Kent Henderson holds the points lead into the HRL Grand Prix finale at Beauharnois this coming weekend, with Andrew Tate his closest challenger, seven-time H1 Unlimited champion Jimmy Shane making a surprise return, and the Lupton brothers well back, hunting a result rather than the title.
The points picture
Eight boats head to the Régates de Beauharnois for the last round of the 2026 HRL Grand Prix season, and the standings heading in are clear about where the title fight will be.
Henderson's GP-757 Canada Boy 50-point buffer over Tate GP-71 The Wild One is significant but not a given, HRL rounds pay points across time trials, heats and the final, so a strong Beauharnois weekend can still move the top of the table. A single mechanical DNF or a blown engine for Henderson could completely erase his buffer in just one weekend. For the Luptons, sitting sixth and seventh, the championship is out of reach. What they can still do is win this event.
A late change in Freedom
The biggest late story out of Beauharnois has nothing to do with points. GP:50 Racing has confirmed seven-time H1 Unlimited National Champion Jimmy Shane will take over GP-50 Freedom for the finale, his first Grand Prix start since 2019. Shane stepped away from competition after 2022 and returned to hydroplane racing this year with BWR Racing's H1 Unlimited team, where he's spent the season trading wins with a familiar name to this field, Andrew Tate. The two have gone back and forth all year in the turbine-powered H1 Unlimited class, in which Tate has also raced, a different series to the piston-engined Grand Prix boats racing at Beauharnois, but it means Shane arrives in Quebec fresh off championship form elsewhere, and lines up directly opposite Tate again.
Valleyfield form
Three weeks ago at Régates de Valleyfield, Jack Lupton looked untouchable. He topped time trials and won all three of his qualifying heats in GP-33 JLM Motorsport, his time in the Q-3A the quickest qualifying heat of the regatta. Ken Lupton was close behind in GP-577 Lucas Oil, putting both brothers at the front of the field for Sunday's final.
Tate won that final for 25 points, with Kennedy's GP-35 TMSpecial second on 21 and Henderson's GP-757 Canada Boy third on 18. John Shaw was fourth in GP-135 Koolkat. Jack finished fifth for 8 points, and Ken's Lucas Oil retired without scoring. The qualifying pace didn't play a part on race day.
Brockville, Madison and the rebuild
At Brockville in late June, Brandon Kennedy won the final in GP-35 TMSpecial for 25 points, with Andrew Tate second in GP-71 The Wild One (21), Éric Langevin third in GP-212 Sylco (18), Bobby King fourth in GP-50 Freedom (15) and Kent Henderson fifth in GP-757 Canada Boy (13). Neither Lupton scored. Jack's GP-33 doesn't appear among the six placings, both his Q-1B and Q-2B runs failed to register a time, and Ken was a non-starter in the final. Both boats were subsequently found to share a common engine fault, prompting the team's withdrawal from the following round at Madison to rebuild before Valleyfield. Both boats were subsequently found to share a common engine fault, and the team withdrew from the following round at Madison to rebuild rather than race it.
It means Tate's form line into Beauharnois reads second, first, and a fight for the title, one of the more consistent campaigns in the field over the last two rounds.
A family with Beauharnois pedigree
The Luptons know this regatta. Warwick Lupton drove Ken Lupton's GP-577 Lucas Oil at Beauharnois in 2025, and his result there secured the points that sealed the team's second consecutive HRL Grand Prix championship. Warwick didn't win that final, Henderson did, but the points were enough.
Jack confirmed on social media on 8 August that he and Ken would race Beauharnois, and Régates de Beauharnois has since named both among its eight confirmed pilots.
