Roger Newton Memorial: What you need to know

The 2020 ERCU Roger Newton Memorial is set to be run on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Woodland Creek Park in Lacey. Here is all you need to know about the day.

Due to the Covid guidelines, David Newton will not be able to provide the lunch that he normally does for this race. David, will, however, be providing the normal drawing for great hydroplane related prizes throughout the course of the day. You’ll be given raffle tickets when you register for the race.

Each driver who registers will also be given a “Roger Newton Memorial 2020” decal, courtesy of Mike McKnight.
 
Classes

• 1/10-scale FE
• 1/7 scale FE, 1/8 scale FE

 
Location
Woodland Creek Community Park, Lacey, WA
 
Saturday
ERCU Board of Directors members will arrive on site at 7 a.m. to set up the club’s equipment, the pits and the racecourse. The course will open for testing and practice at 8 a.m. Open water will close at 9:30 a.m. to be followed by the mandatory drivers meeting.

If your boats need an inspection, please have them ready for inspection prior to your arrival and arrange for scale and technical inspections to be done before you take to open water. You’ll need to have your inspection sheets filled in prior to inspections.

Drivers Meeting
A mandatory drivers meeting will be held at 9:40 a.m. at the official barge. This meeting will be mandatory for ALL drivers, regardless of scale, size, class or club of origin. It is for safety and communication purposes, so ALL drivers must attend the meeting in its entirety.

Heat Racing
Heat racing will begin five minutes after the conclusion of the drivers meeting.

Three Minute Clock
Due to the move last weekend to Standard Time, a three-minute start clock will be used for every heat. In order to avoid delays to the day’s racing, once the clock is started for a heat, it will not be paused or stopped for any reason. If you need time between back-to-back heats, please alert the chief referee before the three-minute clock has started.

Race Format

• Three preliminary heats of five laps each for vintage, classic and modern classes
• First and second connies for both classes (depending on boat count and attrition). Second connie winner advances to first connie as a trailer. First connie winner advances to the final as a trailer.
• Second place boat in the first connie is an alternate for the final.
• Winner-take-all championship finals for vintage, classic and modern.

Defending Champions
Modern Gold Cup: 1972 Notre Dame, Rick Evans
Vintage Gold Cup: 1960 Miss Thriftway, David Newton (Owner: Kerry Kjos)

1/7 Scale FE, 1/8 Scale FE
* Scale FE boats in these two classes will be allowed to race during the event.
* 1/8 scale will race as an exhibition, due to our agreement with R/CU.
* 1/7 scale will only race as an official race if there are a minimum of three boats running in each heat and will be scored by 1/7-scale racers. Otherwise, the class shall be run as an exhibition.

Payment
In ERCU, your first boat is $15 to enter, paid on Saturday morning at registration. Each additional entry, regardless of class, is $5. Please pay via exact change or bring a check made payable to ERCU.
 
Safety Plan
Please familiarize yourself with the ERCU Safe Start Plan (click here). We need every member to follow this if you want to continue racing in 2020!