Lightning at the finish line of Thunder on the Niagara

Islanders in winners’ circle

By Senior Contributing Writer Karen Carr Keefe

Photos by Nathan Keefe

Bad weather pulled the plug on the electrifying Thunder on the Niagara hydroplane races shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday at Gratwick Park in North Tonawanda.

The grand finale races that normally determine event winners were overshadowed and shut down by claps of thunder, lightning, drenching downpours – and even a tornado warning.

But there was a silver lining. Racers from CentsLess Racing of Grand Island claimed spots in the winner’s circle in all four categories of hydroplanes competing this past weekend.

And spectators – including drivers, crew and fans – got an exciting show on the water and in the skies.

“We got all the heats in except for five, and Mother Nature won in that battle, so we ended up awarding prizes based on total points for the weekend,” said event director John Krebs of Grand Island.

Dan Dinsmore takes his first-ever hydroplane flag run in the Miss Gangway vintage hydroplane to open day one of Thunder on the Niagara this past Saturday in the Niagara River off Gratwick Park.

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Based on points in those qualifying heats, Islander Eddie Kanfoush won first place in both Formula F and Hydro 350 categories. Fellow Islander Ken Brodie II came in third place in the Grand Prix category. And Ayden Sovie of Ogdensburg, driving R-50 CentsLess 15, came in third in the Formula R category.

Krebs, commodore of the Niagara Frontier Boat Racing Association (NFBRA), said local racers and sponsors play an important part in the racing circuit.

“It’s a good thing with what they do to support the race, as well as their performance – makes it all worthwhile,” he said.

Four hydroplanes stack up in a row and rev up their engines in a qualifying heat during Thunder on the Niagara this past weekend at Gratwick Park.

Drivers, crew and race organizers gather to ready the craft for competition at the Thunder on the Niagara event this past weekend at Gratwick Park in North Tonawanda.

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Thunder on the Niagara is presented jointly between the NFBRA and the Quebec-based Hydroplane Racing League. The American Power Boat Association is the sanctioning body for the event.

Krebs said safety was the prime concern, and logistics also played a part in the decision to end the event about an hour early. He said the tornado warning and lightning in the area closed the window on further races.

“For us to go on a hold and then get started again, it takes about an hour to get everything wrapped up and going again, so we just made that decision to run off the results as they were,” he said. “If there’s lightning within 10 miles, the cranes can’t operate,” to get the boats in and out of the water. They have to wait 30 minutes after lightning to resume the races.

“The safety of the competitors is the No. 1 priority, as well as that of the spectators,” Krebs said.

He has been race director for a total of 10 years and involved in boat racing for 48 years, including as a driver from 1990-2016.

Overall, the event was successful, Krebs said: “Saturday was incredible; Sunday was the best we could do with what we were given.”

Advancing through the ranks

Kanfoush is a 2026 graduate of the University at Buffalo. And with first-place wins this year and last, he has long since graduated out of the rookie class over his five-year racing career. He said he began in what was called the 2.5-liter class, now called the Formula R class.

“It’s actually the same boat as I drive in the Formula F class now – the same rules package and everything like that. But it’s more designed for either lower-budget teams or rookie drivers just getting into the sport,” he said.

“I graduated out of that class after my rookie year. I’ve been racing in Formula F ever since. And then, just a couple weeks ago for the first time, I got the opportunity to drive a Hydro 350-class boat. I’m driving it again this weekend.”

Kanfoush won all his qualifiers on Saturday.

“We’ll see how the day goes today,” he said prior to capturing first place in Hydro 350 and Formula F on Sunday.

While the day was a bright one for Kanfoush, Sovie and Brodie, the skies above the Niagara River were decidedly less bright.

Dinsmore family: Vintage heritage

Continuing a longtime tradition, the vintage hydroplane Miss Gangway again kicked off festivities with flag runs both Saturday and Sunday.

This year was the first that owner Lyle Dinsmore was not in the cockpit. He passed the torch to brother Dan Dinsmore and fellow racer Mike Yenson.

Miss Gangway was built in 1971 by hydroplane pioneer boat-builder Henry Lauterbach and purchased by Dinsmore about 40 years later. Dinsmore also owned another vintage boat that fired up its engine this weekend for some speedy laps through the course.

“I used to own Miss Dinomytes when we were racing. When they changed boats – that made you use the (enclosed cockpit safety) capsule … then I bought Miss Gangway, so I could run vintage. This is the first year I have not driven the boat,” said Dinsmore, who is in his 80s. “I think it’s time I let somebody younger drive it. I don’t need to be going 150 mph out in the river any more at my age. I did last year.”

“My younger brother (Dan) is driving it now. He took my seat.”

“For not running the boat before … he’s doing a good job with it,” he said. “He’s worked on the boat – on the motor – so he knows the boat. It’s just that he’s never driven it before.”

Dinsmore said being involved with the boat race is a lot of fun: “You meet some great people. We raced anywhere from Quebec to Florida.”

He sponsors part of Thunder on the Niagara every year through his company, LDC Construction Co. Inc. He said he’s proud to be part of the hydroplane tradition.

And his brother, Dan Dinsmore, is happy to be a new part of the flag run this year.

“I’ve never driven that boat. I rebuilt the engine. I rebuilt some of the hull. I’ve done everything there is to do on that boat, except drive it, till yesterday,” he said Sunday during one of the many rain delays at Gratwick. “I’ve been around these boats my whole life. Grew up on the river and watched them. But never knew what it was like to actually be in it and drive it and get that experience. And it was absolutely amazing – incredible – such a thrill!”

Asked if he practiced or had any training before driving Miss Gangway, he replied, “Yesterday was my lesson.”

“Howie Benns, who has passed and was one of the best drivers of a boat of that type and hull and such – and I knew Howie personally; he was a great friend of the family – just knowing that I’m in the seat of one of the boats that he raced and drove and was phenomenal at, was such an honor. And I thought about it when I was out there,” Dinsmore said.

Tom Morsheimer, left, holds a painting that commemorates the 1991 Grand Prix victory of Grand Islander Howie Benns in the Valleyfield Regatta, driving the hydroplane Miss Dinomytes, which Islander Lyle Dinsmore, right, owned at that time. Morsheimer is the current owner / driver of GP-1001 Miss Dinomytes. Dinsmore gave the painting to Morsheimer as the "caretaker" of this memorabilia.