FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 3, 2004
Contact: Nelson Holmberg (nelson@noslencommunication.com) (360) 521-1590

Oh Boy! Oberto Championship Series Begins in Tri-Cities

KENNEWICK, Wash. — The third year of the R/C Unlimiteds’ Oh Boy! Oberto
Championship Series is set to begin with the Atomic Cup, April 2-3 at Two Rivers Park in Finley, Wash.

Last year’s record-setting series champion, Dave Brandt (Kennewick, Wash.) is the race’s defending champion, having kicked off his season with three consecutive wins including the Atomic Cup last year. Brandt drives a scale model of the 1995 PICO American Dream.

The Atomic Cup traditionally begins the R/CU season, and it is particularly interesting this year, as the Tri-Cities area celebrates 40 years of unlimited hydroplane racing, which all began with the 1966 Atomic Cup.

It’ll be R/CU’s sixth running of the Atomic Cup. Brandt has won the race twice (2002 & 2004), Seattle’s Don Mock has won twice (2001 & 2003), and David Jensen of Seattle won the first Atomic Cup in 2000.

Richland’s Brian Lepinski is the contest director.

The weekend’s schedule includes testing from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, April 2. Saturday’s schedule also includes a Budweiser Shootout, involving all of the Miss Budweiser boats in the pits; and an Oberto Shootout, involving each of the Oh Boy! Oberto boats in the pits.

Sunday’s schedule includes testing from 8-10 a.m., and a driver’s meeting at 10:15 a.m. Racing begins at 10:30 a.m., with four sections of three-lap heats. The winner-take-all final will begin at approximately 3 p.m.

R/C Unlimiteds is a racing club affiliated with the American Power Boat Association (APBA). The club’s nearly 100 members race radio controlled, 1/8-scale models of unlimited hydroplanes that duplicate the real hydroplanes as closely as possible. The models are nearly four feet long and two feet wide, and travel at speeds between 50-65 miles per hour.

The club is in its 32nd season of racing.

The Oh Boy! Oberto Championship Series is R/CU’s 15-race schedule, which includes races in locations all over Washington State, and beginning this year with two races in Molalla, Ore. Oberto Sausage Company (Kent, Wash.) is the organization’s title sponsor.

— R/CU —

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