It’s all over but the shouting in this year’s Gorge Cup windsurfing series

Aug. 7

Skipper’s meeting at 10 a.m.

Hood River Event Site

Results and info available at gorgecup.com

The Gorge Cup isn’t over yet, but it might as well be.

Local windsurfing virtuoso Bruce Peterson is essentially uncatchable in the annual spring and summer slalom windsurfing series that ends next weekend with races on Aug. 6 and 7. The Hood River resident, who has more than a couple Gorge Cup titles under his belt, has won nearly every race that he’s entered this season, building a sizable point cushion between himself and MacRae Wylde — last year’s Gorge Cup winner and currently in second place in the 2016 series. Both men race in the senior grand masters category.

Gorge Cup rules state that each participant gets one throw-out after four races are completed and two after seven races in the low-score-wins series. Peterson has done so well that he can afford to use his two throw-outs on the final two races of the season — which makes his performance in the Aug. 6 and 7 races irrelevant.

Peterson got in this position by winning the first three races of the season, taking second in the fourth race, and then placing first in the fifth race that was held July 23 at the Event Site. In last Saturday’s event, which was actually made of eight races, Peterson won six of them. Twenty-two windsurfers entered that event and nearly 40 have participated in at least one Gorge Cup race this season.

As for the rest of the classes, nothing changed from the previous race held July 2-3. Tavis Perez still leads the masters category, Jay Salzman is the frontrunner for the senior grand masters, Phil Soltsyiak has a sizable lead in the open men’s category, Alyson Fromm is in a good spot to take the open women’s title, and Charlie Sutherland is pretty much a lock for the junior category.

For complete results and more information on the Gorge Cup, go to gorgecup.com.