2007 Louisville Boat Show
2006 Lake Cumberland Poker Run
The 2006 Lake Cumberland Poker run was once again the “event of the year” on Lake Cumberland. This year’s poker run took place the weekend of Sept. 8-10 at State Dock. The boats began to arrive in force Friday morning and by sundown the docks were full of some of the most exotic high performance boats around. It appeared as though this years attendance was down a bit from last year. I’m sure this was due in part to the terrible tradgedy that occured on Lake Texoma two weeks prior, and also in part to the ever present high fuel prices. Even with this, there were still 146 boats registered in the run, and by the crowd on the docks Friday and Saturday nights, there were still plenty of people there for the event.
We at Hilltop Marine were fortunate to be joined by both of our performace boat manufacturers. Vic Spellberg, 2 time world champion race boat driver and current director of racing operations at Formula, brought his poker run boat, a 2007 382 
Fastech with twin Merc. 700’s paired with the new NXT drives, made this one mean machine! This boat featured the new “Blaze” paint scheme which made this boat stand out in the crowed, at least until he pulled ahead of the crowd.
We were also joined by Joe and Wayne Schaldenbrand of Sunsation Performance boats and John Tillery, the owner of “First Born” the first of Sunsation’s new 43′ F4 which turned out to be the “Queen of the Prom”. This boat was a long time coming, however, I beleive Mr. Tillery will agree it was worth the wait!
The Hilltop Crew ran in our 2006 Formula 353 Fastech captained by our service manager. Derrick, Myself (Kyle), and Billy (winner of the drawing for a ride in the poker run with Hilltop), went along for the ride. We had a blast! We managed to pass several of our competitors, who I will leave nameless, due mostly to the superb ride and handling of the 353, and of course Barry’s expert driving. At some of our card stops we were able to toss some coozies and frisbees to spectators near the stops. We also distributed several as we navigated through the crowd at 76 Falls. Most agree this was the most crowded we have ever seen the falls.
We returned to State Dock around 5:00 tired but happy to know that everyone completed the day with no accidents or injuries, except for a few injured boats. I would also like to offer my condolences to the family and friends of the gentleman who lost his life on Friday night after being ejected from his boat while running near the mouth of Beaver and Otter Creeks in some extremely rough water.
Knife Edge rip This year’s run was a huge success and we can’t wait until next year!
