Watercross: IJSBA results from Lake Havasu, Arizona

Led by double-winner Eric Swan, 15 world championship titles were decided here Tuesday (Oct. 8) at the 2002 JetX20 for PlayStation2 World Finals after the third of eight days of competition at the 21st annual International Jet Sports Boating Association (IJSBA) event on the Crazy Horse campground site near the world-famous London Bridge in Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Sanctioned under rules of the IJSBA, of Foothill Ranch, Calif. and co-produced for the first time in association with the FreeSpace Media Group of Laguna Beach, Calif., the IJSBA World Finals of personal watercraft racing is one of the world's most unique and spectacular sporting championships. Returning to Lake Havasu for the 21st consecutive year, the massive racing extravaganza is held in the shadow of the original London Bridge on the offshoot waters of the Colorado River.

General admission tickets for the IJSBA World Finals, priced at $10 for Thursday and Friday and $15 for Saturday and Sunday, will be available at the main entrance to the IJSBA Acqua Stadium. Ticket packages include a $35 four-day pass and the $60 IJSBA Super Pass that includes admission to the race pit area. Children, 12 and under, are admitted free to the event. Racing action will run from 8 a.m. to approximately 4:30 p.m. daily.

Racing on Polaris watercraft, Swan of Arnold, Mo., captured both the Novice Runabout 800 Superstock and Novice Runabout 800 Limited crowns in the 14-event Novice competition to claim his two World Championships. Swan outran the field in Novice Runabout 800 SS and the Sea-Doo entry of Kent Abbot (Lincoln, Neb.) finished second. Swan placed second and first in the two motos in this class and was first in the individually timed slalom portion of the event (to win the title.

After sharing the lead with Derek Mroski (Largo Vista, Tex.) after the two motos in the Limited class, Swan won his second title of the day by finishing second in slalom. Mroski and his Polaris placed 11th in the slalom as his best time was two 2.10 seconds behind Swan's best time of 21.51 seconds.

Swan also placed third in the Novice Runabout 800 Stock class behind Thailand's Seyan Rojane and Harold Bachtold (San Jose, Calif.). Swan, who had the best slalom time of 20.69 seconds compared to Bachtold (second at 21.37) and Rojane (fifth and 21.78), but finished second and fourth in the motos. Rojane and is Polaris captured the title by placing first and second in the two motos while Bachtold and his Plaris finish third in both motos.

The closes finishes in the novice classifications was a one-point win by Geoff Maddocks (Riverside, Calif.) over Skip Weyrauch (Englewood, Ohio) in the Sports Limited class. Weyrauch and his Sea-Doo posted a first and third in the two motos to finish ahead of Maddocks and his Sea-Doo's fourth- and first-place moto placements. Maddocks secured the title by winning the slalom competition with a best time of 23.79 seconds while Weyrauch was fifth at 27.75 seconds.

Two-point novice class winners were posted by Douglas Lavin (Warrenville, Ill.) in the Ski Stock over Justin Luinstra (El Dorado, Kan.) and Kevin Minnix (Lewisville, Tex.) over T. J. Sullivan (Cocoa, Fla.) in the Runabout 1200 Superstock. Sullivan rebounded from his second-place finish in the 1200 Superstock to win the Runabout 1200 Limited class.

Lavin's Polaris won both motos before finishing a disappointing seventh in the slalom with a time of 28.17. Luinstra and his Polaris were third in the slalom with a best time of 27:87 as he placed third and second in the two motos. Minnix and his Sea-Doo overcame a 10th-place finish in the slalom (best time of 23.97 seconds) by placing second in both 1200 Superstock motos. Sullivan and his Sea-Doo were fifth in the slalom (23.07) after being fourth and third in the two motos.

Sullivan finished on top of the podium by defeating Ronnie Davis (Yuba City, Calif.) and his Yamaha for the Runabout 1200 Limited title. Although placing 10th in the slalom (23.18), Sullivan and his Sea-Doo won both motos while Davis was third in both.

Other Novice class winners were Nakorn Silachai (Bangkod, Thailand) in the Runabout 1200 Stock with Sea-Doo, Ian Benson (Kennewick, Wash) in the Ski Limited with Yamaha, Ryan Goering (Bend, Ore.) in Ski Superstock with Yamaha, David Houston (Placitas, N. M.) in the Sport Superstock with a Sea-Doo, Scott Benson (Hayden Lake, Ida.) in the Veterans Ski Superstock with Yamaha, Adrea Jordan (Citrus Heights, Calif.) in the Women's Runabout 1200 Limited with a Polaris and Vicky Beale (Blewbury, United Kingdome) in the Women Ski Limited on a Yamaha.

The first of two amateur titles this week was also decided Tuesday when Kevin Heidler (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and his Yamaha defeated Alan Miller (Indianapolis, Ind.) and his Sea-Doo for the Veterans Runabout 1200 Superstock title. The Amateur freestyle championship will be decided Friday.

The world's largest and most prestigious personal watercraft race has attracted 1,500 competitors from 40 states and the District of Columbia with entries also from 30 countries. The race site for the fourth consecutive year is being held at the purpose-built IJSBA Aqua Stadium on the grounds of the Crazy Horse Campgrounds and RV Resort in the popular water resort of Lake Havasu City.

International Pro stars Gimmi Bosio (Italy-Pro Runabout 1200), Renaud Urbain (Belgium-Pro Ski), Marc Sickerling (Germany-Pro Freestyle), Masao Fujisawa (Japan-Pro Freestyle) and Alessia Ida (Italy-Pro-Am Women Ski) will join U.S. residents Alessander Lenzi (Brazil-Pro Freestyle), Karine Paturel-Schacht (France-Pro-Am Women Runabout), Dustin Motzouris (South Africa-Pro Runabout 1200 and Pro Ski), Nicolas Rius (France-Pro Runabout 1200 and Pro Ski) and Christopher Barretto (Guam-Pro Ski and Pro-Am Sport) in Lake Havasu. They will attempt to unseat Team USA, the reigning IJSBA Nation's Cup champions.

Chawolit Koucharoon of Thailand is a rookie Pro, competing to both Pro Runabout 1200 and Pro-Am Sport, and he won three IJSBA Expert World Championships last year.

The event will again spotlight the IJSBA national champions, the defending IJSBA world champions, as well as this year's European champions. Besides the USA, powerful teams include France, Brazil, Canada, Japan and Thailand. A total of 16 former IJSBA World Champions, who have combined for 42 titles, are entered.

The five returning IJSBA World Champions set to defend their respective titles are: Dustin Farthing, Port St. Lucie, Fla. (Pro Runabout 785-Yamaha and Pro-Am Sport-Yamaha); Chris MacClugage, Baldwin Park, Calif. (Pro Runabout 1200-Kawasaki); Tera Laho, Lake Havasu City, Ariz. (Pro-Am Women Ski-Yamaha); France's Karine Paturel-Schacht, Melbourne, Fla. (Pro-Am Women Runabout-Yamaha) and Brazil's Alessander Lenzi (Pro Freestyle-Yamaha).

Farthing, who races for factory Yamaha through his own Farthing Racing team, has won four IJSBA Pro World Championships and three IJSBA Pro National Championships while MacClugage, originally from Naples, Fla., has earned six IJSBA Pro crowns and 10 IJSBA Pro National Championships.

Laho has won seven IJSBA Pro World Championships and eight IJSBA Pro National Championships in Pro-Am Women Ski, while Paturel-Schacht has captured five IJSBA Pro world titles and six IJSBA Pro national crowns in Pro-Am Women Runabout.

Lenzi, won his first IJSBA Pro world title last year when he won Pro Freestyle and backed it up by winning the IJSBA Pro National Championship this year as well in his artistic event.

The popular event will also showcase the 2002 IJSBA National Champions -- Chris MacClugage, (Pro Runabout 1200-Kawasaki), Dustin Motzouris (Pro Ski SS-Kawasaki), Alessander Lenzi, Brazil (Pro Freestyle-Yamaha), Mark Queen, Thornton, Ill. (Pro-Am Runabout 1200-Polaris), Stuart Rasmussen, Lantana, Fla. (Pro-Am Runabout 800-Sea-Doo), Lake Havasu City's own Tera Laho (Pro-Am Ski-Polaris and Pro-Am Women Ski-Yamaha), France's Karine Paturel-Schacht (Pro-Am Women Runabout-Yamaha) and Darryl Robbins, Huntingtown, Md. (Pro-Am Sport-Sea-Doo).

A veritable salute to personal watercraft and the youthful lifestyle it represents, the industry's biggest week includes several distinct championship events. The 2002 IJSBA Novice and Amateur World Finals will be determined Sunday through Thursday followed by the 2002 IJSBA Expert World Finals Wednesday through Friday and concluding with the featured 2002 IJSBA Pro World Finals Saturday and Sunday. Freestyle athletes will compete for the IJSBA Amateur Freestyle World Finals on Friday and the IJSBA Pro Freestyle World Finals on Sunday.

Returning this year after its popular debut last year, www.ijsba.com, the official website of the IJSBA World Finals will provide real-time results, photos and updates along with LIVE broadcast of the public address dialogue through audio streaming on the site.