:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/FQTW56BWCJAKVIUIPARNNWXCCE.jpg)
DEPUE – About two decades ago, the Hoot family stopped racing in DePue.
Ray Hoot suffered a bad accident in the 350 Hydro.
The Hoots finished the weekend with Ray’s son, Steve, winning the 1100 Runabout on his 18 birthday.
“Then we quit and sold everything,” said Nick Hoot, Steve’s younger brother.
This week, Nick returned to DePue, and he did so in a big way.
Hoot raced to victory in the first two heats of the 1100 Runabout on Sunday then cruised to third in the final heat to win the national championship in the Lake DePue Pro/Mod/Junior National Championships.
“The last couple years I just started racing little stock outboards,” said Nick Hoot, who placed second in J Pro the last time he raced in DePue 18 years ago. “I just got this boat. It literally got delivered here on Monday. I did a couple test runs and did the 700 Runabout, and I got third. I came out here for the 1100 and knew what I needed to do, and I just made it happen.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”
On top of winning in his return to DePue, Hoot was racing for his father, who is battling cancer and couldn’t attend but watched the live stream online.
“I wanted to show him that I could do it and make him proud,” Nick Hoot said. “He’s in tears.”
Hoot, who said he plans to return next year, won the first two heats then held back in the third.
“The key to any type of boat racing is getting a good start, going fast through the turns and getting out and getting clean water, and I just made it happen,” Hoot said. “I knew [going into the third heat] that I had such a lead that if I got at least third there were no questions. I didn’t want to push too hard. I backed off a little on the start and let them kind of go to make sure I was safe, and I pushed my way up to third.”
Hoot wasn’t the only racer Sunday to win the first two heats before cruising to the title with a conservative third heat.
Jerry Davids Sr. raced to wins in the first two heats of the 350 Runabout and placed fifth in the final heat to secure the title.
Local favorite Paul Bosnich III placed third in the event. He also placed third in the 250 Runabout on Saturday.
“We just didn’t seem like we could put three heats together in either race,” Bosnich said. “On Saturday, we battled engine problems all morning. We thought we caught some luck when we broke a prop shaft through testing. It actually broke in our hands as we were ready to go in the first heat, which was lucky otherwise I would have lost my good prop for both engines. We changed some stuff, and I don’t know why, but we were sticking pistons the first heat. We flipped to our backup engine we haven’t run in a year. It took a little bit of time, so I didn’t have any test time. I knew going into the final heat I had to push the start if I wanted a chance at the podium, and I did and we came out third.”
On Sunday, Bosnich placed fifth in the first two heats before winning the final heat to earn a podium spot.
“Today I just didn’t get a good spot at the start, and that’s a lot of the game. I just couldn’t put myself in good position. Again, I knew going into the third heat I needed to be there and probably win to get the podium. I just ran hard that third heat and got it in a good spot and was busting my butt to try to get first, and I finally got around Rich [Krier]. It’s tough, all these guys are very close in speed, so to be able to come from behind is tough.”
Eric Vanover won the 1100 Hydro, and John Palmquist won the final heat to come from behind to capture the 250 Hydro title.
Other winners Sunday were Brian Boyd in the 750 MH, Daniel Koschka in the 500 MH and Joe Johnson in the 850 MR.
Saturday winners were Boyd in the 850 MH, Logan Sweeney in the 500 MR, Ashton Cafarelli in the 125 MR, Doug Hall in the 500 Hyrdo, Devin Huff in C Racing Runabout, Kurtis Nydahl in 350 Hydro, Michael Smith in 250 Runabout and Jason Sailer in 700 Runabout.