Hawaii Beat

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Tuesday, July 8, 1997

Stubblefield leads
Cup qualifiers

Larry Stubblefield shot a 67 to lead all qualifiers in the Hawaii State Match Play Championship -- the Manoa Cup -- which began with two rounds today at the Oahu Country Club.

Stan Souza and Brandan Kop posted 70s to be among the leading qualifiers.

Defending champion Damien Victorino of Kauai, who did not have to qualify, and Stubblefield both drew byes for today's first-round morning matches.

The tournament continues through Friday's 36-hole semifinals and the finals, also 36 holes, on Sunday.

TRANSPAC RECORD: The 39th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii may turn out to be the fastest and most demanding ever.

Roy Disney's maxi turbo-sled Pyewacket set a record 24-hour run of 336 nautical miles yesterday.

Two other boats didn't fare well. Zephyrus, out of San Diego, had its mast topple, the second boat to lose its mast in two days. Then, Vicki, out of Long Beach, dropped out 461 miles at sea when the crew noticed a compression fracture halfway through the base of their mast.

Magnitude, a new turbo-sled from Long Beach, limped back into port yesterday morning, its mast sheared off at 20 feet. Six of the 38 starters have dropped out.

Pyewacket's one-day flight on northwest tradewinds broke the race record of 323 miles set by Blondie in 1987.

The race record may fall first to a smaller boat, Bob Lane's 56-foot Medicine Man, which turned another 305-mile day and is now projected to finish Thursday in eight days, 20 hours and eight minutes. That's nine hours slower than the 20-year-old record held by Merlin, but Medicine Man's pace is expected to pick up considerably and may threaten that mark.

ALOHA RACING: The Waikiki Yacht Club's America's Cup Challenge received a major boost yesterday with the acquisition of the IACC yacht oneAustralia and virtually every piece of that syndicate's 1995 America's Cup equipment.

Aloha Racing skipper John Kolius said the choice of oneAustralia was easy. "oneAustralia was absolutely my first choice," he said.

Aloha Racing will compete in a 1999 sail-off in Auckland, N.Z., against a fleet of international challengers. The winner of those races goes on to face the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in February, 2000, for the America's Cup.

PERKINS WINS: Bonga Perkins won the pro division in the Hawaiian Longboard Federation's Blue Hawaiian Open, which finished Sunday in 2-3 foot surf at Kewalo Basin.

Other division winners were: Jennifer Lee (Junior Wahine); Malcolm Ng (Senior Grand Masters); Pinoi Makalena (Wahine); Kekoa Uemura (Menehune); Ezra Rodrigues (Boys); Jamie Ballenger (Masters); Eddie Acierto (Mens); Ben Aipa (Grand Masters), and Robert Wann (Senior Mens).

UPSET AT WAILEA: Unseeded Chris Sadayasu toppled top seed Brian Thomas to win the men's title at the 13th annual Wailea Open Tennis Championships, Sunday on Maui.

No. 2 seed Jan Ikeda also surprised top-seed Christy Texeira for the women's title.

Sadayasu, a Hilo High graduate now attending law school at the University of Hawaii, beat Thomas, 7-5, 6-3.

Ikeda, a Baldwin High sophomore, beat Texeira, 6-2, 6-3.

VIERRA SUMO CHAMP: Wayne Vierra forced seven-time men's state sumo champion Fitai Su'a from the ring to win the Hawaii State Sumo Tournament Saturday at Hauula Beach Park.

The 375-pound Vierra, 27, spent two years as a pro sumo wrestler in Japan before returning home after surgery.

Kena Heffernan won both the Men's Lightweight and Young Men's titles. Other division winners were: Harry Wa'a (High School Heavyweight); Vea Tupou (High School Lightweight); Steven Kumai (Junior High Boys), and Thomas Kahele (Elementary Boys).