The Nenana daily news., 1918-07-06
Motor Boat Races

A lareg crowd gathered along the waterfront to witness what was to be the most exciting contest ever pulled off in Interior Alaska be- tween the fastest boats in the Tan ana valley, the interest evinced in this event being considerably added
 to when it was learned that Beldon's hydroplane, marvel of speed, was
 among the competing boats.
 The race was to be run on an
 eighteen mile course, buoys being
 placed at the bend near the mission and a little below the mouth of the Nenana river, the measured dis tance between the buoys being three miles, three complete rounds being necessary to finish the entire dis tance.
 The preliminaries consumed very long time, while the crowd patiently waited the actual racing, and when it seemed as though their patience was we'll nigh exhausted, the sharp sputtering of the exhausts of some of the boats getting ready
 brought them back to a keen sense of expectation. Some further time and much gasoline was consumed
 by the boats in tuning up and for
 time it seemed as though the
 Kid" and the "Flea" were in
 contest to see which ones engine
 would remain dead the longest, for
 when the Kid" got running, the
 "Flea's" engine went dead and vice
 versa for some little time.
 The "Kid', owned by Herman
 Anderson; the Flea" owned by H.
 O. Beldon; the "Nictory" owned by
 Fred Douse; and the Sunbeam" be-
 longing to the Alaskan Engineering
 commission, were entered for the
 race, and after some more delay
 and "jockeying" for position, all the
 boats got away in good shape. The
 Kid" was certainly the fastest boat
 and easily drew away from the
 others and maintained the lead, fol-
 lowed by the "Flea" and "Victory"
 with the Sunbeam" bringing up
 the rear. This was the order in the race up to the first lap of the last } round, when the Kids engine went dead on the upriver trip and Bel : don raced past him as he drifted . helplessly down stream. The Kids , engine was not resuscitated until after the race was over. Beldon's . 'Flea" won the first prize. The 7 second prize going to Fred Douse's , "Victory," about mile separated } the Sunbeam" from the "Victory' l The time taken by the "Flea" wa: 32 minutes seconds, and the "Vic 5 tory" finished in 39 minutes "A sec l onds.
 : There was much betting done, tn,
 "Kid' being the favorite.
 f In explanation of the mishap tt g the "Kid", MT. Herman Anderson 3 wishes to make the following ex l planation: "There was nothing ,, wrong with the engine, and there s has never been anything wrong witl - it at any time. The failure of ths s engine during the race was due tt l the fact that at high speed the pumI t leaked, a fact which was not noticed . at the time, this caused the water s accommodating in the boat to creeI h up and wet the magneto, causing {
 short circuit and, of course, killing n the engine. The "Kid" holds tht y championship of Interior Alaska fol - motor boats, having won the Grom d mes & Ullrich cup in three consecu n tive seasons over twelve-mil' e course. The Grommes & Ullrici 0 cup awared the "Kid" is valued a s s275.
 ]. "In view of the fact that som, j. people have made the statement tha k there is something wrong with tn