By Jeff Morrow for the Tri-City Herald

Jean Theoret took one last shot on Friday, and it worked.

Theoret, driving the U-16 Oh Boy! Oberto, hit a 160.000 mph speed on his final lap of qualifying to sit atop the ladder at the HAPO Columbia Cup.

It was impressive, considering temperatures reached 105 degrees, and it’s hard for turbines to perform well in heat.

“We were very blessed. This team works so well together,” said Theoret. “After our crash in Detroit last year, we’re glad to be back here. This is a very good ride. (Crew chief) Mike Hanson changed a few things to the boat.”

The Columbia River was the site of last year’s Gold Cup, and Theoret and the Ellstrom team easily had the fastest boat in the field then.

Theoret looked to have the victory sewn up in the final. But H1 Unlimited race officials reviewed video that showed he had cut through a DMZ area in the moments leading up to the start. And that disqualified him.

Theoret says he’s not looking for redemption here.

“Last year was last year,” he said. “(That loss) hurt me a lot. I just need to make no mistakes. Do that, and you can win.

Theoret’s 160 was the speed that team manager Erick Ellstrom wanted.

“We’ve been playing around all day,” said Ellstrom. “All we wanted to do was a 160, and we got it.”

It was an impressive start for the 2016 season for the Ellstrom team, which skipped the opener in Madison, Ind., earlier this month.

“Since 1994, we’ve been here (in the Tri-Cities),” said Ellstrom. “We know the course. We have great guys on the team. The best in the world. We know what has to be done.”

Ellstrom, though, was more awestruck with Andrew Tate, the rookie driver of the U-9 Gale-Rew Construction presents Les Schwab Tire, who finished second in qualifying with a speed of 159.337 mph.

“I’m very impressed with Andrew Tate,” said Ellstrom. “He put the boat around the course pretty good. I think he’s the one to watch this year.”

The 26-year-old Tate, whose father Mark was the standout driver for the Smokin’ Joe’s in the 1990s, smiled when he heard that.

“It’s nice to know someone else is thinking about us,” said Tate, competing in just his second unlimited race. “It feels good, but I’m still learning. The trick is not to get ahead of the learning curve.”

Jimmy Shane, driving the defending national champion U-1 HomeStreet Bank (competing last year as Oberto), also took notice of Tate’s performance.

“I expected it,” said Shane, whose 158.066 mph speed was the third-fastest on the qualifying ladder. “He’s driven every kind of smaller boat. He drives pretty hard. He’s younger. He’s better looking. That’s no bueno.”

That’s funny, coming from a 30-year-old.

But Shane also was happy with his boat.

“The boat ran very well,” said Shane. “It’s right up there with the top three. We’re looking to find that one more mile per hour.”

Won’t matter the rest of the weekend, as the boats will battle with at least four of them on the Columbia River.

One team that may need to be careful is one of the fans’ favorite.

The U-3 Griggs presents Miss Ace Hardware – the only piston-powered boat in the field and making its 2016 season debut – lost two of its four engines on Friday in testing and qualifying.

“The worst part is I don’t even know what happened,” U-3 owner Ed Cooper said. “They’re fixable. There are no holes in them. But we can’t fix them this weekend.”

Cooper was frustrated, knowing he has possibly only two engines for this weekend’s race and Seafair next weekend.

“I guess if you do anything long enough as I have, you start to see things happen again,” said Cooper.

And there are more heat races and laps to be run this weekend.

The Water Follies and H1 Unlimited agreed to run a Gold Cup format for more money and eliminating the cost of the trophy.

“More prize money was added, so an extra set of heats were added,” said Steve David, the chairman of H1 Unlimited. “We’re trying to generate more interest with the fans.”

There will be two sets of preliminary heats to be run Saturday, two more sets on Sunday, with the final set for 4 p.m. Sunday.

Each preliminary heat will be four laps, while the final will still be five laps.

That means teams trying to get into the final will have to run 16 laps, rather than the usual nine.

“There has to be planning and strategy,” said David.

Theoret agreed.

“It makes the weekend more of a long-term thing,” said Theoret. “A marathon. The thing is you’ve got to get to the final.”

========================================

One possible change on Saturday involves the schedule.

There is a possibility of 30 mph wind gusts in the afternoon.

So race officials have a backup plan in place if that happens.

“We could move up the first unlimited heat race from 2:20 p.m. To 1:40 p.m.,” said Water Follies president Craig Marcum. “We will likely make that decision during the air show (which starts at 11:30 a.m.).”

Qualifying results

U-16 Oh Boy! Oberto (Jean Theoret), 160.000 mph, 100 points U-9 Gale-Rew Construction presents Les Schwab Tire (Andrew Tate), 159.337, 80 U-1 Miss HomeStreet Bank (Jimmy Shane), 158.066, 70 U-5 Graham Trucking (J.Michael Kelly), 156.862, 60 U-7 Graham Trucking (Jeff Bernard), 152.785, 50 U-21 Darrell Strong presents PayneWest Insurance (Brian Perkins), 150.943, 40 GBR11 Peters & May (Tom Thompson), 148.608, 30 U-3 Griggs presents Miss Ace Hardware (Jimmy King), 144.736, 30 U-99.9 CarStar powered Miss Rock (Keven Eacret), 138.130, 30

DNQ, U-18 Bucket List Racing (Dustin Echols)