By Jason Johnson

After winning the 2005 ChampBoat Series championship, expectations were high for the Blackhawk/Rinker Racing team coming into the 2006 season. But no one anticipated that driver Terry Rinker would win every race of the season.

Well he did. The Tampa, Fla., native won all seven races to claim the 2006 series points title for the second year in a row, becoming the first driver in the sport's history to win every race of a season. His seven-straight victories also set a world record for consecutive Formula One powerboat race wins.

"I'll tell you what, this is something we never dreamed of doing coming into the season," Rinker said. "With the competition in this series, it's rare to get consecutive wins, let alone a year's worth."

Rinker dominated all year with smart racing at each stop, including the season's final race in early November at the inaugural Grand Prix of Savannah on Georgia's Savannah River. In his new boat, the Rinker Boats/Amsoil-sponsored Leecraft hull, the 44-year-old came home with a 2.2-second victory over Shaun Torrente of the California Gold Racing Team.

Torrente, also from Florida, was determined to knock off Rinker and his yellow boat. He came up a bit short but turned in his best finish of the year.

"I never thought I'd be happy with second, but I am today," said Torrente, who lives in Miami. "I'm so excited. Now we can carry this confidence into next season."

The 50-lap event in Savannah was stalled with an array of mishaps and restarts as the first 12 laps took five starts and more than an hour to get going. At the end of the race, only six of the 20 drivers who registered completed the event.

"The conditions on the river with the wind and the tide issues created some treacherous race conditions," Rinker said. "Fortunately there weren't any injuries. Unfortunately it tore up some equipment. At least by the end of the day, it calmed down and we got all 50 laps in."

Rinker, who had only eight career wins before the season began, was the only driver to finish every lap of every race in 2006. He was quick to credit his crew and the new hull.

"I couldn't have done this without my fine crew who prepared a perfect boat," Rinker said. "The new Leecraft hull was considerably better than what we competed with in '05. We could have won several races with the old hull this year, but the new hull had characteristics that made it shine above the other boats. I think it gave us the extra edge."

In his Bud Light/Seebold Racing boat, Tim Seebold finished third in Savannah and was second in the points race behind Rinker.

With his dream season less than a day behind him, Rinker was already showing excitement about the next season.

"I'm looking forward to next year," he said, welcoming the expectations to win every race again. "We have an excellent series schedule. (The record) will be a hard one to repeat, but now we've put that expectation out there.

"I want to say we have a good chance of doing it again next year. You never know. Anyone can go back and have a good off-season and fix some things and come back strong. I'm sure everyone will be working hard to knock the yellow boat off the podium."