Chris Young’s AUDREY AILEEN battling Marshall Spear’s JACALWA at Stonington last year in Diesel Class N.
ROCKPORT – Every year at the Maine Fisherman’s Forum held at the Samoset Resort in Rockport the end of February or early March the Maine Lobster Boat Racing Association (MLBRA) holds a meeting. This is one of the shortest meetings that you will ever attended for if you are three to five minutes late you probably missed the entire meeting.
The annual meeting of MLBRA is held in the fall of the year in conjunction with the annual banquet in October. This is where all the changes are proposed and voted on. It would be unfair to someone building a new boat to race in a specific class to make rule or class changes in the spring of the year. However there are several items that might need mentioning, thus the spring meeting.
This year we informed the thirty to forty people who attended, who the ruling party was for the 2019 season: President, Jon Johansen; Vice President, Travis Otis; Secretary, Genevieve McDonald; and Treasurer, Rachel Elward.
Next topic was the sponsor. An email was sent out to those that had sponsored the races last year and instantly Mack Boring (Scania) came back saying they were on board again, as did Liferaft Services and Elite Airways. Elite Airways will give away a pair of tickets at each race to anywhere they fly from Portland. Late last fall Steve Brooks of Brooks Trap in Thomaston brought the marketing team of New Hampshire Motor Speedway of Loudon, NH together with MLBRA. Many of the people who compete in the lobster boat races or follow them also follow NASCAR. They found this an excellent tie and will be giving three pairs of tickets at the first five races (Boothbay, Rockland, Bass Harbor, Moosabec and Stonington) of the year, to three different winners in three separate drawings. There will also be a year-end prize given at the awards banquet in October to the top boat of the year. We also had a couple of others that are interested, but have not yet committed.
Back in October there were no rules changes proposed so the same rules will apply this year. The only change in the Classes will be in Gasoline Class B, which had its upper limit changed from 375 to 383 so the Class now will read: V8, Up to 383 cid, 24 feet and over.
Last year we did not publish a program as time just ran out getting it all put together. Amy Tierney of Long Island with assistance, is seeing if it is logistically possible to publish one this year. With the dates of all the races set we can now print the poster, which should be out the mid-spring.
Normally we hold a Hall of Fame Committee Meeting after this meeting, but this year the committee (Dana Beal, Bruce Engert, Brent Fogg, Jon Johansen, Wayne Rich, and Nick Wiberg) were polled before the meeting so that we could let those in attendance know who had been elected to the Hall of Fame. The past people elected are: 2012: Gus Alley; Benny Beal; Isaac Beal; Merle Beal; Richard Duffy; Jerry Farrin; Will Frost; Corliss Holland; Ernest Libby, Jr.; Young Brothers (Arvin, Arvid and Colby); 2013: Andrew Gove; Fred Lenfesty; Brian Robbins; Lewis Stewart; David Taylor; 2014: Calvin Beal, Jr.; Jim Preston; Sid Eaton; 2015: Osmond Beal; Bill Hallinan; Glenn Holland; 2016: Clive Farrin, Bert Frost; 2017: Donn Page, Spencer Lincoln; 2018: Keith Young, Richard Weaver; and for 2019: Galen Alley and Wesley Lash.
With everything on the agenda discussed it was asked if anyone had questions: Brian Robbins of “Commercial Fisheries News” stood up and said that he had two. First he wanted to know if the rumor about a wedding later in the afternoon was true. The groom-to-be, Steve Johnson, responded that the rumors were true and that it would be held in the club building right next door at 3:30, “be there or be square.” A little after 3:30 Diana Teague and Steve Johnson took their vows to a packed house with Amy Tierney presiding. Brian’s second question was since Galen Alley, who had passed away in an automobile accident in January had done so much for lobster boat racing over the 10 years that he raced was there something we could do to dedicate the season to him? It is known that the Moosabec races will do something and others may do something as well. MLBRA decided to dedicate this year’s poster to Galen.
With this the meeting was adjourned.
2019 RACE SCHEDULE:
JUNE
15 Boothbay Harbor Lobster Boat Races Ashlee Lowrey (207) 808-9230
16 Rockland Lobster Boat Races Nick O’Hara (207) 594-0400; Mike Mayo (207) 542-1879
23 Bass Harbor Lobster Boat Races Wayne Rich (207) 244-9623
29 Moosabec Reach Lobster Boat Races Jay Mills (207) 598-6347
JULY
7 Stonington Lobster Boat Races Cory McDonald (207) 664-4525; Genevieve McDonald (207) 266-5113
21 Friendship Lobster Boat Races Robin Reed (207) 975-9821
28 Harpswell Lobster Boat Races Larry Ward (207) 798-1725
AUGUST
10 Winter Harbor Lobster Boat Races Chris Byers, (207) 963-7139
11 Merritt Brackett Lobster Boat Races Brent Fogg (207) 380-4909; Sheila McLain (207) 677-2100
17 Long Island Lobster Boat Races Lisa Kimball (207) 332-3968; Amy Tierney (207) 317-1576
18 MS Harborfest Lobster Boat Races Katie Werner (207) 807-1832
OCTOBER
19 Awards Banquet & Dinner Jon Johansen (207) 223-8846
