Webb's Slough thrills and spills

ST. JOHN – Sprint boat races at Webb's Slough brought the town to life for the second time this summer on Saturday, Aug. 26.

The weekend-long event started with the St. John golf scramble tournament Friday morning. After the tournament, sprint boat race fans turned out downtown for the Show and Shine, where they met racers and saw the boats – and even sit in them – to learn more about them before race day.

Saturday saw the racing start at 10 a.m.

Drivers were split into three classes, for a total of 32 teams.

There were 32 teams – 11 in Modified, 13 in 400 and 8 in Unlimited.

Bad Idea and Purcell Racing each entered two boats each in the Modified Class.

Steamin' Kiwi headlined the 400 class, with driver Ruedi Schuler racing at Webb's Slough once again.

The New Zealand native loves to put on a show for the fans, especially at Webb's Slough, he said.

On race day, each team gets four qualifying runs.

The 400 class team 1776 Crash or Win was easily recognizable with Mountain Dew logos all over the boat.

Driver Cleetus McFarland was joined by his navigator was Spencer Faggioni.

McFarland has a huge YouTube following, racking up 3.26 million subscribers. He has two videos on his channel with over 10 million views, and another with 9 million.

This was his first time racing at Webb's Slough.

After each team runs four qualifying heat, some advance to to the 8-Cut, where the Top 8 in each class race, again.

Of those eight, four advance to the 4-Cut, where the remaining drivers in each class drive one more time to crown the champions.

On a day filled with joy, crashes, record breaking times and overall fun times, the event ended with the Jolly Rogers driven by Eric Werner and navigated by Tina Huff winning the Unlimited Class.

They drove the best time of the day, racing the course in a record 38.8 seconds. They were the only boat of the 32 on the day to break 39 seconds.

For the Modified Class, team Purcell racing – driven by James Goldberg and navigated by Margaret Purcell – was solid throughout the day, consistently putting up strong times before ultimately ending up with the checkered flag.

In the 400 Class, the racing was close.

But team Preventing Insanity, driven by Leighton Lillie and navigated by Cody Holzer, pulled out the win.

On their final run of the day, they logged 39.68 seconds, narrowly beating out second-place finisher team Punisher, driven by Phil Miller and navigated by Samantha Hughes.

They drove a final time of 40.88.

Overall, the event was a huge success for the second sprint boat race of the summer at Webb's Slough, organizers said.