Watercross Racing: On the road to the 20th World Championships

Kawasaki's popular personal watercraft professional racer Chris MacClugage stands on the verge of history as the 2001 International Jet Sports Boating Association (IJSBA) National Championships are decided in subsequent weekends later this month in the Los Angeles area at the IJSBA California Nationals and the IJSBA Moto Surf.

Both presented by 180 -- the new energy drink from Anheuser-Busch -- the races will be the last two stops in the eight-race 2001 Skat-Trak Pro Watercross Tour and will help conclude the 20th year of IJSBA pro racing.

Featuring the McGraw Pro Freestyle Showdown during two full days of personal watercraft (PWC) racing along with the colorful Performance Alley, the IJSBA California Nationals will be held July 21-22 on the beachfront at 1st Place in Long Beach and the season finale IJSBA Moto Surf will be held July 28-29 at San Buenaventura State Beach.

Nearly 300 Pro, Expert, Novice and Amateur riders will be competing on the flat water in Long Beach in 34 classes of high-speed PWC in Round 7 and nearly 200 Pro and Expert riders will compete in the surf in Ventura in 15 Pro and Expert classes in the final race of the 2001 Skat-Trak Pro Watercross Tour. 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.

IJSBA racing returns to Long Beach for the 13th time (first since 1992) and to Ventura for the second time (1998 was the first time). The events will be the 227th and 228th races in the 20-year IJSBA national tour history.

As the 2001 national tour ends in Los Angeles after events in Georgia, Florida, Texas, New York and Michigan, several Southern California national tour regulars are leading or among the leaders in their respective classes. That group of racers are expected to be joined by nearly 60 other regional racers from Southern California who will compete in the two Los Angeles area stops, hoping to qualifying for the 20th Annual IJSBA Watercross World Championships, to be held Oct. 7-14 in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

Southern California's MacClugage (Canyon Lake), Jeff Jacobs (El Cajon), Victor Sheldon (Vista), Dustin Motzouris (Azusa), Jason Windebank (Pacific Palisades), Chris Lawrence (Brea), Katie Jenkins (La Habra Heights) and Rob Bortolameolli (Lakeside) are among the top point leaders from the Golden state.

MacClugage, 27, a seven-time IJSBA National Champion and Team Kawasaki ace, leads the points in both Pro Runabout 1200 and Pro Ski. His six wins so far this year, four in Pro Runabout 1200 and two in Pro Ski, give him 99 in his IJSBA Pro career, third all-time. The 'Mac Attack' can become the first racer in IJSBA history to win two IJSBA Pro National Championships in the same year for the third time. He also doubled in 1994 and 1999.

Yamaha star racers Eric Malone, Tera Laho and Karine Paturel Schacht are point leaders in their classes.

Racing on a Yamaha, Jacobs is a seven-time IJSBA Pro Ski National Champion and the all-time winningest rider in IJSBA Pro racing history with 134 career victories. He is second so far this year in the Pro Ski standings.

Sheldon is third in Pro Ski points this season and his victory in Galveston, Texas (May 20) was the 47th in his IJSBA Pro career.

Team Kawasaki's Motzouris, who won the Pro Runabout 1200 race in Galveston, is fourth in that class in points and fifth in Pro Ski.

Windebank, always a steady competitor, enters the finales of the 2001 season 11th in points in Pro Ski while Lawrence, a rookie Pro, is sixth in Pro Runabout 1200 and eighth in Pro Ski. Both race on Yamaha watercraft.

Jenkins is second in Pro-Am Women Runabout points after earning her first Pro victory in Galveston on a Yamaha.

Last year's IJSBA Amateur Freestyle National Champion, Bortolameolli stands fifth as a rookie in Pro Freestyle. He competes on a Yamaha.

The other point leaders through Round 6 of the 2001 Skat-Trak Pro Watercross Tour are Malone, Duncansville, Pa., Stuart Rasmussen, Delray Beach, Fla., Laho, Lake Havasu City Ariz., France's Paturel-Schacht and Brazil's Celio Oliveira.

Malone, with five wins, leads Pro Freestyle on a Yamaha while Rasmussen's three wins on a Sea-Doo have helped put him on top of the Pro Runabout 785 standings. Malone now has 25 career IJSBA Pro victories.

The unstoppable Laho, who has won the qualifying heat races and main events in all six races this year on a Yamaha, leads Pro-Am Women Ski, where she has won an incredible 23 consecutive national tour races and now has 73 wins in her storied IJSBA Pro career. She is also 10th in Pro Ski, where she is the only regular female racer.

Paturel-Schacht, with five wins, leads the Pro-Am Women Runabout class and is eighth as the only female racer in the featured Pro Runabout 1200 division. Paturel-Schacht races on Yamaha watercraft and has 53 IJSBA.

While major 2001 tour sponsors are Skat-Trak, Kawasaki, Yamaha and McGraw Insurance, several other companies are providing additional partnership. Besides the big four, among the other participants for the year are: Greater Yamaha and Hydro-Turf.

Besides 180, additional local sponsors for the Los Angeles events are: Wamilton's Customs, Hot Seat Performance, PWC Today.com, VP Racing Fuel, UMI Racing and Speedwerx.

Admission is free to both of these special events. The colorful Performance Alley will feature a variety of manufacturer and aftermarket vendor displays.

For more information on these events, contact M3 Events at (714) 666-1514 or visit their official website at Me Events.