Boat racing: Cousins Rayce Bosnich, Ethan Fox win 1st titles on Lake DePue

DEPUE – When Rayce Bosnich pulled his boat up to the shores of Lake DePue on Friday, his father, Paul Bosnich III, was waiting for him.

Rayce Bosnich, 10, got a big high five and a bear hug from his dad before Bosnich III pulled his son out of the boat and tossed him into the lake.

Per tradition, a boat racer gets dumped into the lake after winning his first national title at the Lake DePue Pro National Championship Boat Races.

“It felt good,” said Rayce Bosnich, who won the K-Pro Runabout class. “I got soaked when he threw me in.”

It was a special moment for Bosnich III, who himself has won multiple national titles in his hometown. This year, however, Bosnich III isn’t racing after having shoulder surgery and instead is serving as crew chief for Prop Riders Racing.

“It’s unbelievable,” Bosnich III said about seeing his son win his first title in his second year of racing. “He drove a great race, got good starts and did what he needed to do. It’s one of those unbelievable feelings.

“It was a culmination of a dream for him and me. He’s grown up around this. This has been his life and he said, ‘Dad, I want to win one.’ I told him to go after it and he put his work in. He drove his butt off all three heats and did what he needed to do to win a championship.”

Rayce Bosnich finished second in the first heat after a back-and-forth battle with Shane Kimble. Bosnich pulled out the win in another tight race in the second heat and Kimble was disqualified for jumping the starting gun, putting Bosnich in a strong position entering the final heat.

Bosnich finished second in the last heat to lock up his title.

“I got second in the first heat, and I knew if Shane got first [in the second heat] he would have won, so I fought out there during the second heat to get first place,” Bosnich said. “I was told to take it easy in that last heat. Dad said, ‘If you finish third or above, you’re going to win.’ So I listened to him and took it easy.”

Bosnich III expects his son and Kimble to battle for years to come.

“In my opinion, and I may be biased, but it was one of the better races all day,” Bosnich III said about K-Pro Runabout. “That’s what you want. You want the kids to be out there battling it out and they come in and they’re high fiving, hugging, smiling and talking about the race. That’s what it’s about. Those guys battled it out side by side and trusted each other. During inspection, Josh Kimble, Shane’s dad, said, ‘You guys are going to be racing a lot against each other,’ and they will be. That’s what you want. You want good competition.”

The day got even better for Prop Riders Racing when Rayce Bosnich’s cousin, Ethan Fox, claimed his first national title immediately after Bosnich as he won the 175 Hydro.

“It’s been a long time,” said Fox, 21. “I’ve been racing since I was 12, so all this progress up until this moment, it means so much to me. What Paulie (Bosnich III) has done for me and what all these (crew) guys have done for me is what really means the most to me.”

Fox said lessons learned in the past helped him get that elusive title.

“It’s a lot of mechanics,” Fox said. “Last year I had a lot of issues with my carburetor. I ended up blowing up a drive shaft on the last heat. So really it was just figuring out what to do, when to do it and how hard I should tighten some bolts.”

Bosnich III was happy to see his nephew win a title too.

“We had a pretty good day,” Bosnich III said. “Last year, I think Ethan should have won 175. He was definitely the dominant boat all year last year and it kind of got away from him last year. He made some young mistakes. I wouldn’t say he was the favorite coming into today although he was really, really fast. There were four or five boats capable of winning. He put his head to it, had three great starts and drove three great heats. It takes a little bit of luck, but you have to be good to and he definitely put on a show today.”

Fox placed second in the first heat then came back to win the last two heats. The second heat had to be rerun due to an issue with the flags.

It was one of several delays in the second half of action, including boats flipping on the first two attempts of the first heat in C-Racing Hydro and two restarts of the first heat in the 500 Runabout.

“It’s nerve racking,” Fox said about the delays. “You have to get back into it. It’s getting back into the nerves and getting into the right headspace is really the hardest part for me. It was like and hour and a half. In that time I’m slowing down then I have to get right back into it. It was hard, but it lit a fire under my butt when I heard that rerun happen because I felt real good about that lap.”

In the first half of the day, Jonathan Nilsen won the C-Service Runabout for the second year in a row, Brady Brinkman claimed the 125 Runabout, Bob Wartinger took the OSY-400 and Doug Hall three-peated in the 500 Hydro.

After the intermission, Justin Gibson won the C-Racing Hydro, which included a thrilling comeback win in the second heat, and Jason Sailer won the 500 Runabout.

Nilsen, Hall and Gibson added titles on Saturday as well.

Nilsen earned a repeat championship in C Racing Runabout, Hall won 700 Hydro and Gibson dethroned Nilsen in C Service Hydro.

Also Saturday, Jerry Davis Sr. won 250 Runabout, Shane Kimble took home the win in K-Pro Hydro, Vincent Buskirk claimed 700 Runabout and Amy Nydahl won 350 Hydro.

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Johnathan Perez of Spring Valley, gets ready to race in the K-Pro Runabout during the US Title Series Pro National Championship Boat Races on Friday, July 26, 2024 at Lake DePue. (Scott Anderson)