Rain cancelled the Grand Prix final at Beauharnois, but two boats were already down before the weather made the decision for HRL. Andrew Tate leaves with a win and a double, Kent Henderson leaves with a wrecked hull and a title race turned upside down.
Henderson's title bid ends in the water
Kent Henderson arrived at the HRL Grand Prix season finale with a 50-point lead at the top of the standings and left it without a finished weekend. GP-757 Canada Boy capsized during Saturday morning qualifying, landing upright with Henderson uninjured, but the hull damage was serious. Team principal Mario Blais described it afterwards as far beyond a quick patch-up job.
With the boat out, the team looked for a way to keep the entry alive under HRL's rules, reportedly asking the Lupton camp whether another boat could run under the 757 number. The Luptons said no. Blais said the team then looked to see whether Ghislain Marcoux or Daniel Mercier's outfit might make it work. Blais was candid about the toll of watching a commanding championship lead evaporate in a single incident, while stressing that Henderson walking away unhurt was what mattered most.
Shane's comeback interrupted
Jimmy Shane's return to Grand Prix racing, his first start in the class since 2019, ended early too. A steering cable failure sent GP-50 Freedom out of control during qualifying. Shane is reported to be recovering well, but GP-50 Racing didn't return to the water for the rest of the day.
Two boats down before the main event even started set an uneasy tone for a weekend already being billed as the strongest Grand Prix field of the year.
Tate seizes the moment
When Sunday's Grand Prix final was rained off entirely, HRL decided the event on cumulative points from time trials and qualifying instead. Andrew Tate's GP-71 The Wild One took it, with Brandon Kennedy's GP-35 TMSpecial second and Jack Lupton's GP-33 JLM Motorsport third. It's a double for Tate at Beauharnois, he also won the Hydro 350 class outright in a separate boat, H-300 Penzoil, the same weekend.
One Lupton's best weekend, one more setback for the other
For Jack Lupton, this was as good as his season has looked. He set the fastest time in Saturday's time trials, just 0.48 seconds covering the top four boats, won a qualifying heat, and finished second in Sunday's Q-3B behind Tate before the final was scrapped. It's the strongest event in North America and the podium finish to show for it.
Ken Lupton's weekend went the other way. An oil filter fault forced an engine change after Q-2, and a broken prop shaft heading into turn one ended his Q-3B before it began. It's the third straight event where mechanical trouble has undone the Lucas Oil campaign, after Brockville's shared engine fault and the DNF at Valleyfield.
What's next
HRL has not yet confirmed the 2026 season champions across any class, saying only that official results will follow "in the coming days" once post-event inspections are complete. With Henderson's points total for the weekend still unclear and his campaign's future in the balance, the championship picture out of Beauharnois isn't fully settled yet.
