The following article was published on the ULHRA website by Patricia M. Darling.
Well just look up NICE in the dictionary…you will find the BCS team there!!
What a great bunch of guys who will run the UL 6 this year. They are excited
and enthusiastic and hard working—and NICE.
It was a real treat to meet them all at Jack and Sheri
Sipila's home…and boat shop… on Kitsap Lake, Bremerton, Washington.
BCS stands for Beynon, Carstensen and Sipila…and Kerry, Al and Jack
are the owners, and crew, AND drivers.
Jack got in to boat racing partly because of Dave
Villwock, driver of the Unlimited Miss Budweiser. Jack crewed for Dave, and
was a classmate of Dave's wife Pam. In fact, his best friend was dating Pam's
twin Sister. A 17-year Inboard Racing veteran, Jack first crewed on his cousin's
SS. Five years later he bought a 145 and claimed 1990 Rookie of the Year honors
from Seattle Drag and Ski. He was Region 10 High Point Champion in '94, '96
and '98, also racing Super Stock, 2.5 Stock, and 2.5 Modifieds before he and
Sheri decided to buy Paul Droullard's National Mod (which raced as UL 6 in
Hawaii). Renamed "Jack Attack", he will race it at Region Ten races
in '04. Jack had wanted to get in to the ULs, so when Dave Bender's UL 38
became available, he and his partners jumped at the chance to get a first
class boat.
In their other lives, Jack is a licensed Research
Analyst for a Financial Planner in Bremerton and Sheri is Senior Account Manager
for a Federal Employee Benefits Plan. He is also busy remodeling their home
and still loves music. (He played guitar in a band for a number of years).
What an organized guy…he has promotional tapes and brochures and had
a professional photographer on hand this same day to do photo shoots of the
crew. His motto: "Show you can win, and learn from your mistakes".
Kerry Beynon, born in Seattle, and raised on Mason
Lake, where he currently lives, started racing motorcycles at age 16—partly
because his Mother wouldn't let him drive the car. Beginning with flat track,
he then moved to Motocross and Jet Ski racing before he got in to 2.5 Stocks
with one of his competitors, Al Carstensen. Kerry earned his credentials as
a motorcycle mechanic in a Tacoma School, then worked in a motorcycle shop.
He realized there was no business in the winter, so he went to work for Johnson
Controls, at the US Navy Bangor Submarine Base, in the Automotive Supply Department.
His fiancée Irina works at the Navy Hospital and is just learning about
boat racing. Kerry loves to fish, and build remote-control boats and planes,
and he is helping with the remodeling of the UL-6 shop. Mostly, however, BOATS
dominate his thoughts.
Al Carstensen raced motorcycles against Kerry from 1980-86, then he raced Jet Skis. He says, "Well, I just started looking
for something with less injury and less exhaustion", so he and Kerry
teamed up in 1995 and became the "Quick Fix" racing team, running
2.5 Stock and Mods.
They built a new 2.5 in '98, ran as Stock and Mod and have taken the Region 10 Championship the past two years, as well as the
Eastern Divisionals in Decatur (Kerry driving) and the Westerns at Black Lake
(Al driving). Al likes to hunt (he once bagged a 4-point mulie), fish in Idaho
and Washington—both lakes and deep-sea fishing. He and wife Lea live
in Belfair and raise daughters Allison, Sara and twins Nicholas and Natalie.
Lea really wants to crew for the UL-6, but having two-year-old twins, plus
running to soccer, basketball and baseball with the 8 and 10 years olds keep
her closer to home.
The UL-6 Crew is another NICE trio: Crew Chief Mike
Parker is an HVAC technician in Bothell and has experience on all the above
named boats. Mike loves boats, and his fiancée, Deirdra, whose Father,
Ron Liljemark, is also a crew member. Ron says he has been a "roostertail
freak" since he was five and the Tri-Cities race, with his Aunt, in 1956.
In fact, Deirdra was born during a Tri-Cities race (in a hospital in case
you are wondering). Third on the crew is Bill Beigh, called "Billy B".
Billy also works for Johnson Controls at Bangor, in vehicle maintenance and
has crewed on the 2.5. He and wife Linda have 3 daughters….two of which
are TWINS.!!!!
Honestly, three owners and three drivers and three
crew….but then there are the 2 sets of twins. This is a real interesting
team and though they all present as NICE, as I interviewed them I caught a
feel of the fire within. These guys are coming to race and there is no doubt
about that. As a matter of fact, as Bo and I were leaving, they asked us to
stay and play "Bunco"—for money!!!! Well we got out of there
as fast as we could.
Patricia M. Darling, reporting for the ULHRA