On Saturday Kayleigh Perkins, a Black Diamond native, gets the opportunity of a lifetime at Seafair.

Perkins, a 2006 Kentlake High graduate, will get to test out the defending national champion U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto unlimited hydroplane, a 31-foot long race boat that is shaped like an aircraft wing that is powered by a turbine engine, known as the world’s fastest race boats.

“I’m beyond honored to be able to take out such a fabulous machine,” Perkins said.

Mike Hanson, crew chief who makes his home in Bonney Lake, approached Perkins in January and “asked me if I was interested in taking the boat out.”

“It just kind of built up from there,” she said. “I didn’t hear anything about it until a couple months ago when I got an e-mail from Mike. It was a little nerve wracking for a little while.”

Then she got the e-mail that the opportunity to test the boat out would happen and Hanson told her all the final details would be coming soon.

“It was really, really exciting,” she said. “Everything in this sport, there’s so much talk. With this sport, you don’t count on anything until it happens. So, now I’m finally starting to get excited about it.”

Steve David is the driver of the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto and he is also excited about seeing Perkins test the boat out at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on Lake Washington.

“We are looking forward to giving Kayleigh an opportunity to test an unlimited the quality of the Oh Boy! Oberto,” David said in a statement. “There are few opportunities to drive unlimiteds for up-and-coming drivers. When a seat does open up, it’s rarely a national championship boat and team. Kayleigh genuinely recognizes this gift and we are pleased to offer the chance.”

In the middle of this opportunity she is celebrating life as a newlywed, having married her husband James at Sandy Point on July 31, with plans to go on their honeymoon in October. Racing is never too far from her mind, though, as the couple’s wedding cake was in the shape of a hydroplane with her groom on the dock waving a checkered flag.

Not to mention that she will also be racing in the Graham Trucking Cup in her UL-72 Foster Care/Triad Racing Technologies unlimited light boat this weekend at Seafair.

“We’re running the little red boat,” Perkins said. “To me it used to be a really big boat, but, now that I’m working with the unlimited (hydroplanes) it seems really small.”

Perkins and older brother Brian, who races in the unlimited hydroplane class full time in the U-21 Albert Lee Appliance boat, grew up at the races.

Their parents began volunteering at Seafair as teenagers and over the years they brought their children with them.

Perkins was two months old when she attended her first race.

“My brother and I would sleep through the Blue Angels air show, but, as soon as the unlimited hydroplanes would start, we would wake right up,” she said.

Brian Perkins began racing seriously as a teenager and worked his way up through ranks.

He encouraged his sister to try racing out and she started in a four cylinder boat at the age of 16.

Kayleigh Perkins has had a quick ascension through the ranks. In 2007 she was named the Unlimited Light Hydroplanes rookie of the year and was driver national champion the same year.

She is the fourth on the wins list in the Unlimited Light Hydroplane class with 10 victories including a win in the Atomic Cup in Kennewick two weeks ago and at Seafair in 2009.

“Winning last year at Seafair was a huge deal to everyone in my family,” she said. “Brian and I kind of grew up inside the middle of the race course. Getting to actually be there with my brother… and to get to win was a beyond special moment.”

Brian Perkins, who is having a pretty good season in his own right as he sits in fourth place in the National High Points in the Unlimited class, is excited for the opportunity his sister is getting this weekend.

“I know she can do it,” he said. “I think she definitely deserves the opportunity. I have no doubt in my mind that she won’t let anybody down.”

Perhaps there could be a Perkins family sweep this weekend if Kayleigh Perkins defends her title in Unlimited Light and Brian Perkins builds on his success this year at Seafair.

“There’s going to be a lot of stiff competition this weekend,” Brian Perkins said. “We saved all the good equipment for this weekend. We’ll see how it goes.”

It will be a test for Kayleigh Perkins’ team, too, as they continue to wrangle with a new Toyota engine. It’s the first time anyone has dropped anything other than a Chevy or Ford engine in a hydroplane, she said, and it’s been hit or miss this season.

“It’s brand new technology and it’s really advanced,” she said. “Sometimes it works really, really good and it’s an absolute rocket. Yet, it’s really finicky.”

Whatever happens this weekend, it’s a chance for Kayleigh Perkins to prove herself worthy of taking the next step and moving into the Unlimited ranks with her brother.

He thinks she could get a seat in one of the big boats in the future.

“We’ll have to see how that goes in the next couple of years,” he said. “There’s only so many spots available, but, I think she’s capable.”

Kayleigh Perkins will be only the second woman to run an unlimited boat and it’s been nearly 30 years since the first woman, Brenda Jones, got into the cockpit.

“Every woman feels they have a victory when I win and I hope I can continue to empower women as I rise through the ranks of hydroplane racing,” she said. “As much as I want to win I also want to encourage people to get involved and participate in hydroplane racing – everyone is welcome.”