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Third heat OD World Championships
The water had gotten rougher by the time the gun fired for the third heat. I had my timing down with my 10 second sweep Heuer stopwatch. You could tell where you were at any point in the final approach area down to a half second or better.
I hit the start wide open on the inside with only inches to spare. Tim already had overtaken me twice and I just had a third and second to show for my efforts. Jerry Kirts was making some good moves at the last minute. Dan Kirts had problems one heat, but he was back in the mix. Only half the schedule had been run so the rest of the field was not out yet either. Anything could happen, especially with the water more stirred up. The laydown of Kurt Mischke would have an advantage if it continued to worsen. And Erwin Zimmerman and Wilfried Weiland had much experience in rough water where in Europe they race while traffic is on the river.
I was pushing hard and Tim chased this time but not able to come alongside as he had in the first two heats. Two things were happening. The one I noticed was that my motor was accerating out of the turns much better and had an instant response. What I didn't know was that Tim was fighting for all he was worth to stay in the race AND keep his V8 boat upright. He had tested only a few times in this boat and raced only two heats prior to Dayton. The hardware and mounting brackets were newly installed and had never fully seated in yet. The two previous heats were long, grueling and high speed. During that third heat the thrust socket started working loose and it was all Tim could do to keep from losing control . In spite of that he was able to maintain second though not pushing me. This was the first heat I was able to back off and check who was close. As it was, I had a good lead and was able to back off some to save the motor. I couldn't back off too much because it could come down to a final heat and the championship decided on time. But, if I pushed the whole way, I could tear something up either this heat or the final.
Once again Jerry Kirts made his move on the final lap and passed Tim to take second place. I finished a little over 10 seconds ahead of Jerry with Tim about three seconds behind him. Got to go to work all night. Finish rest of results next day or two.