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She's thinking about next step after five-race winning streak

DOUG DROWLEY; For The News Tribune

It hadn't been a great weekend for Kayleigh Perkins and the UL-72 Foster Care-Vitamin Water unlimited light boat at the Chevrolet Cup.

The winner of the season's first four races qualified next to last. Then she blew the engine in Saturday's second heat, forcing her to race in the B Main just to get into Sunday's final on Lake Washington.

Then her luck changed.

Perkins beat the rest of the eight-boat field out of the first turn and never looked back as she won her fifth consecutive 2009 race.

"I never thought I would get to do this," a teary-eyed Perkins said. "Now I get to say I won Seafair. And in its 60th year. How cool is that?"

After the blown engine, the UL-72 crew went to work. Perkins won the B Main, then pulled out of a three-boat pack around the first turn of the final.

"It's such a good turning boat," Perkins said. "It's just making sure I don't mess up. The boat will win every time on its own."

Perkins, a graduate of Kentlake High, has been going to the Seafair races with her family since she was an infant. With all of her success, the 21-year-old has her sights set on taking the next step.

She just doesn't know when.

"I do (want to drive an unlimited)," Perkins said. "But it's got to be the right time, the right situation. I need to be having as much fun as I am right now."