Graham Trucking became the primary sponsor of the PPE, LLC U-7 Unlimited hydroplane in 2009 and celebrated the season finale as the U.I.M. World Champion.  In 2010 Graham Trucking continued on the U-7 with a very respectable season. In 2011 the Graham trucking name switched to the U-5 finishing an impressive 3^rd in National High Points. 

This year, the Miss Graham Trucking name will once again be carried by the U-5 Unlimited hydroplane, driven by Jimmy Shane of Havre de Grace, MD. Jimmy has been a backup driver for PPE for five years and has driven several unlimited heat races during that time. His most recent race was at the 2011 Oryx Cup/UIM World Champion race in Doha, Qatar where he drove the U-57 to an impressive 4^th place finish. Jimmy has also been a champion in other classes of the highly-competitive American Power Boat Association.

PPE, LLC is looking forward to continuing its relationship with Rob Graham and Graham Trucking.

 Rob Graham states that, “Ted Porter and his crew have a proven track record as a first rate team in the past several years, and Graham Trucking is excited to once again be racing with the PPE Team. Graham trucking is thrilled to continue our sponsorship of this extremely talented group of people. Ted and everyone else associated with this Team have continually exceeded our expectations and are consistently at the front of the pack. I am very excited that Ted has chosen the U-5 and Jimmy Shane to represent us.

 Jimmy is one of the best drivers on the limited circuit with a proven record of wins and accomplishments during his career, and Graham Trucking is excited to have him under our sponsorship. Jimmy will be a great representative for Graham Trucking.”

 Some of Jimmy Shane’s hydroplane accomplishments in limited classes are: 3x Hall of Champions Inductee, 3x National High Point Champion, 3x Summer National Champion, 3x World Champion, 2x Canadian High Point Champion, 7x Closed Course UIM World Records, 1x Kilo Straightaway UIM World Record, 4x GP Race Winner, Designed and built 4 outboard hydroplane/runabout boats of which all have set UIM World Records.  Jimmy has been a Qualified Unlimited Hydroplane Driver since 2007, and Finished 4^th 2011 Oryx Cup/UIM National Championship, Doha Qatar.

 Rob added, “I’m really looking forward to watching Jimmy in the U-5 this season. We look forward to another great season with Ted, Jimmy and the people who make this team great. The off season has seen the PPE team making improvements on the boat and I appreciate everything they are doing to get us to the winners circle in the U-5. The Graham Trucking Racing family is really excited to go racing with this first rate team. ”

 Graham Trucking began 28 years ago with a mission to become a company that customers and employees alike could be proud of. Based on industry surveys, Graham Trucking has achieved that goal. Based in South Park and serving the Pacific Northwest, Graham Trucking operates a fleet of 80+ power units and one of the largest super chassis fleets in the state of Washington.  Graham Trucking is also sponsoring F-1 PROP racing at Seafair.

 For more U-5 Racing and Graham Trucking information: On facebook:  “U-5 U-7 U-57 Unlimited Hydroplane Race Team” and on the web at: www.grahamtrucking.com

Last year Tom Pakradooni ended the year as the man to beat but this year you can take your pick! Patrick’s coming back driving Pierre’s World Champion Henderson hull, Ghislain will be piloting Bert’s ex-crush  (many will argue the fastest boat last year on the circuit), Bert will be back driving Huey’s brand new ” STEELER”, Ken Brodie has reworked his sponsons to keep up with the new boat design, Marc Theoret will be sporting a new blower motor, Mike or Marty coming off Marty’s second place finish in the World Championships in New Zealand, and Jimmy Shane coming off his big win out west this month in Arizona which all adds up to anyone’s game. And don’t rule out Eric Langevin, Marc Lecompte, Norman Shannon and our newest rookie, Joe Sovie, plus Brandon Kennedy will finally be off restriction.

Talk about competition, our race fans won’t want to miss any of this action, believe me. I’m sure most of you have heard about the Lake Havasu GP race this past Easter Weekend where most of the boats got tore up the first lap of the GP final on Sunday. With only two boats able to run, the final was cancelled and Jimmy Shane was declared the winner due to his first place win in an earlier heat race. After Jimmy’s win out west in his GP-10 Charger, it will be fun to see if he can dominate in our ACHA series races back east. His GP boat was easily the fastest boat around the 3/4 mile racecourse in Arizona.   The latest update on Mike Grendell’s GP-45 has the boat going to Bert’s shop and getting a complete overhaul including the new “2010″ updated and redesigned sponsons, which will make it another new style boat to beat, although Joe Sovie will be on restriction for several heats as well as Ghislain Marcoux. By the time Valleyfield rolls around everyone should be off restriction then look out people the “Young Guns” will be coming at you.

Well that’s all the news for now; hope to see everyone in Long Sault June 2nd and 3rd. Take care and continued safe racing.

HUEY

Thanks to Marc Perrier for the pictures and to Bert Henderson to let him in the shop.

April 21 by Andrew Ritchie

Early Marsh

GP hydros thrill crowd before Miss Stuart flips from Jack Lowe on Vimeo.

Two GPs made the trip, GP-25 Shameless and the GP-45 Miss Stuart which was to be campaigned by Woodruff this season with Patrick Haworth driving. They ran exhibition heats both days. On Sunday Mike Grendell got behind the wheel of GP-45 for the first time. After running some laps along with Brandon Kennedy in GP-25, Grendell enter turn one and the boat blew over. The boat was damaged badly but luckily Grendell is okay and the boat can be fixed. You can see Jack Lowe’s video of the final exhibition and flip above. Brandon Kennedy’s onboard camera captured the flip in his mirror and that video is below. There are also a number of videos on YouTube of the accident.

Mike G flip from Brandon Kennedy on Vimeo.