Cesare Scotti of Italy won the world's biggest, richest outboard powerboat race from a fine field as an American archrival, Don Pruett, crashed.
Not yet six years old, Lake Havasu city is one of the youngest communities in Arisona and the United States. It is a go-getting sort of place. With a touching glance back to the past, it has purchased London Bridge, whose 1,005 foot span will be reassembled with "dignity and respect" to link the town and its airport ( and its a damn lie, say Lake Havasuvians, that they thought all along they were getting the Tower Bridge and its more picturesque structure). It is also the site of the world's biggest and richest race for outboard powerboats- an activity more in keeping with the town's up-to-the-minute way of life.
This Outboard World Championship, which was run for the sixth time last weekend on Lake Havasu, was in essence a shoot-out among the leading engine (Mercury-OMC) and boat manufacturers. Win Havasu, the feeling goes, and the aura of victory will trickle down to the public that has something a little less special in mind than flat-out racing- like fishing, water-skiing, or just noodling around on the water.
That spirit of competition attracted 114 boats from five counties (USA,Canada, Italy, England, & Austria) for a four- hour endurance run on Saturday and another on Sunday- and for the first time nearly all the leading contenders rode so-called "tunnel" hulls. This is a new wrinkle in boating, a hull with twin sponsons forming a tunnel between them. The hull is partly supported by a cushion of air developing in the tunnel, and as a consequence speeds have risen to all time highs- better than 100 mph for the fastest boats.
Although he was not to taste the fruits of victory, the fastest man at Lake Havasu was a Texas- born Californian named Don Pruett. Pruett is not completely at home with Chamber of Commerce notions like dignity and respect. After winning the Elsinore 500 on Lake Elisinore, California this year he bit the cork out of a bottle of celebratory champagne and tossed it without a pause. He's as fast with his fists as he is with the bubbly. "I saw Don in a real battle in Galveston I think it was," said Racing Promoter Mel Sikes. "When the bar stools started flying, I just leaned back against the wall and watched. It was beautiful the way Don handled himself."
"Wild" was the way Mrs. Pruett saw it on Saturday as she observed Don's technique on the one right-hand turn of Havasu's four-mile, boomerang-shaped course. Vagrant gusts of wind disturbed the boats' air cushions, and the shore was ominously close, but Pruett cupped his head in his left hand as he took the turn with the other hand on the wheel.
For two days brusque winds had lashed the confined waters of Lake Havasu. The redoubtable Italian driver Renato Molinari had flipped his boat during a practice run. Pruett's pal Joe Habay blew- over during Saturday's race and broke his leg. Needless to say, Pruett with three big Mercury stacker engines making healthy sounds on his Ted Jones- designed hull, paid no attention to such trifles and went for the lead. After two hours his "Triple Trouble" made her only pit stop for fuel. At the end of the second hour Pruett still led. But soon he encountered trouble with the lower units of his engine rig and mechanics worked furiously to repair the damage. They did so and Pruett resumed the race. At the end of Day 1 he lay sixth, while up ahead was a three-way tie between Italy's # 33 Cesare Scotti, Texas' # 90 Johnnie Sanders, and Colorado's # 5 Robert George.
Scotti, driving a 21-foot Molinari with a pair of Evinrude X-115's, is an extremely experienced man; he was voted the Outstanding Outboarder of 1968 for winning the Florida Gold Coast Marathon and placing second in the Paris Six Hour Race during a consistently fine year. He and other Europeans are noted for steady, disiplined approach to racing. But at Havasu a rare mental lapse cost him a clear-cut lead. Experiencing engine difficulties just before the finishing flare was fired, he stopped a few yards short of the finish line and turned into the pits instead of completing the lap. Had he done so, he would have been credited with 70 laps rather than 69- the number completed by Sanders and George.
On Sunday, Scotti kept his wits about him at all times and defeated Sanders by a lap to take the $15,000.00 first place at a record average speed (for the 2 days) of 72 1/2 mph. The veteran Bill Sirois of Miami, Florida ended up in third place. Pruett? Poor devil, in his haste to catch the leader he collided with another boat and nearly sank.
Comments