers No. 99 boat and a founder of the Dungeness Bay Sea Hawkers fan club, helped bring about Delisa Lynch’s visit.
The racing team and the fan club are presenting her appearance.
“We are thrilled she’s coming up from Sacramento for this and we want to show her the best time — including taking her on some laps on a sprint boat,” Cummings said.
The Port Angeles-based Wicked Racing No. 10 boat, driven by Dan Morrison and navigated by Cara McGuire, will welcome a new sponsor at Saturday’s race — The Discovery Channel.
Sprint boat racing and the Wicked team will be profiled in an upcoming episode of “Daily Planet,” a television program on Discovery Channel Canada that features daily news, discussion and commentary on the scientific aspects of current events and discoveries.
The program will be featured online at www.discovery.ca/dailyplanet after it premieres on television.
Special appearances and sponsorship opportunities can help attract fans, but the biggest pull to attend are the revved-up race boats.
Sprint boats come in three classifications: the Super Modifieds with engine sizes of up to 368 cubic inches, A-400s with engines up to 412 cubic inches and the unrestricted Unlimited boats.
The boats follow a sequence of turns that are predetermined and given to sprint boat teams the night prior to the race.
This means the navigator has less than 24 hours to memorize where and when to signal the driver to turn on the channeled race course.
The Wicked Racing No. 10 team dealt with a balky starter during the series’ first swing through Port Angeles in July, but salvaged eight points from qualifying and earned the checkered flag to move into first place overall in the national finals standings.
After the first two races of the season, the Wicked Racing No. 10 boat leads the Unlimited class by just two points, 171 to 169, over Cory Johnson and Gary McNeil in the No. 55 boat.
Race teams earn a maximum of eight points in qualifying and 80 points for a first-place finish.
Morrison said Saturday’s races will count toward the national finals as well as the dual-legged world championship.
Both winners will be crowned next Saturday at Webb Slough in St. John.
The two Sequim-based teams have work to do to climb in the national standings.
Cummings and her stepson Dillon, the driver of the No. 99 boat, cracked a cylinder head during the July race in Port Angeles.
They sit in eighth place in the 12-team class, 109 points behind the first place team of Robert Cox and Liz Petring in the Obessesion No. 49 boat.
The father-daughter duo of Paul and Taylor Gahr are fifth in the A-400 class, 50 points behind Phil Miller and Sharon Heuser in the Fat Buddy No. 22.
Miller and Heuser also won the first race of the season in June in St. John.
Around 25 sprint boat teams from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia are expected to compete Saturday.
Organizers are hoping sprint boat teams from New Zealand and Australia will be able to participate next year.
The Sprint Boat Show and Shine, another opportunity for fans and racers to interact, will be held today at Fanaticus Sports Grill, 1026 E. First St., from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Brad and John, radio personalities with 92.9 KISM, will broadcast live from the event.
For those who can’t make it to the track the first round of the finals will air live online on Livestream at tinyurl.com/PDN-SprintRace.
Viewers will need to create a Livestream account or log in with a Facebook account.
The race also will be taped by MAVTV, a network focusing on motorsports from the grass-roots to the extreme.
This race and the July qualifier also will be played repeatedly by the network over the coming months, Morrison said.
MAVTV is available on Direct TV and many cable systems, but not Wave Broadband.
Area restaurants and vendors will provide concession options and a beer garden is available for ages 21 and older.
No outside alcohol is allowed, but fans can bring in food items. All containers are subject to search at the gate.
Spectators also can bring chairs and blankets for seating on the grassy berm surrounding the course, or use bleacher seating.
Camping is available at Extreme Sports Park for $30.
________
Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
