Newton claims three; Hughes, Mullen, Holmberg also take home Governor’s Cups

To say David Newton had a good day at the Governor’s Cup would be an understatement.

Newton not only claimed three Governor’s Cup trophies and took over the ERCU all-time career wins ranking, he also posted two perfect days and one near-perfect day.

Driving Kerry Kjos’ 1960 Miss Thriftway to a win in the 1/10 scale vintage final, and Paxton Reunanen’s 1979 Squire Shop to victory in the 1/10 scale classic final, Newton completed perfect days with those two boats. If it weren’t for a second place finish in 1/7-scale classic heat 1A, Newton’s entire day would have been perfect.

But he more than made up for that second place finish in heat 2A, avenging Nelson Holmberg in Gary Hansen’s 1972 Notre Dame in what was perhaps the best race of the day – a duel that went down to the final lap before it was decided.

Newton bested the 1/10 scale vintage field, while second place went to Chuck Murray’s 1964 Savair’s Mist and third went to rookie Kyson Lor (who passed his drivers test the same morning) with the 1961 Miss Madison. Gerry Bordon was unable to finish the final with his 1970 Parco’s O-Ring Miss and Bill Mowatt was DQ’d for taking out another boat with his 1968 Miss Bardahl.

In the 1/10 classic final, Newton proved his perfection on the day by dominating with the Squire Shop. Second went to Gentleman Jim Latimer in the 1985 U-33 while third went to trailer starter Jay Fonville in his 1976 Spirit of Dayton Walther. Fonville not only one the first connie to make it into the final, but he also won the second connie in order to get into the first connie as a trailer.

Holmberg drove his 2021 Graham Trucking to a Governor’s Cup title in the 1/7 scale modern final heat, holding off John Sjostrom in the 1990 Oh Boy! Oberto. David Heilbrunn’s 2021 Goodman Real Estate was unable to finish the final. Holmberg had a perfect day of his own with the U-12 while former Graham Trucking teammates Shawn Murray and Kevin Stoltz watched during their visits to the race.

Mike Hughes’ 1991 Winston Eagle was, again, the cream of the crop in 1/10 modern. Hughes easily scored the final heat win, followed by Tyler McKeon and his 2019 Miss J&D’s in second, Heilbrunn with the 2021 Goodman Real Estate in third and Murray in fourth with his 2000 Miss Elam. Reunanen, who started on the trailer after winning the connie, was unable to finish the heat with his 2018 Miss Homestreet Bank.

Craig Mullen debuted the totally re-vamped 1958 Hawaii Kai III with its first test of the year on raceday morning and ended up securing a perfect day after winning the 1/7 scale vintage final. Second in the final went to Tyler McKeon’s 1967 Miss Lapeer, which started from the trailer after winning the first connie. A DNF and 169 points went to Bordon’s 1969 Parco’s O-Ring Miss after being taken out in a collision another boat. Another DNF went to Terry Harmer and the 1986 Miss Bahia while Fonville and his 1975 Kirby Classic were DQ’d for taking out another boat.

While it was a longer day than usual, it was a very fun and positive day with perfect weather conditions and fantastic racing all day.

Many thanks to Denise & John Sjostrom for providing a fantastic lunch spread for everyone at the event. Gratitude also goes out to all of the members who helped out with set up and breakdown of the club equipment. It really made things easy and helped to make the process go smoothly as well.