Unlimited Hydroplanes / Columbia Cup -- Teams Hope To Catch Miss Budweiser Today

KENNEWICK - The headset slammed off the truck floor so hard that it startled members of the Appian Jeronimo team. Then owner Jerry Rise cursed and threw some verbal ammunition their way, too.

It has not been a good season for the next generation of teams trying to fill the competitive void left by longtime owner Steve Woomer's death. Nobody has come close to challenging the Miss Budweiser the first three races. Nobody has come close to challenging the defending national champion at the Columbia Cup this weekend, either.

"Every other boat here has to rely on luck to get the (Miss Budweiser)," said Steve David, the Miss Molson driver who has taken over second place in the points standings. "We've got the talent. We've got the facilities. But you gotta have the bucks."

Like Woomer's before him, Rise's team does. That's why his driver, Mitch Evans, figures he has to be the one to rise up from the mass of mediocrity and close the gap on the big, red boat.

The Appian Jeronimo has the third-biggest sponsor on the circuit, behind Budweiser and the struggling Pico American Dream. The team consists of guys who have worked on some of the best teams in the world - the Miss Budweiser, Close Call, Miller, Pay 'n Pak. The boat, driven by Mark Evans, won the Seafair race last season and the truck is filled with telemetry equipment that prints out real-time data during the race.

Just as important, the team is one of three that has a dyno

facility for offseason research.

In short, the Appian Jeronimo has everything it needs to succeed. That's why anger tends to be exaggerated when things don't go right.

"If we do our job, we're going to be all right," Evans said. "By the time we get to Seattle, we ought to be able to go out and really race them. I guess this is like the second half of my career. And hopefully I can contribute to the sport the way Chip (Hanauer) did and Tom D'Eath did. That's my goal."

It wasn't an easy decision for Evans to leave Ed Cooper's piston-powered team. A decade of fun and no pressure isn't easy to replace. But this team, which started two years ago, offered Evans his first chance to ride in a boat that can win. He couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Evans figured it would take a year to inherit Woomer's traditional position as the dominant second-place boat. So far, however, progress has been slower than he and his teammates wanted. They lost four gearboxes in Detroit and chose not to race last week in Norfolk, Va. Then yesterday it was a rudder flutter that kept yanking the steering wheel out of Evans' hands and kept the boat from running to its potential until the final qualifying attempt of the day.

That's when he ran 160.749 miles per hour, second only to Miss Budweiser's 162.502, and Rise's scowl turned into a smile. And the relief poured out of Evans' body as fast as the sweat.

"It's not a driver thing," said Nate Brown, the third-fastest qualifier at 159.747 in the Miss Tri-Cities. "It's an equipment thing."

Evans knows he has the equipment. He also knows he doesn't have any excuses if his team doesn't take over the role Steve Woomer once held and start challenging the Miss Budweiser.

He hopes it starts today.

------------------- Hydro-race schedule -------------------

8:30 a.m. - Testing. The U-11 boat, Cost Less Carpet, is the only boat that hasn't qualified. Driver Lindsey Emmons will be given an opportunity to meet the 130 mph qualifying standard to enter the heats.

11:30 a.m. - Heat 1A (U-100 Pico American Dream, U-3 Cooper's Express, U-20 Appian Jeronimo, U-16 Miss E-Lam Plus, U-2 Miss Molson, U-7 Mr. United Furniture Warehouse).

Noon - Heat 1B (U-8 Miss Tri-Cities, U-19 Carpenter Communications, U-14 Miss Jackson's Sports Bar, U-19 Easter Seals, U-1 Miss Budweiser, U-11 Cost Less Carpet, if it meets qualifying standard.)

1 p.m. - Heat 2A.

1:30 p.m. - Heat 2B.

2:30 p.m. - Heat 3A.

3 p.m. - Heat 3B.

3:40 p.m. - Last-chance qualifier.

4:10 p.m. - Championship.