Caines & Heilbrunn post first firsts; Newton wins two at Sayres Memorial

Under sunny, breezy and cool conditions at Lake Sacajawea Park in Longview, ERCU conducted the 48th running of the Stan Sayres Memorial presented by American SaniCan where David Newton, David Heilbrunn, Dennis Caines, Mike Hughes and Paxton Reunanen came away the big winners.

Thirty-six boats made up the field for the 48th running of the Stan Sayres Memorial, Saturday, Aug. 27 at Lake Sacajawea Park in Longview. David Heilbrunn broke through and did his best Jeff Bernard impersonation piloting the 2021 Goodman Real Estate to the race win in 1/7 scale modern. It was his first career win in 1/7 scale. Dennis Caines also posted his first 1/7 scale career win by piloting his 1969 Eagle Electric to the vintage win.

But it was ERCU’s all-time career wins leader, David Newton, who made the biggest splash, winning both the 1/7 scale classic final driving his own 1970 Pay ‘n Pak, and the 1/10 scale classic final, driving Reunanen’s 1979 Squire Shop.

Reunanen got a win of his own, taking the 1/10-scale vintage final with the 1963 Coe-Z Miss. Hughes also gained another 2022 ERCU race win, taking the 1/10-scale modern final with his 1991 Winston Eagle.

Reunanen was also awareded a $50 gas card for winning the Best of Show award. His combined pits presentation, uniforms (all of them), on-the-water performance, and sportsmanship edged out brilliant total presentations by Caines and Newton who were also very strongly considered for the award.

It was another very fun day of ERCU racing and we were finished with the race day, and on the road home by 5 p.m.