|  08/22/10 - Aurora, IN - TVR takes Formula 3 Tammy Wolf-Jakob wins the Midwest Regionals in Aurora, IN! Teammate Sam Miller, who had been forced to take the first part of the season off, brings home a 2nd place finish during his first race back. Tammy had trouble during the first qualifing heat, when she ran into Mike "The Magic Man" Hooper, knocking Hooper out of racing for the day. The race on Sunday would begin with Tammy lined up on the dock in 4th place and Sam in 5th. Tammy took a fast 3rd place lead with Sam Miller right behind her. On a Red Flag restart, Tammy would take a spectacular 1st place lead, with Sam Miller far behind her in 2nd place. Tammy finished with her first career, APR Series event winning. Way to go Tammy!! 08/01/10 - Memphis TV Coverage Memphis 2010 Airdates Announced! SportSouth announced today that the television coverage of Powerboat Superleague racing at the 2010 Memphis International Riverfront Regatta has been scheduled to air on the following dates and times in September: (all times are Eastern - subject to change, check your local listings)
Saturday, September 11 - 2:30pm (premiere)
Wednesday, September 15 - 11:00am
Thursday, September 23 - 11:00am
Thursday, September 23 - 6:00pm 07/29/10 - Holiday Inn Select signs on as a Hotel Sponsor. Holiday Inn Select - Memphis East Poplar & I-240 5795 Poplar Avenue, Memphis TN 38119, Phone Number (901)682-7881 has partnered up with the Tunnel Vision Racing Team for the Memphis Can-Am International Regatta that will take place in Tom Lee Park on July 30 - Aug. 1st Holiday Inn keeps growing as the TVR's largest hotel sponsor. 07/15/10 - Pittsburgh TV Coverage EQT Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta Television Show -
Will premier on August 10th at 8 PM. FSN Pittsburgh has given the Powerboat Superleague show a prime time slot; the program will be seen at the conclusion of the Red Bull Air Show and preceding the MLB pre-game for the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. the San Diego Padres baseball game. Additionally, America One (national network) has confirmed that both the Pittsburgh race as well as the Memphis regatta will be broadcast in the fall. Combined, the numbers for the Pittsburgh show will boost Superleague racing into the homes of 33 – 66 million fans. SportSouth will premier the Memphis race approximately 4 weeks after the event. Here is the schedule... Tuesday, August 10 - 8:00pm (premiere)
Wednesday, August 11 - 11:00am
Friday, August 13 - 6:00pm
Saturday, August 21 - 5:00pm
Tuesday, August 31 - 12:00pm 07/11/10 - Marietta, OH The Tunnel Vision Racing Team had a great weekend in Marietta, Ohio. We love going to Marietta and the hometown hospitality. This makes 10 years straight that Marietta has hosted The River Front Roar Festival. Formula 3 Driver, Sammy Miller, who place 3rd last year, would not be racing this weekend. Instead, he would be in the pits helping the team acheive their goals of winning. Sammy helped his best friend and team-mate, Mark Jakob, during the races with the radios and the Hometown Honda's Big Red. Tammy Wolf-Jakob In her Holiday Inn sponsored boat, was in 2nd place and closing on the leader for most of the race. Around lap 18 Tammy started losing power and couldn't figure out what the problem was. After the race, an inspection of the boat was done and the problem was found - top carb on the motor had come unbolted due to vibration from the race. Tammy still managed to bring home a 4th place finish. Tammy had the dream team on her radios - Gary Pugh and Sam Haraway. These are 2 of the biggest names in tunnel boat racing. She had an awesome weekend. Dan Bunting Columbus, Ohio's Dan Bunting was busy helping Mark Jakob, Friday night, fix holes in The Monster Energy boat from the past weekend at Pittsburgh. 5 in all, to be exact. Saturday morning the boat and driver looked great in the heat races. Sunday about midway through the final race, the boat started filling with water once again. The boat would not steer through the turns and Dan started losing speed and his lead. After the race ended, 8th was the best he could do for his "Hometown Race". Mark Jakob In Formula 2, Mark Jabob worked from the back of the dock to a first place lead. He and Jimmy Merleau battled for most of the race between 1st and 2nd place and brought the crowd to their feet. After a restart, late in the race, it would be the end for Mark Jakob. 4 boats wide in the first turn, Mark Jakob and Lee Daniel would tangle it up and put the last year's winner and Marietta favorite, Hometown Honda, The Galley and The Holiday Inn sponsored "Big Red" boat on the trailer. Most of the bottom of the boat was missing. Lee Daniel would not be as lucky with his boat. After the impact from "Big Red" and the barrel-roll, "General Lee's" boat would suffer damage that would retire it from racing, forever. Mark did well enough over the weekend to come home with a 10th place finish. Now it's time to help Lee Daniels get another boat ready for Memphis in just 2 weeks. Donnie McDowell Associate TVR driver, Donnie McDowell, drove his #3 Marietta Microtel Inn sponsored boat to 2nd place for the event. Donnie was up front of the pack for most of the race. Now, with Mark and Lee out of the race, it gave Donnie just the advantage that he needed. The only boat to beat was the number 69 boat of Jimmy Merleau. Donnie stayed on his tail until the final 30th lap, for his 2nd place podium finish. Marietta Local Event Sponsors for TVR were: Formula 2 - Mark Jakob "Big Red" boat The Holiday Inn Hometown Honda Racing The Galley Formula 2 - Donnie McDowell #3 boat Marietta Microtel Inn Formula 3 - Tammy Wolf "Pink Boat" The Holiday Inn Subway - Marietta Formula 3 - Dan Bunting #Five-0 Boat Monster Energy Drink Matesich Distributing-Newark, Ohio The Lafayette Hotel Formula 3 - Toby Hood # 64 boat The Adelphia 07/04/10 - Pittsburgh, PA North American Championship Race The Tunnel Vision Racing Team had a great weekend in Pittsburgh... Mark Jakob - 1st Place in Formula 2 "2010 North American Champion" Tammy Wolf - 3rd Place in Formula 3 Dan Bunting - 5th Place in Formula 3
06/10/10 - Pittsburgh, PA Mark your calendars for 4th of July Weekend!! The Tunnel Vision Racing Team will be in Pittsburgh, PA for the North American Championship Race. www.ThreeRiversRegatta.net Local event sponsors for this race are: 06/08/10 - Detroit Lakes, MN Over the weekend, two of our drivers went to Detroit Lakes, MN and raced in the "Quake on the Lake". Mark Jakob, had a second place finish, in his Holiday Inn on the lake, sponsored Formula 2 race boat. Tammy Wolf-Jakob had a first place finish, in her Holiday Inn on the lake, sponsored Formula 3 race boat. We congratulate both on a great weekend finish and thank the Holiday Inn on the lake for their partnership with Team Tunnel Vision. 05/23/10 - Driving School - Formula 2May, 2010 Our Formula 3 Monster Energy Driver, Dan Bunting and Team Tunnel Vision's Public Relations Director, Shane Miller attended driving school this past weekend. Schooling consisted of capsule training certification, classroom time and driving a Formula 2 boat on the course.  Dan was the first to drive the APBA's Formula 2 boat and was very inpressed with the way it ran compared to his Formula 3 boat. He isn't moving up to the Formula 2 class anytime soon, but may in the future. Shane Miller wasn't as lucky to have the opportunity to pilot the Formula 2 boat. The 2nd person to drive the Formula 2 boat had a fairly violent wreck and destroyed the boat for the weekend. Shane was able to drive a 5.0 Litre Inboard instead. He is now capsule certified and on his way to receiving his APBA Racing License. We hope to see him in a Formula 3 boat sometime soon. Until then, he will assist the team with Public Relations and Marketing and act as a back-up driver for the #50 Monster Energy Boat.   05/15/10 - New Hotel Sponsorship for Team Tunnel Vision Mark and Tammy Wolf-Jacob will be racing in Detroit Lakes, MN on June 6th and 7th. Holiday Inn of Detroit Lakes will be sponsoring them for the weekend. On the weekend of July 11th & 12th, the team will be racing in Marietta, OH for the River Front Roar. Our new hotel sponsor, Microtel - Marietta will be sponsoring Mark and Tammy and The Lafayette Hotel will once again sponsor Dan Bunting. We are looking forward to working with the Hampton Inn - Greentree in Pittsburgh for this years Pittsburgh Regatta for the 4th of July Weekend. 04/19/10 - More television coverage scheduled for April and May, 2010 With a broadcast area covering Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and parts of North Carolina as well as providing national access via Fox Sports affiliates and Direct TV, SportSouth reaches an average audience of 8.9 million people. SportSouth viewers and powerboat racing fans have proven their enjoyment of the show and their loyalty to Superleague, continuing to tune into SportSouth over the course of the past seven months to watch as SST 120/F2 and SST 60/F3 teams race during the popular one-hour program. SportSouth has just announced that there will be seven additional airings: Saturday, April 24 – 7 PM, Sunday April 25 - 1 AM, Monday, April 26 - 1 PM, Saturday, May 1 - 2 PM, Sunday, May 9 - 9 AM, Thursday, May 13 – 12 PM Wednesday, May 19 – 10 PM. The addition of these new airdates has pushed the numbers over the edge – while adding an estimated $20,000 in value to the previously released numbers – unprecedented in what is perceived as a niche sport. You can watch the Memphis race Here 04/01/10 - Mark your calendars for JULY 8th, 2010 Kankakee, IL A benefit auction will take place at the Kankakee Boat Club. Come out and bid on very cool items to help support the US Nationals, that take place every Labor Day Weekend on the Kankakee River. You can meet some of the drivers and crew teams. APR Formula 2 Series winner, Mark Jakob and his wife, Formula 3 driver, Tammy Wolf-Jakob will be on site to help encourage bidding on such items as the "Ride of a Lifetime" in a two-seater boat with Formula 1 driver, Chris Fairchild. The Monster Energy team has donated a Monster Basket with all kinds of goodies in it. Unfortunately driver, Dan Bunting, will not be at the event due to prior engagements. Formula 3 driver and hometown hero, Sammy Miller will be present to meet and greet everyone that can make it out for this special event. 09/06/09 - Kankakee, IL - 2009 OPC  Nationals This was a big weekend for the Tunnel Vision Racing Team. With almost all of our drivers and crew being from the area, this was truely a hometown race. Daniel Guimond our active military man, and Alyssa Petroni of our pit crew - would also be racing. Tunnel Vision Racing - TVR line up for the weekend would look like this: Mark Jakob, Clifton, IL sst-120/Formula 2 class Sponsored by The Homestead and Papa Johns Pizza. Tammy Wolf Jakob, Clifton, IL sst-60/Formula 3 class Sponsored by The Hard Rock Cafe and Lee's Inn. Sammy Miller, Kankakee, IL sst-60/Formula 3 class Sponsored by The Lone Star Steakhouse. Dan Bunting, Columbus, OH sst-60/Formula 3 class Sponsored by Monster Energy, The Hard Rock Cafe and The Hampton Inn. Daniel Guimond, Kankakee, IL sst-60/Formua 3 class and sst-45/Formula 4 Light class Sponsored by The US Army. Alyssa Petroni, Kankakee, IL Sport C class Sponsored by Superior Silkscreen & Embroidery. Friday Electrical fires and bent props started off the weekend for Dan Bunting and Daniel Guimond. Saturday By morning everything was fixed and we were all ready to race. Tammy Wolf-Jakob would score 1st place in a qualifing round and Daniel Guimond blew up his formula 3 motor. Teammate Sammy Miller loaned Daniel Guimond his back up motor to compete in the Finals on Sunday. Sunday The day started with Formula 2 qualifing. Mark Jakob won the first qualifing heat. But, on the first lap of the second qualifing heat, Mark lost his dreams of the National title after blowing over in his boat. The boat was damaged beyond repair for the weekend. The Fomula 3 final race was the one to watch for the day. Tammy Wolf-Jakob and Sammy Miller were in the front of the pack when Sammy Miller barrel-rolled in turn 4. Tammy was doing a great job in 3rd place, when she had engine problems and had to pull out of the race. Daniel Guimond brought the team the best finish of the day with 5th place and Dan Bunting finished in 10th. Monday With a borrowed boat and his powerhead and gearcase, Mark Jakob was back in the race. He kept his qualifing position of 7th place on the dock. Mark finished in 6th place for this event. With this finish, Mark will most likely be the 2009 APR SuperLeague Formula 2 Series Champion. Alyssa Petroni finished in 2nd place for the Sport C World Championship. 08/16/09 - Aurora, IN Aurora is the longest running venue for the American Powerboat Racing series at 11 continous years. 14 Formula 3 boats and 13 Formula 2 boats entered the event. The Tunnel Vision Racing Team showed up with all intentions of dominating this event. This is how the weekend panned out... During Formula 3 time trials the 4th and 5th fastest boats on the water were Tammy Wolf-Jakob in 4th and Dan Bunting in 5th. During the line up on the dock Brent Dillard had some trouble and Tammy and Dan moved up to 3rd and 4th on the dock. As the other boats were lining up, Dan's Sycamore Inn sponsored boat caught fire and had smoke rolling out from under the motor cover. Dan was towed in and left Tammy to led the first qualifing heat race in first place for 9 1/2 laps before being passed. In the second heat race, Dan would come back out and start at the end of the dock for a penalty that he received for hitting a bouy in an earlier testing session. Starting line up for Sunday's race would look like this: Sammy in 5th, Tammy in 6th and Dan in 8th positions. Formula 2 time trials would put our Mark Jakob 2nd on the starting dock. Sundays event would bring great excitement. Starting the Formula 3 race Tammy's boat would not make it to the line up. The race started and heading into the 2nd lap of the 20 lap final, The Monster Energy Boat went over and barrel-rolled between turns 1 and 2 and came to rest upside down. Dan Bunting was rescued and taken to shore. This gave the  Tunnel Vision Racing Crew time to get Tammy Wolf-Jakobs boat back on the water with being only 1 lap down. She would not be able to keep it running for the start and the race continued without her. With Dan and Tammy out of the final race it was up to teammate Sammy Miller to bring home the win. After a very exciting race Sammy Miller brought the team a 3rd place podium finish. In Formula 2...Mark Jakob and Terry Rinker would battle it out during the entire 30 lap race. Mark had a 1/2 lap lead when fellow racer Howie Nichols stopped the race after his boat completely disappeared under the water. The crowd was amazed with how a Formula 2 Tunnel Boat turned into a Submarine at 125 m.p.h. This would cause a restart that kept Mark and Terry Rinker side by side until the finish of the race. Mark Jakob pulled off another win and this time against Terry Rinker, the 4-time Champ Boat Tour Series Champion. Congratulation to our Papa John's Pizza sponsored Mark Jakob for his 1st place finish and to our Bob Evans Resturants sponsored Sammy Miller for his 3rd place finish. See you in Kankakee, IL for the Nationals. 08/01/09 - Memphis, TN Our team showed up to race on the Mighty Mississippi River and it rained all day Saturday and the heat races were cancelled and racing would continue with the final race on Sunday. We started with the Formula 3 boats. With the strong current, the series decided to have a pace boat start instead of our regular dock start. This would be a new way to start that some of the drivers were not familiar with. Our team lined up in this order: Tammy Wolf-Jakob in 4th position, Sammy Miller in 5th position and Dan Bunting in 9th position. After it was all said and done Tammy was 5th, Sammy was 7th and Dan was 8th. Racing would continue with the Formula 2 boats. The APR points leader and teammate Mark Jakob would start in the 2nd position and after leaving the race course early he would leave with a 14th place finish. Mark had enough points from previous wins to keep the APR points lead. 07/11/09 - Marietta, OH Our Formula 2 driver Mark Jakob, of Clifton, IL captured the North American Championship by finishing in 1st place. Our Formula 3 driver Sammy Miller, of Kankakee, IL made a 2nd place finish. Mark was driving for both The Holiday Inn - Marietta and Hometown Honda. Sammy was driving for The Galley Resturant. Tammy Wolf-Jakob, of Clifton, IL finished in 6th place and was driving for Subway - Marietta and The Hard Rock Cafe. Dan Bunting of Columbus, OH finished 10th, haunted with still a hole in his boat from Pittsburgh. Dan was racing for Monster Energy and The Hard Rock Cafe. We'll take next weekend off to tune-up the boats and then we're off to Memphis, TN for the Can-AM Championships in the Memphis International Regatta.  07/04/09 - Pittsburgh, PAOur Formula 2 driver Mark Jakob, of Clifton, IL led the field in 1st place for most of the race, but ended with a respectful 3rd place finish. Our Formula 3 driver Sammy Miller, of Kankakee, IL also made a 3rd place finish. Both Mark and Sammy were driving for The Hampton Inn - Greentree. Tammy Wolf-Jakob, of Clifton, IL finished in 9th place and was driving for The Hard Rock Cafe - Pittsburgh. Dan Bunting of Columbus, OH qualified for 8th position on the start of the final, but could not make it due to a hole in the boat that occured during qualifing. Dan was racing for Monster Energy and The Hard Rock Cafe- Pittsburgh. Wish them all well next weekend in Marietta, Ohio for the North American Championships. APR Website writes... For 14 laps positions would be challenged until Chip Wavro skyrocketed his #10 entry, forcing a restart. At the end of the final six laps, Dillard maintained his dominance over first place followed by Mike Hooper in second and Sammy Miller in third. No one expected the fireworks to start before dark, but the F2 field managed to electrify the fans with an incredible 30-lap final that brought the crowd to their feet. In a flash of sheer grit and determination, Jeff Reno powered his way from last on the dock to a spell-binding first-place fireworks finish. Plagued by racing gremlins in Peoria and during the qualifiers in Pittsburgh, Reno battled his way to the top of the podium in the best race of his career. Donnie McDowell conceded the race to Reno, satisfied with a second place finish with Mark Jakob in third.  06/20/09 - Peoria, ILOur Formula 2 driver Mark Jakob, of Clifton, IL takes the checkered flag at Peoria. For 2009, Mark has now taken a 2nd place finish at Lakeland, FL in March and a 1st place victory at Peoria, IL which is his hometown state. Next race will be in Pittsburgh, PA on July 4th weekend. APR Website writes... By the end of the day, Mark Jakob (#7, Clifton, IL – sponsored by Staybridge Inn) had mastered the course on the Illinois river in front of an estimated 40,000 fans lining the downtown Peoria waterfront. Jakob posted the best time during the time trials, putting everyone on notice that he had no intention of remaining in the second place slot while earning both the Checkered Challenger and the Warby Awards. Spectators returned to the rails along the park's shoreline all day during the PACE Steamboat Sports Festival to catch the racing action and cheer Jakob on to his first win on the Superleague tour. Donny Lick (#11, Hastings, MN), always in contention, also reached the podium earning second while Kelly Kidwell (#77, Troy, MO) captured the third place slot. | |