After a cyclone hit North Queensland last month, the two Redcliffe rounds were postponed and moved to the St. George Sailing Club in Sydney, with a return to Queensland for the final round at the end of May. The previous rounds in Perth, West Australia ended up a huge success with some great racing and plenty of action, on and off the track.
For this weekend, the New South Wales Personal Watercraft Association in conjunction with AJSBA put on the event, with the help of a few of the boys from Western Australia. That’s a bloody long way to come to volunteer your time. (Well done, guys.)
The first race of Round 3 on Saturday was the Enduro requiring riders to complete 30 minutes plus one lap. Most of the boats consisted of Stock Runabout and Showroom Stock. It was a great race with the likes of #93 Jacob Packer on his SHO and #300 Daryle Bone having a great race with some close calls after the splits. Daryle is pretty new to the scene and could do well in the future.
But #725 Dane Alberti and #310 Cameron Martin, both on Kawasakis who where to hard to catch. Close behind was #717 James Rice on his Yamaha, but no one could catch Cameron. He was in a league of his own taking out the Showroom Stock win.
In Stock Runabout, #513 Ben Mountford had a great start and was going well until after about 4 laps in, he was informed he had missed a buoy and was DQ’d. A bit more clarity before the start of the race on the track layout might have been needed.
Mitch Wayt #16 is always a great performer and was the one to catch after that. With his aggressive style and great stamina it was not a surprise he took first place.
Open ski and Lites where put together as they were a bit short on numbers. It was #36 Jake Barker’s Open Hydrospace the ski to beat after taking out the last round in Perth. That ski is fast and he can throw it around as good as anyone. Michael Stevens’ #202 Kawasaki triple kept Braker on his toes. One slip up and the ever-consistent Stevens would have been all over him. Unfortunately for Jake in Sunday’s Round 4, Jake had ski issues that plagued him all day giving Mick the chance he needed to get ahead of that quicker ski. Mick Stevens went ahead take out Round 4, after Jake dominating Round 3.
Young gun and good egg #76 Tommy Aiken was the one out in front in Lites Ski after his unique starting technique and all around ability led him to the win in both rounds.
The new format of the Superjet Cup was some close racing. World Veteran Champion #45 James “X-man” Xuereb and clean sweep winner in Perth #12 Ryan O’Keefe who rides at Sea World on the Gold Coast, had a great battle on the large track. (Personally, I think too large. Keep it close and keep it exiting.) But all that riding Ryan puts in everyday must help, and ended up being two rounds closer to a brand new SuperJet thanks to Yamaha Australia.
In Open Runabout, even with the combined talents of #1 James Masterton, #43 Matt Brunt and #666 Christian D’Agostin none could keep up with the #33 RXP-X of Anthony Antees. That orange JSW Powersports ski is amazing. It was also good to see #99 Paul Leven giving his Sea-Doo a hiding. That thing has a lot of potential.
As always with highly-tuned machines, they’re very temperamental. Almost all the Open boats had issues, so a lot of standby skis were filling the spots. Nevertheless, Antees was still the man to beat with Masterton a close second. Guy Greenland and Paul Leven also took a podium on the weekend.
Stock Runabout was one of the biggest classes and Mitch Wayt, the winner of the Enduro also took out the class for the weekend. Frank Waite #35 also from JSW Powersports, was having a great weekend getting to the podium on both days. The AJSBA President and new Worx Racing products employe had an awesome weekend, making the podium also. That help from the boss paid off. And not to be outdone, #476 Shane Stuart – who recently changed from Sea-Doo to Yamaha – had a great day taking second on the only round he could attend.
So there’s two more stops to go until the 2015 Australian champs are named. Good luck guys and girls, see you next time.
