06/02/2026
First race of the season…
Round 1 and 2 of the CBF Championship was held in Franklin, Pennsylvania May 22-23-24. Friday testing, and racing Saturday and Sunday.
This was Megan's first trip to Pennsylvania! She was excited. And it had been 20 years or so since Andrew had been to this race.
We were rushing for the couple weeks prior to get ready, winter really dragged on for us. Megan has a new boat this year, lighter, faster. So we got her out testing on the long weekend at the cottage and she did great. Also some setup rules in her class changed this year, so that means we have to go through all our props again to see what works good. As they say, the race is only 10% of the work. Test, test and more testing…
We loaded up for Franklin and left Thursday after Megan was done at school. Lots of chit-chat on the way down and hit the Duty Free for some beverages. Arrived at the race just before dark and got our camp setup with a group of other Canadians. I think 11 entries made it from Canada. I’m sure the weather forecast scared off a few because some were missing that were expected.
Camping that night was real cold! 8 degrees. We froze even with blankets. Haha.
Friday up and at it… Testing day. Was still cold. We concentrated on Megan. Andrew couldn't feel his legs after holding the boat for a bit. haha. Going through more props and getting laps around the race course in the new boat. Water wasn’t as nice as our previous weekend of testing and got a little breezy in the afternoon. So was hard to compare things. But using base line prop both times we thought maybe we found a little speed. Megan was worn out from driving much of the day, so we called it and looked over the data. She was getting comfortable in the new boat and looked great out there.
Friday night we had a great time hanging out with everyone and catching up with several USA drivers we’d not seen in years. Also a friend loaned us a heater for the night so we could sleep a lot better! Haha.
Saturday we wake up to wind and some drizzle/rain off an on. They delayed until noon and the forecast was just worse as the day went on. They decided to call it and start at 9:30 am sharp Sunday doing 1 heat for Saturday and 2 heats for Sunday repeating each set until those heats were done.
Saturday night was a big bonfire that helped keep many warm along with a few drinks. :). Lots of good campfire stories were shared.
Sunday 9:30 am they started right on time. Overcast and cold, but nice water. Andrew was in the first set in OSY400 class.
Andrew had not been in his boat yet this year, or even started the motor… so he decided to take it easy and start on the outside rather than get in the mix with racers he didn't know. Only a 4 boat race... it was a new class to this event. A couple racers ended up sleeping at the start and he was over the line near first with good speed and decided, well, here we go! He didn’t back off and had the lead by the first turn, holding it all the way to the finish! That’s a win for Saturday.
Next heat was Sunday H1. Again he went down the outside but was a little late himself this time… 3rd over the line I think and on the outside. By the first turn it was 7J on the inside, maybe 1P in the middle and Andrew on the outside. Andrew passed the middle racer around the turn and tried to catch 7J but couldn’t. He seemed to have a little speed on them maybe, but getting tossed around in turn 2 sloppy water could never gain much ground. 2nd place at the finish.
Next was Sunday final heat. Andrew figured he’d have to go down the inside to try hold off the 7J and get a win overall by time. Andrew got a good start and was in second at the first turn with 26P on his outside. Andrew moved to first on the back stretch as the 7J of Gallagher made his way through the pack. At the end it Andrew first with 7J not far behind, but we think we had the gap covered to win on time. When the results were in, we won overall! :) That's two wins!
The next set had Megan in it. First heat Megan was a little behind at the line, but going fast. She pulled up beside the other racers on the outside and 3 of them went into turn one side by side. Megan dropped back some being hung out on the outside. Slowly Tyler Stevenson broke away some and Tristan Coroghly was in 2nd. Megan had speed on Tristan for sure, but couldn’t get around him as Tristan charged hard through the corners trying to catch Tyler. It was a great battle to watch. They finished 1-2-3 as they started. When Megan got back to shore her motor was steaming badly! We started it up and it wasn’t pumping. Hopefully no damage to the powerhead! We asked another racer if they had a spare gear foot and they had a spare fresh motor that wasn’t broken in yet… so we swapped the gear foot. We only had 3 heats to do it so the other AXH teams all jumped in and we tackled it. Thankfully for us, but not for them, someone fell out in one of the heats that was racing and gave us the extra time we needed. All changed over completed and test fired within the 3 heats!! A huge thanks to Wet Spot Racing and Beast Mode Racing for all the help. Boat racing is great for this… your toughest competitors on the course don’t want to see you sit on shore.
Next race was Sunday H1. Megan going down the middle this time, she ended up jumping the gun by just a bit and was DQ’d. :( Again though she showed some speed later in the heat.
Next was Sunday H2, last heat of the weekend for us. Megan was a little late this time and catching up to the front runners wasn’t going to happen. Took 3rd place and got 3rd place overall.
Still a great weekend overall. She drove terrific, not making any crazy moves and handling everything well. Could really see her trying in the straights, but still learning in the corners. She’ll get there. Has to remember to keep her body low to help in the corners. The speed we found has definitely put her in the game for now it looks like. Now to get the engine repaired in time for the next race in Tweed, Ontario June 13-14, round 3 and 4! See you there!
More pics here in our others posts from the event.
Thanks to our supporters!
Megan #26
Mountain Trout House Marina
Car Quest Trenton
Quinte West Automotive
Hanthorn Motors Ltd
www.FralickBoats.com
Andrew #4
Ponton Canada / Pontoon Canada
Hydro-Turf / Jet-Unit
Youngstown Gloves
AMSOIL INC.
www.FralickBoats.com
