Finally, the moment of truth. The Hydro-Turf HydroDrag Nationals Presented by Greenhulk.net and RIVA Racing came to Lake Grew in Polk City, FL. Where the big boys get to test themselves. Everyone was anxious to see the world record of 112mph be broken. The crowds stopped everything that they where doing and watched the biggest moment of the weekend. The temperature hung around 95′ degrees at 11am in the morning.
The sun was burning hot on Maikel Gonzalez, the fastest man on the water aboard “The Most Hated GPRXP” on the water. As he made his first pass, the crowd could not believe it: 103.8 mph. Then holding on to the steering as tight as he could, Maikel gave his all, and made his pass of 112.1 mph, breaking his own world record of 112.0 mph and showing everyone present what the “Blue Zone” was really capable of.
Rayge Sanchez, hoping to break that record, made a pass of 110.5mph taking second place; clearly Sanchez wasn’t satisfied with the performance of the ski. Then it was Jesse Gonzalez’s time to prove what a GPSHO is capable of, but took third place with a top speed of 109.5 mph. During the first past from Uva Perez from UJet on his yellow FZR, he got off to a jumpy start, slowed down and then grabbed full throttle again almost right on top of the radar gun, getting a reading of 101.3 mph. On the second pass, he bested it by 109.5 mph.
Most spectators and competitors thought the record was gonna be broken by 3-to-5 mph this day, but it didn’t happen. Some of the people in the crowd where complaining that the radar gun was not accurate but at the end of the day, it was the same radar gun for all competitors like it or not. Shortly thereafter, the drag racing started up again with the final brackets for the Stock and Spec/Limited, Super Stock and Unlimited classes. When Unlimited Speed Alley was over, Rayge with the “Boosted Demon” and Albert with his turbocharged FZR called Mike Young to make another pass.
Mike Young told them to get every rider in that category together to agree to one more pass so he could make it official, but Carlitos from CRT was unable to race due to a perforation in the intercooler on “Blue Zone.” Because the CRT team didn’t want to replace it, and knowing that they already won first place and broke the record by .1mph, Rayge, Albert and Uva were forced to make their runs unofficially. This time Albert decided to ride it himself hoping to get better speed but he wasn’t so lucky. Uva pushed his yellow FZR to the limit, damaging it in the process, although he managed to put it over 110pmh on his Garmin GPS.
Then “Boosted Demon” brought everyone on their feet. The moment Sanchez made his unofficial pass, everyone had their eyes on the ‘Demon. In less than 4 seconds, Rayge achieved a top of 114mph on his Garmin GPS and 112.7 on the staff radar gun. People couldn’t believe it. If it only would of been official! Let’s hope next time the record will be broken by at least a couple of miles-per-hour, like most people where expecting. The event was over by 5pm, earlier than ever with everyone having an awesome time. This was one of the most organized events ever in the history of HydroDrags.
Hydro-Turf HydroDrag Nationals Presented by Greenhulk.net and RIVA Racing
Stock: 1. Manny Salgado 91.8, 2. Ron Allison 85.1; Superstock: 1. Isel Pupo 99.2, 2. Alberth Dauila 98.1, 3. Ross Nemo 95.6; Unlimited: 1. Maikel Gonzalez 112.1, 2. Rayge Sanchez 110.5, 3. Jesse Gonzalez 109.5; Stock Drags: 1. Angelica Gonzalez, 2. Ahmed Ali, 3. Stan Hightower; Spec Drags: 1. Kerry Hibdon, 2. Stan Hightower, 3. Jose Diego; Superstock Drags: 1. Mike Valdes, 2. Isel Pupo, 3. Kerry Hibdon; Unlimited Drags: 1. Kerry Hibdon, 2. Stan Hightower, 3. Raul Cue; Stock Speed Alley: Ron Allison 85.1, 2. Manny Salgado 91.8; Superstock Speed Alley: 1. Isel Pupo 99.2, 2. Michael Nunez 87.6, 3. Alberth Dauila 98.1, 4. Rosse Nemo 95.6; Unlimited Speed Alley: David Romero 103, 2. Rayge Sanchez 110.5, 3. Jesse Gonzalez 109.5, 4. Hector Alvarez 103.8, 5. Maikel Gonzalez 112.1, 6. Uva Perez 109.5
I wish there was more tech details in the build-ups and what the classes entailed. Then all of this info would be much more relevant and interesting.