Watercross: MacClugage snags two IJSBA National Titles

Kawasaki teammates Chris MacClugage and Minoru Kanamori mastered the Pacific Ocean surf Sunday in the top two classes and Yamaha's Tera Laho extended her winning streak to 25 as the nation's top personal watercraft racers of the International Jet Sorts Boating Association (IJSBA) ended their 2001 regular season at the IJSBA Moto Surf in Ventura.

The IJSBA Moto Surf was the final round of the eight-race 2001 Skat-Trak Pro Watercross Tour, celebrating the 20th year of IJSBA pro racing.

The event was the final major qualifier for the 20th Annual IJSBA Watercross World Championships, to be held Oct. 7-14 in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

Continuing to make history each time he races, MacClugage, 27, of Canyon Lake, Calif., dominated in the Pro Ski class while Kanamori, Rowland Heights, Calif., won for the first time in three years in the featured Pro Runabout 1200 class. Laho, who roared through a perfect season by winning all eight qualifying and all eight main events in Pro-Am Women Ski, has not lost since on the IJSBA national tour since July of 1998.

Other pro winners in the fourth and final "surf" event of the season were: Alessander Lenzi, Brazil (Pro Freestyle-Yamaha), Stuart Rasmussen, Delray Beach, Fla. (Pro Runabout 785-Sea-Doo), Katie Jenkins, La Habra Heights, Calif. (Pro-Am Women Runabout-Yamaha) and Celio Oliveira, Brazil (Pro-Am Sport-Sea-Doo).

Nearly 175 Pro and Expert riders competed on the unpredictable ocean surf in Ventura in 15 classes of high-speed PWC in the final race of the 2001 Skat-Trak Pro Watercross Tour, presented by Kawasaki Motors, USA and Yamaha Motor Corporation. With sanction and rules from the IJSBA, PM Sports Marketing of Chesterfield, Mich., produces the series, and Tim Trombley's M3 Events of Anaheim, Calif. is co-producing the two Los Angeles area events. Twenty years of IJSBA pro racing will culminate in Ventura with the official crowning of the 2001 IJSBA National Champions.

MacClugage, who won for the eighth time this year (five in Pro Runabout 1200 and three in Pro Ski), won the IJSBA Pro National Championship in both classes, becoming the first racer to win two pro classes in the same season for the third time. He previously accomplished the double-championship feat in 1994 and 1999.

For the "Mac Attack," originally from Naples, Fla., the victory was the 101st in his IJSBA Pro racing career. MacClugage has now won nine IJSBA Pro National Championships, three in Pro Ski, five in Pro Runabout 1200 and one in Pro-Am Sport.

Kanamori grabbed the holeshot in the Pro Runabout 1200 race enroute to earning his 16th IJSBA pro career victory and his first since 1998. Finishing second was Yamaha's Dustin Farthing, Stuart, Fla., while third was Polaris' Chris Fischetti, Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Fourth in the 12-lap feature, which had a 14-boat field, was Ermino Iantosca Jr., Naples, Fla., on a Yamaha. Rounding out the top five was France's Karine Paturel-Schacht, the only female competitor in the class, on another Yamaha.

In the Pro Ski main event, legendary racers Jeff Jacobs, El Cajon, Calif., and Victor Sheldon, Vista, Calif., finished second on Yamaha watercraft behind the Kawasaki of IJSBA National Champion MacClugage.

Laho's victory helped her capture her seventh IJSBA Pro-Am Women Ski National Championship.

Yamaha star racers Eric Malone and Paturel-Schacht both finished second Sunday, but still picked up IJSBA National Championships in Pro Freestyle and Pro-Am Women Runabout.

Sea-Doo also won two classes Sunday in Ventura, picking up two IJSBA National Championships as well for riders Stuart Rasmussen and Celio Oliveira.

Rasmussen, Delray Beach, Fla., won the Pro Runabout 785 main event for the fourth time this year, earning his first IJSBA Pro National Championship.

With his third win of the season, Oliveira, of Brazil, won his second consecutive IJSBA Pro-Am Sport National Championship.

Farthing, the only racer to compete in three classes Sunday, finished second in both Pro Ruabout 1200 and Pro-Am Sport as well as fourth in Pro Runabout 785.

The IJSBA California Nationals, presented by 180, was taped by Impact Sports Media to air a minimum of four times on the Speedvision Network. The first airings of the Ventura race will be Wednesday, August 22 at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. (PDT).

For more information on these events, visit the official website at M3 Events.