Photo by Chris Denslow -H1

Wind and water conditions interrupted the Friday qualifying session for the Diamond Cup on North Idaho’s Lake Coeur d’Alene, but not soon enough for Jon Zimmerman and the 9 Fox Plumbing presents Team RedDOT powered by Les Schwab.

Zimmerman was the fifth boat to enter the two mile race course for a qualifying attempt, but lost a blade off the propeller before completing a lap.  The vibration created by the broken prop cause severe damage to the race boat, causing the team to withdraw from the event.

Following that, officials postponed qualifying for over two hours and waited for wind and water conditions to improve.  When the boats were allowed back on the course, Jimmy Shane drove the 5 Graham Trucking to the top of the qualifying ladder with a fast lap averaging 147.124 mph.  Perennial top qualifier Steve David had to settle for second spot with a speed of 146.797 in the 1 Oh Boy! Oberto.

Other top qualifiers included Kip Brown in the 95 Spirit of Qatar in third place at 145.410 and J. Michael Kelly in the 37 Miss Beacon Plumbing in 4^th place at 142.339.

Racing will begin Saturday at  1:30 PDT with the running of Heat 1A.  The Championship Final Heat is set for Sunday at 4pm.

Final qualifying results –